What is Global Warming?Well, basically, the sun’s radiation (light waves) comes down to earth. Most of it enters the atmosphere onto the earth’s surface, which is what keeps the earthwarm. After the waves hit the surface, they bounce back up into space as infrared radiation. But a few of the waves hit the atmosphere and come back down again, and this cycle is what keeps the earth the ideal temperature for us to live. This cycle is called the greenhouse effect.But lately, something bad has been happening. We are burning fuels such as coal and oil. These fuels were once living things, like trees. After they died, they decomposed and melted deep into the ground, to crea oil (or coal). That is why these fuels are mostly known as fossil fuels.Well, we have found these fuels in the ground and made use of them. We burn them in factories to create energy. Sound pretty okay so far doesn’t it? Well, the problem is… the factories put fossil fuels back into the atmosphere, which thickens it, making more and more of those sun rays bounce off and come back to earth, heating it up even more.So, What’s the Big Deal?It’s a huge deal! It will cause a chain reaction, making one thing affect the next, which will cause another thing, which will cause another, and so on. Here are some consequences of global warming:First, it will melt the polar ice caps, causing sea level to go up. And what’s worse… the more the ice caps melt, the faster they melt. and if they melt, sea level will go up over 240 feet worldwide. Here’s why:When the sun’s rays hit the ice, they bounce back up into the atmosphere, which will cause the ice to melt. But once the ice is already melted, the sun’s rays will go right into the water, also heating up the water around the ice, making the ice melt even faster. And once there’s all this extra water in the oceans, it will make the sea level rise. And if all of Greenland melted, sea level would rise 20 feet worldwide.The next domino in the chain is that the world will have more extreme weather. Hurricanes are caused when ocean water gets warmer then usual. And if the sun’s rays are making the ocean warmer, what does that mean will happen? More hurricanes, yes. And on top of that, the water around the world will evaporate faster, causing more drought, wildfires, and intense heat.And that means that disease will rapidly spread to parts of the world where it wasn’t before. For example, warmer weather in higher altitudes will make the mosquitoes go higher, causing malaria.