Blog #8-Climate change: The Effects of Greenhouses

In this blog I will try to answers common questions regarding climate change, greenhouse emissions, human behavior,etc
First, what is climate change? According to wikipedia, "Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years... Climate change is caused by factors that include oceanic processes (such as oceanic circulation), biotic processes, variations in solar radiation received by Earth, plate tectonics and volcanic eruptions, and human-induced alterations of the natural world; these latter effects are currently causing global warming, and "climate change" is often used to describe human-specific impacts."
What are "greenhouse gases"? Greenhouse gases are gases that trap heat in the atmosphere, larger emissions of greenhouse gases lead to higher concentrations in the environment, these gases can stay in the atmosphere for a few years to thousand of years contaminating the planet and contributing to climate change.
If you thought that carbon dioxide (CO2) was the only chemical compound related to greenhouse emissions, you are wrong, please see the picture below. Source http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/gases.html
What are the effects of greenhouse emissions in the planet?
According to EPA, "rising greenhouse gases may affect our health, increase the frequency and severity of storms and drought, threaten our agricultural systems and food supply, raise sea levels and threaten coastal populations, shrink land and sea ice stores, and put strains on our energy industry due to increasing demands for cold food storage and air conditioning as the world gets hotter ."
Is climate change reversible?
This is probably one of the most common questions regarding global warming. The true is that climate change has been happening for thousands of years, but in our current era humans are accelerating this natural process due to the excise burning of fossil fuels, waste, during the production of coal, oil, etc
Lastly, this behavior would not stop from one day to another, or in the following years, but there are options for people who want to live in a less polluted environment. Some of the things people can do to help planet Earth are: encourage research on renewal energy, support local politicians who think alike, recycle, carpooling to work, ride a bicycle, grow your own food at home, plant a tree, eat more at home, stop going to fast food chains, buy from local farmers, etc....there is always more that one can do!

Dinosaurs

Who is not amazed by these creators that once inhabited Planet Earth?
It is believe that dinosaurs appeared during the Triassic period, thanks to the evidence recorded by geologists, historians, and biologist, and approximately until the end of the Cretaceous period.

They belonged to the Kingdom of Animalia, Phylum:Chordata; Class:Reptilia; Clade:Dinosauriformes; and Clade: Dinosauria.

The Dinosaur kingdom have been divided into two groups: Herbivores (plant eaters), and carnivores (meat eaters). There are still unknown information about dinosaurs, meanly because paleontologist are still discovering fossils around the world, but thanks to all the progress made by these professionals there is plenty of evidence that will suggest that modern birds evolved from small feathered theropod dinosaurs.

there are different theories about the extinction of these great animals, some of those are mass extinction, asteroid theory, volcanic activity, ice age, and gradual changed in climate. The most notorious or famous theory today is that a large comet or asteroid collided with planet Earth about 65 million years ago and due to this collision (s ) a series of events changed from one day to another, killing almost all of the living species on earth. Furthermore, there is not reason to discredit the other theories as well because Planet Earth have been evolving throughout the years, and any other event can be also responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinosaur

http://www.discoveryeducation.com/teachers/free-lesson-plans/when-dinosaurs-ruled.cfm