Climate Change Basics
Understand the basics of climate change: Earth’s atmosphere traps some of the Sun's heat (the greenhouse effect), burning fossil fuels adds extra greenhouse gases (especially CO₂), this is making Earth gradually warmer, and this warming changes weather patterns, melts ice, and raises sea levels
What a learner can do afterwards
- Describe the greenhouse effect: the atmosphere traps heat from the Sun
- Explain that burning fossil fuels increases CO₂ in the atmosphere
- Name at least two consequences of global warming: changing weather patterns, melting ice, rising seas
The lesson
You already know the atmosphere is the blanket of gases around Earth. Sunlight passes through it and warms the ground below. The ground sends part of that heat back upward, and some gases in the air catch it before it escapes into space. This trapping of heat is called the greenhouse effect, and it keeps Earth warm enough for plants, animals, and people to live.
People burn fossil fuels, coal, oil, and natural gas, to run cars, factories, and power plants. Burning these fuels releases carbon dioxide, or CO₂, into the air. CO₂ is one of the gases that traps heat, so more CO₂ in the atmosphere means more heat gets trapped near Earth's surface.
Mia's grandmother remembers winters with much deeper snow. Now the snow melts earlier, and the river near her town rises higher every spring. Scientists see this pattern in many places: warmer years, faster melting ice, and oceans slowly creeping onto the shore.
You cannot see CO2 floating in the air, but you can see what it does: hotter summers, melting glaciers, and changing storms. Riding a bike, walking, or turning off unused lights all burn a little less fossil fuel.
Extra CO2 from burning fossil fuels traps more heat, and that warming changes weather, melts ice, and raises seas.
Watch it
Where it sits
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.