FaQs: Global warning and climate change.
Heat from the sun is held in the Earth’s atmosphere by natural greenhouse gases. These keep the planet warm and without them the average temperature would be about – 18C instead of 14C. However, more and more heat is being kept in the atmosphere because of man-made greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide (CO2), which is produced by burning oil, gas and coal. This global warning is already causing changes in the weather all over the world.
Since the 1970s, average global temperatures have risen by about 0.6C and many scientists believe that more extreme weather conditions have been caused by climate change in recent years. For example, New Orleans was hit by a huge hurricane in 2005. Many people were killed and thousands were made homeless. And in the summer of 2003, 15,000 people in France died as a result of heat wave.
Experts believe that more and more places are going to be affected by climate change in future. And as the ice caps at the North and South Poles melt and sea levels rise further, many towns and villages near the coast will be flooded. This is frightening thought because more than half the world’s population live near the coast.
A lot has been written about what governments and businesses should do to slow down global warming. However, there’s also a lot we can do to save energy at home. For example, always turn off TVs, DVD players and computers –machines use 70% as much electricity on stand-by as when they’re being used. Many other useful tips can be found on public information websites.
Saving Jesse’s arm.
At about 8 p.m. on July 6th, eight-year-old Jesse Arbogast was playing in the sea in a National Park near Pensacola, Florida. It was the end of a perfect day at the beach with his uncle and aunt. Then disaster struck. Jesse was attacked by a two-metre-long male shark, which bit off his right arm from the shoulder and also took a bite out of his leg. By the time his uncle and aunt pulled Jesse out of the water, he was unconscious and had already lost a lot of blood.
While Jesse’s aunt was giving the boy a kiss of life, his uncle, Vance Flosenzier, ran into the sea and disappeared under the water. Amazingly, he managed to catch the 90-kilo shark and pull it out of the water onto the beach. Although this might sound impossible, never underestimate a man’s strength when family member’s life is in danger. At that moment two park rangers arrived to help the family and one of them shot the shark four times in the head. Then he held open the shark’s mouth while a volunteer firefighter reached down its throat and pulled out Jesse’s arm.
A few minutes later, a helicopter took the boy and his arm to nearby Baptist Hospital, Pensacola, where DR Ian Rogers and his team managed to reattach Jesse’s arm in an eleven-hour operation. The doctors knew the operation had been success when Jesse’s fingers went pink. After such a terrible accident nobody wants to be over-optimistic, but the medical team are hopeful that Jesse will have full use of his arm in the future.
Although Jesse’s story is terrifying, it would be incorrect to think that sharks are always so dangerous. Apparently this type of attack was very unusual and sharks are usually harmless to humans. “Shark attacks are uncommon,” agrees JR Tomasovic, chief ranger at the Pensacola park. “You could go ten years without seeing another.” However, he says that people shouldn’t be irresponsible and should only swim on beaches where there are lifeguards.