Climate Change and Global Warming Climate change and global warming are a big problem in today's world. One important thing is the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect is the trapping of the sun's heat in the planet's lower atmosphere due to the atmosphere's greater transparency to visible radiation from the sun compared to infrared radiation emitted from the planet's surface. Greenhouse gases affect the temperature here on Earth because sunlight hits the Earth. Then, carbon dioxide reflects the sun's heat and traps the heat, keeping it on Earth causing temperatures to rise. Global climate change means there is an increase in temperatures on Earth. Statisticians say average temperatures around the world have risen 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit (0.8 degrees Celsius) since the early 1900s. Precipitation has increased by about 5 percent, and there has been plenty of weather recently extreme. Much of this temperature change has occurred over the past 50 years. The melting of the polar ice caps supports the theory of climate change. Yes, we should care if the Earth is warming. There are many effects that global warming has on the citizens of our world. Global warming impacts agriculture, infrastructure, how we consume energy, crops, food processing, transportation, storage, and the list goes on! Statistics say that within the next few hundred years the yield of almost every crop will decrease by up to 30%. Global warming not only affects plant life, but also affects animals around the world. Terry L. Root is involved in the Stanford Institute for International Studies and says: "Birds lay eggs earlier than usual, plants flower earlier and mammals are born... middle of paper... which would prevent Induced climate change by humans. The IPCC does not conduct its own research, scientists contribute to it. Some sources are peer-reviewed and some are not. Based on the research I have done, my opinion on climate change is much more informed than before I didn't really think about global warming before important to my life as well as everyone else's in this world I believe it will affect my life here in Maine are many things that I myself could do to reduce the rate at which climate change is occurring, I could start to recycle more often, use less heating and air conditioning, use less hot water, turn off the lights, drive less, plant trees and, above all, inform people about human-induced climate change.