“BRIEFING: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS”

WHAT IS GLOBAL WARMING?It is gradual worldwide rise in surface temperature observed across the entire planet in recent decades.
WHAT CAUSES THE GLOBAL WARMING?
The vast majority of qualified scientist believes it is caused, at least in large measure, by the greenhouse effect.
WHAT IS THE GREEN HOUSE EFFECT? HOW DOES IT WORK?
It is the mechanism by which Earth’s atmosphere behaves like the panes of glass on a green house, allowing solar warmth to pass through, but preventing it from escaping back into space-those raising the temperature inside the “greenhouse” Certain gases (especially water vapor and carbon dioxide) act like the panes of glass, allowing solar heat to pass in but not out. These are called greenhouse gases.
IS THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT HARMFUL?
The greenhouse effect is a finely tuned mechanism, and if its delicate balance is upset, Earth’s surface could become dangerously hot, with potentially catastrophic results for life on the planet.
IS GLOBAL WARMING A THEORY, A FACT OR SOMETHING IN BETWEE?
It’s a theory, but only in the sense that gravity, relativity and evolution are theories: as in those cases most scientists now accept the broad outlines of global warming as the most convincing explanation of an observed phenomenon, one that is strongly supported by all the available evidence. That said, there are a number of important ongoing scientific disputes about the details of the warming process.

WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES OF WLOB AL WARMING?
They are impossible to predict with precision, but they could include rising ocean levels (and accompany flooding of low-lying areas worldwide), dramatically increased storm activity, more frequent and severe droughts, the massive die-off of species whose habitats or food source are compromised by warming.

IS HUMAN ACTIVITY CONTRIBUTING TO GLOAL WARMING?
Yes. Our planet’s atmosphere has become overloaded with carbon dioxide (CO2), one of the most potent greenhouse gasses. Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, CO2 levels in the atmosphere have spiked to levels not seen for hundreds of thousands of year. A 2007 report issued by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world’s foremost scientific authority on the subject, declared that “warming of the climate system is unequivocal” and that there is “very high confidence” that human activity since 1750 has played a significant role in over loading the atmosphere witch CO2.

WHAT ARE WE DOING THAT’S CONTRIBUTING TO THE PROBLEM?
Our societies rely on power producer by burning hydrocarbon, chiefly in the form of fossil fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas. These fuels release energy when the hydrogen/carbon bond is broken, but also release large amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses.
HAS GLOBAL WARMING OCURRES BEFORE?
Yes, several times in Earth’s prehuman past, the atmosphere became overloaded with greenhouse gases and worldwide temperatures increased dramatically.
WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT EARLIER EPISODES OF GLOBAL WARMING?
Although the reason for ancient spikes in greenhouse-gas levels and temperatures are unclear, we know with near certainly based on geological evidence that they occurred. We also have a reasonably clear idea of the consequences. In the Permian .