CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT

CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT

Two educational workshops "Climate change and the greenhouse effect" were held this spring on the Island of Lokrum. The greenhouse effect is the process by which radiation from the Earth's atmosphere heats the surface to a higher temperature than it would be in the absence of an atmosphere. The atmosphere contains certain gases (greenhouse gases: water vapor (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrogen oxide (N2O) and ozone (O3)). Greenhouse gases absorb the energy of the infrared spectrum and radiate it towards the surface, causing the Earth to warm. The greenhouse effect favors life on Earth because without it the average temperature would be below 0 °C.

This natural process additionally increases human activity (by emitting exhaust gases from factories and traffic, destroying forests that bind carbon dioxide), which leads to an additional increase in the temperature of the Earth's surface, which we call global warming. Climate change has led to the melting of glaciers, the rise and fall of sea levels, and the extinction of numerous plant and animal species.

The workshop is part of the educational program "Role of forests in the amelioration of negative environmental changes" which is carried out through the activities of the project "Historical gardens of the Dubrovnik area" with the aim of raising awareness of the need to preserve nature and the environment with an emphasis on climate change.

The website was co-financed by the European Union from the European Regional Development Fund within the project 'Historical Gardens of the Dubrovnik Area'