What is the enhanced greenhouse effect, and why is it changing the climate?
The greenhouse effect is actually a good thing. Put simply, it prevents incoming heat from the Sun from escaping straight back into space and keeps the global mean surface temperature at around 15 degrees Celsius. Without the greenhouse effect, the Earth would be too cold for life to survive. The problem we face is the enhanced greenhouse effect. Concentrations of greenhouse gases are building up in the atmosphere and this is preventing more heat from escaping, leading to an increase in the Earths temperature. The increase in the Earth’s temperature is affecting ecosystems either directly, by melting ice in the arctic regions, which leads to loss of habitat for wildlife; or indirectly by changing weather patterns, which can disrupt ecosystems which are used to certain climatic conditions. Climate change is affecting some parts of the world more than others. Areas in temperate zones, such as the UK will see significant changes such as sea level rise, more extreme weather events, and the
