These images illustrate the basic science of global warming.

The sun's energy enters the atmosphere in the form of light waves and heats up the earth. Some of that energy warms the earth and then is re-radiated back into space in the form of infrared waves. Under normal conditions , a portion of the outgoing infrared radiation is trapped under the atmosphere--and that is a good thing, because it keeps the temperature on Earth within comfortable bounds. The greenhouse gases on Venus are so thick that that its temperatures are far too hot for humans. The greenhouse gases surrounding Mars are almost nonexistent, so the temperature there is far to cold.

The Problem we now face is that thin layer of atmosphere is being thickened by huge quantities of human-caused carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. And as it thickens, it traps a lot of the infrared radiation that would otherwise escape. As a result, the temperature of the earth's atmosphere, and oceans is getting dangerously warmer.

That's what the climate crisis is all about.


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Gore, Al. An Inconvenient Truth. New York: Rodale, 2006.