MISSION 01

ABOUT

Earth is getting warmer and warmer！
We must act right now！

The atmosphere that surrounds the Earth contains “greenhouse gases”. These gases trap the heat from the Sun on the Earth’s surface and keep the planet’s temperature suitable for living things. Without it the Earth would be too cold for living creatures to survive. Now, however, the greenhouse gases have increased too much and made the Earth too warm…
This is what we call global warming.
There are several kinds of “greenhouse gases” and the most potent gas to warm the planet is carbon dioxide（CO2）. Therefore, people talk about global warming together with CO2 reduction.
A ton of CO2 is emitted from human activities and manufacturing.
So, let’s start by reducing the CO2 around us first!

※What are greenhouse gases?... “Greenhouse gases” are gases that absorb infrared rays. The earth’s surface is warmed up by sunlight and emits infrared radiation（IR）, and the greenhouse gases and clouds absorb the IR back into the ground（greenhouse effect）to maintain the Earth’s average temperature. As these gases increase, less infrared energy is released into space and the Earth becomes even warmer. Its effect of warming up the Earth is exactly like a greenhouse. At the same time, the ozone layer in the stratosphere warms the Earth by absorbing the solar ultraviolet radiation, which is harmful to human bodies, and then converts the energy into heat. Chlorofluorocarbons（CFCs）, which are one type of greenhouse gases are said to be hundreds to ten-thousands times more powerful than the CO2 greenhouse effect. This destroys the ozone layer in the stratosphere, so we also need to make an effort to reduce CFCs.

PROBLEM

What happens when global warming progresses?

It was after the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century that CO2, the cause of global warming, began to increase rapidly. Compared to before the Industrial Revolution, the global average temperature has already increased by 1℃. You may think “Only 1℃?”, however, even 0.5℃ difference has a significant impact on the global environment. For example, when the Earth gets warmer, the ice in the North and South Poles starts melting and wild animals such as penguins and bears that live there will lose their habitat. The global sea level has already risen 10 to 20 cm over the past century and some lands are sinking into the ocean. Animals and plants that inhabit cool environments cannot survive when the temperature gets too high. There are some areas that are turning into deserts due to droughts with no rain, and other areas where natural disasters such as typhoons, tornadoes, and floods occur frequently.
If the glaciers keep melting due to global warming, there will be even fewer places for humans, animals, and plants to live. Extreme weather will prevent food crops from growing, and the world will become a very tough place to live for everyone on Earth.
In fact, the worst bushfire in history happened in Australia and lasted until 2020 and burned a forest area as big as 42 Tokyo cities. It also burned the world heritage-listed Blue Mountains National Park and approximately 1 billion wild animals fell victim to it.
In Miami Beach, Florida in the United States the city has recently struggled with high tide flooding. The countries that participated in the Paris Agreement in 2015 agreed to keep the temperature rise after the Industrial Revolution within 2℃. However, according to the IPCC（Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change）Special Report on “Global Warming of 1.5℃” in 2018, it will only be possible to avoid various crises by keeping the temperature rise within 1.5℃, not 2℃. To do so, the net global CO2 emissions by humans must be reduced by about 45% from the 2010 level by 2030, and “nearly zero” around 2050.

ACTION

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