Transcript Environmental Issues

Environmental Issues
Jeremy Aldrich
Global Citizenship
2006
Climate Change
 The temperature of the
Earth is changing.
 The Earth is getting
hotter.
 Some people call this
“Global Warming”.
 Hotter temperatures
mean smaller icecaps,
higher ocean levels,
and more storms.
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Causes of Climate Change
Climate change is
caused by a combination
of factors:
 Natural changes
 Deforestation
 Using fossil fuels (oil)
 Aerosols
Biodiversity
 The Earth has a
complicated system of
different types of life
interacting.
 When one type of life
grows or shrinks in
number, or disappears,
it has an effect on
other types of life.
 Many types of animals
and plants are extinct,
or endangered (they
are in danger of
becoming extinct).
 Scientists says that up
to 20% of all species
could become extinct
in the next 30 years.
Causes of Extinction
Species can become extinct
naturally. But humans cause
extinctions by:
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 Destroying habitats
 Overhunting/overharvesting
 Creating pollution
 Introducing new predators
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 Creating new competition
for food
Conservation
 Conservation means
taking care of what we
have, and not using up
too much of it.
 We need to conserve
our air, water, and soil
so that we have for
many years to come.
 We need that stuff to
live!
Pollution
 Sometimes humans make the air, water, and
soil dirty, or we aren’t careful about how we
use those natural resources.
The Point
 The better our environment is, the healthier
the people on Earth will be.
 Imagine what the future might be like if
current problems continue until you’re an
adult.
 Now imagine what the future might be like if
we get rid of some of the current
environmental problems.
What You Can Do
 Learn about
environmental
problems.
 Understand how your
actions and choices
help or hurt the
environment.
 Help others
understand.
 Reduce the amount of
damage you do.
 Reuse things when
you can.
 Recycle so we don’t
have to use as many
resources.
 Support groups that
are helping the Earth.