地球不止變暖這麼簡單（上）

地球不止變暖這麼簡單（上）

來自專欄 動物君

中文字：1342，建議閱讀時間：2分鐘；英文字：816

As we know the weather is getting worse, winters are getting colder and the summers are getting hotter.

While humans are the ones to blame for all the pollution and causing damage to

the o-zone layer. Although it isn』t just cars that cause pollution that has

done damage to the world, there is a lot of other things that we have done that

cause damage to the planet that we might not have realised.

Eating meat

While I have no ill will to anyone who eats meat, there is a force breeding program for

livestock to be eaten. In the world, over 56 billion farmed animals are killed

a year for human consumption. While the problem for the earth isn』t the killing

of these animals the problems comes from when they are alive, you see when cows

release gas they create methane gas and an average cow produces 80kg to 100kg

of methane gas a year. This is what is causing damage to the o-zone layer, the

methane gas from each cow does the same damage as 4 tons of carbon dioxide.

Since people like eating cows there has been testing to try and stop the cows

from producing methane gas and the answer has come in the form of seaweed, it

was found that it cuts the methane produced by 70 percent, which is a lot when

you consider that the cows methane accounts for 44 percent of the all methane

released.

Deforestation

With the need for homes and fuel deforestation is done, but deforestations make up 15 percent of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere where as all the cars on the

planet only account for 14 percent. This is very serious as any plans to reduce

the effects on global warming deforestation needs to be stopped. There are

companies that are trying to stop this but still need to use trees, so what

they do is when they cut down one tree they plant three more trees, this way

more trees are always growing. Although there are companies that will not do

this and have no problem in cutting trees down. One of the main reasons we are

losing animals on this planet is due to animals losing their homes due to

deforestations, so if deforestation stops it may also provide homes for

animals.

Carbon

dioxide

This is a gas that comes from burning fossil fuels, with this being one of the main

reasons for global warming. 87 percent of human-produced carbon dioxide comes

from the burning of fossil fuels like coal, natural gas and oil. While carbon

dioxide has been on the planet before humans, human interaction has upset the

balance of natural carbon dioxide. Human-made carbon dioxide is causing the

problems on this planet.

Global warming and how it affects animals

When something changes in the environment it has a knock-oneffect, while the

environment changes every year the animals are always prepared but global

warming is making each season go into the extreme which the animals cannot cope

with.

Temperature

with the temperature rising the damage can be seen mostly at the artic with the ice

melting, with native animals losing their hunting grounds and even having to

move elsewhere to look for food. even breeding has been affected with cases of

polar bears breeding with grizzly bears which produce offspring called pizzly

or grolar bears depending who the father is. The warmer waters will also stop

certain fish that need cold water to breed. The rise in water temperature has

also seen coral bleaching which wipes out ecosystems that hold hundreds of different

fish species

Water

with the arctic ice melting it will rise the water level of the world and with the erosion of land the habitat of coastal birds are ruined and habitat of fish will be

destroyed by the falling cliffs and the minerals that fall into the water could

poison the water.

Food

With the heat more inland watering holes will dry and plant life will die out, which

will stop native animals fromobtaining food from the plants, so the chances

that it will have a knock-on effect to killing herbivores is very high.

The warmer winters will cause natural food to spoil faster, this will affect small rodents

that like to store food to help them through the winter. As the food spoils, it

will grow fungus which will poison the rodents killing them slowly as the

fungus will affect the lungs first.

Which the change in temperature flowers will bloomed early, which will affect the migrating birds arrive after the long journey there will not be enough food for them to gain energy. This will cause a huge decrease in bird』s for the next year, also with

the large amount of dead birds that would be left could cause an outbreak in

disease that could affect the human population.

是個地球人都知道我們的氣候正在變得越來越遭，四季也變得越來越混亂。人類在這其中的作用也不用我多說了：環境破壞，臭氧層空洞等等。

顯然我們不能把一切的問題都推卸在小轎車身上，日常生活中還有許多我們並未意識到但是其實已經對環境造成傷害了的舉動。

1. 吃肉

動物君雖然對於食葷者不置可否足，但是對於強迫家畜過度繁殖還是非常痛心的。全世界每年有560億頭農場動物被殺用於人類的消遣。目前的問題不是動物被殺，而是它們活著的時候。這動物活著時會釋放甲烷，每頭牛平均每年釋放80—100千克的甲烷，這甲烷就是真正破壞臭氧的元兇，每頭牛所產生的甲烷相當於4噸的二氧化碳。由於人類喜歡吃牛肉，所以科學家們就嘗試如何避免讓牛產生甲烷，事實證明如果以海藻作為飼料能夠減少70%的甲烷，要知道牛所排放的甲烷佔到了所有甲烷氣體排放量的44%。

2. 森林砍伐

由於人類對於房屋建造與燃料的需求，森林砍伐只增不減，導致增加了15%的二氧化碳，要知道地球上所有汽車的二氧化碳排放量也就佔到14%。這是目前非常嚴峻的問題，任何植物的減少都會影響溫室效應，所以濫砍濫伐必須杜絕。很多大型公司都試圖減少砍伐，但是社會對於木材依舊有著強烈的需求，所以當他們砍伐一棵樹時，需要種三棵以上的樹，這樣能保證基本的植被率。但是依舊有大部分公司只顧砍伐，我們的動物正在滅絕，很大程度上是因為失去了它們的家園，所以減少樹木的砍伐，不光是減少二氧化碳的排放，更是為動物提供廣闊的棲息地。

3. 二氧化碳

二氧化碳是來源於化石燃料的燃燒，這也成為全球變暖的主要原因。人類所產生的87%的二氧化碳是由於像煤炭、天然氣及石油等燃料的燃燒。二氧化碳這種氣體在人類出現以前就已經存在了，人類的社會活動打亂了自然界中二氧化碳的含量，人為所產生的二氧化碳引起了地球上的各種問題。

氣候變暖是如何影響動物的呢？

自然環境中一旦某些物質發生了細微的改變，就會引起一系列的連鎖反應。每年自然環境都會發生相應的變化，動物也會隨之做出調整，但是全球變暖使每個季節不是太熱就是太冷，動物因此就無法應對。

1. 氣溫

由於氣溫的上升，顯而易見的就是北極的冰川融化，生活在當地的動物隨著冰塊的減少也大量減少了捕食區，甚至不得不遷徙到別的區域，甚至連繁殖也受到了影響，由於北極熊的棲息地大規模地萎縮，不得不遷徙到灰熊的生活區，於是與灰熊交配，生出了小灰熊或小北極灰熊，這取決於誰是它們的父親。水溫的上升同樣會使一些魚類不能適應，使珊瑚礁白化，破壞生態平衡，進一步引起更多魚類的滅絕。

2. 水

北極冰川的融化會使全世界的海平面上升，加劇陸地的侵蝕，沿海鳥類的棲息地也遭到進一步破壞。海中的魚類也因為被侵蝕的岩石落入海水後溶解的礦物質而遭殃。

3. 食物

由於內陸的溫度持續升高，很多水塘都已乾涸，植物被曬死，以其為生的動物也會受到影響，由於這個連鎖反應，將會有很多食草動物死於食物短缺。

變暖的冬天也會使一部分的植物無法生存，這同樣會影響小型嚙齒動物的生存狀態。當一些植物死後，土地會生長出黴菌，這類物質能夠使嚙齒類動物慢性中毒，首先受到影響的就是肺。

由於氣溫的變化，花期就會提前，打亂了需要遷徙鳥類的飛行周期，當它們長途跋涉過來後，發現已經沒有足夠食物了，這會大大減少來年鳥類的數量，同樣也會留下許多餓死的鳥屍，引

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