How do i explain Global Warming to my mom when...

Global warming is not just about temperatures getting hotter but about climate change. The fact that it is snowing in places that have never had snow before is evidence of climate change. It is snowing in new places and not snowing where it used to. The storm changes, the flooding that gets worse each year. She is probably lucky to be living in a place that is relatively safe. If she was living in the pacific islands she would be worrying. They are in danger of going under the sea. The fact that the icecaps melt more each year is evidence of global warming. It does not mean that there will be no snow in winter as it has not changed that abruptly. I hope it never does as that would be disastrous for the hotter parts of the planet.

again you have to understand that global warming is the average from all over the world calculated, it has nothing to do with one local area like where you live, but the whole globe at one time, then you have to understand the different between climate and temperature, temperature is what we experience everyday, like it is cold or it is hot or it is 10 degrees or it is 90 degrees, this is not what they are talking about when they talk about global warming, the are talking about the climate of the whole globe all of earth at one time, so yes it will be winter still in some parts of the world, and it will summer in others, but the climate taking all these averages into consideration is a about 1 degree warmer than a century ago, and the exceration happened within the last 20 years. 1 degree doesn't sound like much, but at 5 degrees warmer it is enough to kill off human beings because the sun's rays will be too hot.

I think that the term "global warming" causes a lot of misconceptions about what it really is about. It doesn't necessarily mean that the whole world is going to get hotter. Like another commenter said, some parts of the world are going to get hot and others are going to get colder. There are certain weather patterns that are going to be disrupted by the climate change. I think that the fact that some places that never get snow are now getting it is an example of that. The normal, or what we consider to be normal, weather patterns of certain areas are changing, probably thrown off by changing climates all over the world. I think that we're come too far in science to still doubt global warming. People need to start making changes to help the environment and stop denying that there aren't problems when they exist.

Global temperatures have always been calculated by taking averages over a number of years. Within that period there are always cycles, as your mum says. But what global warming means is (a) radical changes in local climatic conditions and (b) that overall long-term average slowly increasing. The further we get into the warming, the faster it will increase as feedback conditions come into play. Human interaction with the climate through carbon emissions is seen as hastening the warming. But I suspect you won't convince her. Lash

omg i hate how much our climate is changing! i mean, its cool that sometimes it gets really warm in the winter time, but it scares me. Im scared that the world is changing and that one day, there may be no one left on earth.... maybe I sound overexaggerating, but it's just a scary thought...

hey moonlitmagikchild, in dealing with the older generation on concepts understood by our generation, patience is the key. Explain to them like how you would explain to a child, be clear and simple in your explanation. Well, you can try my way, this is how I would explain global warming to kids or to people who cannot come to terms with global warming. Now, first, tell your mom nicely(if you can get her to visualize it would be the best), if you were to put her in a room with all the windows and doors shut, and her, breathing her own air. Just like that as time passes by, inhaling oxygen and exhaling carbon dioxide, inhaling , exhaling....... Now, as time passes by, by right, the room should feel a little warmer, there will be more of the air that she breathes out(C02). She may begin to wonder herself, how come the room became warm? This is the time to tell her, ''Hey mom, as time passes there will be more of the air that you breathe out, and as time passes, the room also get warmer. Guess what? The more the air that you breathe out accumulates in your room, the more you feel warmer, coz the air that she breathes out as it increases in quantity, will naturally trap more heat, thus in time to come the whole room may get slightly warmer.'' And the heat is trapped by the air that she breathes out. And now, tell her that she is actually the earth itself, with all its factories and pollutants producing C02 and the room is actually the earth's atmosphere. The room's 'warming' will be the 'Global warming' Now, tell her to imagine walking to the other parts of the room. Hey! How come a drop in temperature? Aha, the heat in the room is actually not evenly distributed just like Earth itself, that why some regions of the room may be slightly warmer (horrible summer) and some regions are slightly colder(unbearable winter you are having now I presume?). Hope that helps, Good Luck :)

I just have to be the odd one and agree with your mom.

I think in someways calling it Global warming is inaccurate. It affects the ice caps by melting but its also affecting other places by changing their normal weather colder...or warmer...changing when seasons start or end. Calling it Climate change affected by the extra greenhouse gases and the hole in the ozone layer probably makes more sense. However...i'm going to point out that the world has had an ice age and warming back up without the greenhouse gases and such that we put out there. To me the change in climate might be accelerated a bit by the global warming but...its not like we caused the first ice age!

in global warming, it is not that the summers get more severe, it is extremes of weather which take place. Summers are warmer and winters are more severe too. More snow fall and more snow melting in the summers giving rise to higher seas an dland beign eaten up by the sea sooner or later. With land shrinking we will soon have no place to live in.

Hi moonlitmagikchild. Global warming is a reality of facts and figures. To feel it will take generations. How many trillion tons of have melt from poles are also a figure and no way to calculate it. I think your mother is very right in her statement. Probably you will have to pick up all those complicated calculations and facts from website like IPCC and other related website for establishing the truth that can not be visualized.

Watch the movie An Inconvenient Truth and make sure you understand it and can explain it, then have her watch it. You need to get her to agree to watch the whole thing though, then comment on it or she will probably get up and walk away from it, saying that it's a bunch of lies or something. I've learned a lot about Global Warming through documentaries that were made about it that I've found on Netflix. For $8.99 I get 1 DVD at a time plus UNLIMITED online viewing! If you have a fast internet connection, I highly recommend this route. Good luck!

Well, that would be because the correct term is climate change, not global warming. Anyway, anyone who doesn't think it's a problem to produce as much pollution as we do is a !"£$%^&* idiot - REGARDLESS of whether or not they think it warms up the planet. You and your kids are breathing in that crap.

We are having a colder winter this year, too.Global Warming is a scientific question,which can be proved by scientific data.I think we cann't judge it by our own feeling,if so that would be quite a big chance that we human can't endure.

u see global warming is quite a complicated thing. it is not only that in global warming "warming" means the weather all around the word is becoming hot.i live in India last 10 years there were less rains but now the intensity of these rains have increased so much that there now floods even in Thar desert. one more example is that of flood that came in Oman last year. so the conclusion is global warming is resulting in unexpected weather behavior, some places its hot and in some places it cold. if u need more explanation on this topic you can message me because the topic is vast.

Global warming could be discribed as a change in realities, many things have changed now, in my country there is season for rainfall and there is season dryness but these days it is raininy cat and dog. So therefore, realities have change and we can't correct because they are natural phenonenon. cheers!

hi dear,,,, nice to hear that people around the world are haveing tension regarding the effects of global warming,,,hey you can expalin you mom that due to effect of gloabl warming the season cycle has been disturbed and also climates have been disturbed,,,,,well its not a individual effort that will bring an effect but if we bring awareness among people then we can and we will make a difference,,,,,,,,try expalining you mother the ill effects of global warming,,,try to explain her by showing of some live examples from you daily life dear