• Question: how can we stop global warming

    Asked by meganmcg to Angela, Gabriele, Karen, Maria, Shane on 15 Nov 2013.
    • Photo: Shane Mc Guinness

      Shane Mc Guinness answered on 15 Nov 2013:


      A very important question Megan and one that has many people stumped in universities all over the world.
      So, yes global warming is happening. Though it’s important to understand that this will not lead to every part of the world getting warmer and drier. Some parts will actually get colder or wetter!
      So, this is caused by the human race emitting more gases into the atmosphere than our planet can process itself. Some of these gases cause more of the suns light to stay in our atmosphere, so heating the planets more. Most of this comes from carbon dioxide, a gas produced mainly by the burning of fuels by humans. Some of these like methane (from rubbish dumps, coal mining and the farts and belches of cows!) are much more powerful greenhouse gases so a smaller amount will lead to much greater damage.
      So, one way of getting this process to slow down (and hopefully stop completely!) is to reduce our emissions of these gases.
      We could;
      1. Use less fuel in our cars, or not use our cars at all
      2. Better insulate our houses so that we don’t use as much electricity or oil to heat them.
      3. Consume less meat, as raising animals for us to eat is quite damaging and emits a lot of greenhouse gases.

      There are other things we can do if we don’t want to change ourselves.
      For example, we could begin to capture the gases and bury them in the ground so they don’t affect the atmosphere . This is expensive and very inefficient. We could grow trees to do this or maybe use algae in the ocean.

      There’s no simple answer as it’s not a simple problem. Maybe you should join in the effort and become a “climatologist” yourself!

    • Photo: Angela Stevenson

      Angela Stevenson answered on 15 Nov 2013:


      That’s great Megan, if only more people asked that question and thought like you – then our planet would be in a much better state than it is now. Global warming is making our weather patterns chaotic, unpredictable, and more extreme, but sadly, a lot of people still don’t believe in it despite the massive hurricanes, tsunamis, flooding, and changing weather patterns that are taking place around the world. It’s really affecting a lot of people, causing many deaths and injuring thousands of people every year. So by trying to ‘stop global warming’ you re actually asking me of ways to help save the planet and people on it. Good on you! That’s really kind of you, selfless I d say 🙂 We unfortunately can’t stop global warming, but you can slow it down. How would you go about doing this? The main idea is to try to reduce your imprint on the planet and the best way to do that is to stick to the three Rs : Reduce waste, Reuse objects, Recycle as much as you can. For example, don’t buy keep buying water bottles, reuse them instead or refill cups or glasses of water. Reduce package waste by trying to buy loose fruits at the store rather than those that are packaged. Make sure you recycle your plastics, paper, tins and glass – most can be recycled nowadays. Reduce burning of fossil fuels by lowering the temperature of your heater at home when you leave for school in the mornings. These simple tasks will all help to reduce the burning of fossil fuels and hence improve our global warming issue. I really love the fact that you asked this question, thanks for that 🙂

    • Photo: Karen McCarthy

      Karen McCarthy answered on 15 Nov 2013:


      Really great, informative answers from Shane and Angela – its such a pity, and likely one of humanity’s greatest regrets that its taken us so long to be careful and respectful of the Earth.

      But there are so many things that can be done to help, even now! Small changes at home Megan, can have a big impact – unplugging unused appliances for example like your phone charger or hair straightener. According to the Berkeley Lab’s testing, cell phone chargers in left plugged in consume around 0.26 watts, and laptop chargers nearly 4.42 watts. That might not seem a lot, but per year it can account for nearly 10% of our energy usage!

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