Our earth has increased its temperature by the effects of global warming. Global warming is the effects of our polluting the earth with toxic gasses from the burning of coal, oil, and gas. Global warming has increased the temperature in some regions by as much as 5 degrees. The main toxin that has caused the warming of the globe is carbon dioxide; it has increased by 30% in the last 100 years. The warming of the planet has caused severe weather in some regions. It has also caused disease and death do to extreme heat waves. Global warming is a significant problem that can be fixed if we would work together as one country to help in reducing the amount of carbon dioxide output from are vehicles and industrial plants

Global warming works kind of like a green house. Rays from the sun come in the green house bounce off the floor and begin to go back into the atmosphere but the glass stops the rays from escaping. This keeps the air inside the green house nice and warm. In our atmosphere we have natural gasses called green house gasses that keep the suns rays from going back into space. With these green house gasses in our atmosphere, mostly composed of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide we can survive, and without the earth would become a frozen ball of ice. These extra green house gasses come from the burning of petroleum, coal, and the decaying of garbage. With the normal amount of gasses the suns rays will come down hit the earth, then head toward space, some will bounce back at the earth but most will go out into space. If the earth has to many green house gasses most of the rays will come back to the earth therefore increasing the temperature like a greenhouse.  
   

Global warming has effected many species of animals, and plant life. Plants have little ability to adapt to the changing weather conditions. When the temperature begins to rise the growing season, rainfall patterns storms and floods and droughts begin to change. Plants have a hard time adapting to the rapid change so they begin to die off. When plant life begins to die and change, that screws up the food chain and life cycles.  This causes the animal life to start becoming extinct. The change will be mostly noticed in the arctic where herds of caribou migrate to in the spring to feed, but as the arctic temperature rise they will migrate to find that the plants have already gone to seed. Many other migrating animals like birds are being affected by global warming, where they are beginning to migrate at different times. The effects of global warming are here and something has to be done are we will lose many different species of plants and animals.

As the outside air temperature begins to rise the average temp for our waters will also rise meaning many different aquatic species will begin to perish. With just a 5-degree temperature rise we could devastate the trout and salmon population of the United States. New England would lose almost their hole populated of rainbow trout. Not only the warming of the water, but the rising oceans could change river currents and destroy the salmon food supply in the west. Already the decline of fish population in the ocean like Pollack have been linked to the rising temps. It has caused the damage to the Krill population. Krill is a small shrimp like animal that is important to the survival of penguins, whales and sea birds. This is a problem that needs to be examined closer to see what needs to be done so there is no extinction of aquatic life

Extreme weather and infectious disease is a result of global warming. When the temperature at night does not fall in the summer witch is becoming more common we get a heat wave. This killed 700 people in Chicago, summer of 95'. Research shows that in 2020 global warming could cause a 145% rise in the death rate from heat waves in urban cities. Extreme floods and droughts will cause 300 million additional people to stave because crops will be destroyed. These extremes may affect the supply of drinking water. Diseases associated with flooding, like cryptosporidiosis could spread and affect millions of people. As the temperature rises the amount of insects carrying infectious diseases will rise and we will get diseases like Malaria, Dengue Fever, and Encephalitis. More and more cases of extreme weather and infectious diseases will be on the rise if we do nothing to curb global warming. 

NASA has used alternative power sources on the space shuttle for years. They use a device called a hydrogen fuel cell to produce electricity. The fuel cell works by allowing oxygen to react with hydrogen to produce electricity without combustion. The only byproduct of the process is water and heat. The fuel cells are not only used in making electricity but can also be used in powering cars. Other sources of power to be used instead of burning coal and gas is solar, wind, and hydro. Solar panels use the suns energy and converts the solar power to electric power. Hydroelectric power uses rushing water to turn generators to create electricity. Wind pushes windmills and turns turbines that also create electricity. All the sources listed are good clean ways of creating electricity but they do not match the amount of electricity we use. If companies and homes cut back on the amount of electricity they use and we start constructing these alternative power source to a greater extent we could stop global warming.
  

Some of the ways to cut back on the amount of energy we use in are homes is to use low energy consuming devices. We should use fluorescent light bulbs instead of the regular light bulbs. Using the old light bulb is like using 100-year-old technology. Use fluorescent lights to light homes and it will save 44-watts per bulb and get the same amount of light. People can also look for a label on appliances when buying them, called "Energy Star". This is a label put on appliances by the EPA to insure that is an energy saving appliance. If every one took their part in saving energy we could to the brakes on global warning.

Global warming is a problem that can be solved with some changes it the way we produce power. Its a problem that if left alone will get bigger as time goes by, but if we act now it can be stopped. It's a problem that is not that big of a deal to us, but it will be big problems for are children and grandchildren. We our in danger of hurting our planet and all the plants and animals that live here including us if we don't find alternative power sources. If we hurt our planet to the point of no recovery we do not have another one to just hop over to, so lets take care of the one we have now.