The greenhouse effect |
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Glass is transparent in the visible but reflects infrared. A glasshouse (greenhouse for growing temperature sensitive plants on cold climates) gets hot inside because sunlight heats the contents that then radiate in the far infrared.  In the atmosphere, CO2, methane, and nitrous oxides trap infrared radiation and the climate warms. The consensus among scientists, is that burning fossil fuels is warming the Earth's climate. Interest groups argue about how much. |
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Discussions of the effects of carbon and other emissions were in the academic press as early as 1960. By 2006 the term carbon footprint and the Al Gore propaganda film An Unfortunate Truth, finally named the problem into the public domain. Doing something about it is something else. |