'Greenhouse effect' explained for little ones

If you have ever been in a greenhouse, you would know it is really hot in there.  You have never been in one?  You do not know what a greenhouse is?  

Let me tell you...

A Greenhouse is a special building made of glass or plastic that keeps the heat from the sun that shines on it trapped inside.  This is a great place to grow plants that needs a nice warm area to grow in, even if it is cold outside.

So the sun warms up the little greenhouse and because it is closed, the heat stays on the inside.

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Now this is all good and well for the plants that need and like the heat, but what happens if heat is trapped on earth and cannot escape and the Earth just gets hotter and hotter?

Around Earth we have the air called the atmosphere and the 'ozone layer'.  This layer makes sure that not too much of the sun's heat reaches earth (we do not want to be burned to a crisp...)

The heat will enter the atmosphere during the day and heat up the air and Earth and at night it will cool down and the heat will go out of the atmosphere again.

That sounds simple, but unfortunately because of all the pollution that people cause like burning waste and driving around in cars, or the smoke coming from factories, there are a lot of gasses that hangs around in the atmosphere and this makes it more difficult for the heat to escape.

How Earth is just like a greenhouse and the heat stays trapped and Earth starts heating up.  This is called the 'Greenhouse effect" and it causes 'Global warming' (in other words, the warming up of the earth.)

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Is this bad?  Yes it is because if Earth keeps on heating up, it has a negative effect on so many things.

• The temperature on Earth will rise.
• The climate of an area will change - there can suddenly be a drought or places that did not get a lot of rain can now have floods.  It can even cause disasters like Tsunamis and hurricanes.
• Very cold places will start getting warmer and the animals who are made to live in cold conditions will struggle in the warmer weather.
• If the climate change, some animals and plants will struggle to survive because they are not 'adapted' to survive in different climates.
• The ice bergs will start to melt and that will let the sea level rise and then some areas will be covered by water and the land can not be used any more.

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It is our responsibility took look after Earth - we need nature to survive and if we keep on destroying the planet we are going to be in trouble...

• Can you say in your own words what is meant by 'The Greenhouse effect'?
• Why do we say 'we need nature to survive'?
• Can you think of ways that we can stop polluting and destroying Earth?

You can read here for some extra information on this topic.

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