Glencoe Health © 2007

Introduction:
In this lesson you learned about different kinds of environmental contamination. Some air pollutants are also known as “greenhouse gases,” and contribute to global warming. At this Web site, discover what global warming is, what it can do, and what action you can take with regard to this very serious issue.

Links to Explore:
US Environmental Protection Agency: Global Warming
http://yosemite.epa.gov/oar/globalwarming.nsf/content/index.html

Directions:

• Go to the EPA’s Global Warming page and click on these links:
• What Is the Problem?
• How Do We Know?
• Greenhouse Gases
• How Much Do We Emit?
• When you have read the information on these pages, answer the following questions.

1.			Name the three primary greenhouse gasses.
2.			What human activity produces more greenhouse gases than any other? What is the purpose of this activity?
3.			When did people start to change the atmosphere by releasing gases?
4.			As atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases increase, what is the effect on the Earth’s atmosphere?
5.			How much can one person reduce his or her per capita emissions of greenhouse gases? How?