My 3rd attempt at blogging - and a Future Learn course that is inspiring it

Well, here we are in 2020 and my attempt to blog again.  When the pandemic started and I didn't have work for 6 weeks, I started taking these courses offered through Future Learn (futurelearn.com).  The first was called Sustainable Futures, the next was Future Food and now this one is Climate Change: The Science.  The first 2 courses had us answer questions in the discussion board and comment on other participants' responses.  For the Climate Change: The Science course, instructors suggested we  consider blogging.  I have often spoke to friends/family about how I like writing but am never sure what to write about so here is my opportunity to blog about what I am learning in a online course.  Doesn't sound like the most entertaining reading but if my goal is to write then does it really matter how many are reading?

So let's get to it.  Here is what I am learning on day 1:

Greenhouse gases:

As much as I feel like I am a person who cares about the environment and the future of humanity and other life forms, I need to get a better understanding of the science.  In that I can watch the course video on greenhouses gases and go, "okay...yes....I see where this is going".  But ask me to explain it to another person (or a kid) or on this blog and whoosh, I feel a bit of panic because I don't understand "enough".  So this is my warning to anyone reading this - I am going to explain it and re-explain it to practice - practice for when I am talking to people and explaining why this is important and what they can do about it in their own life.  So with this blog being my first attempt,  I may not get it exactly right but this is why I am practicing...

So imagine yourself curled up in a blanket.  Maybe you are inside your home and the blanket is keeping you warm.  Maybe you are outside in the sun and the blanket is making you warmer than you want to be).  This is the concept the instructor of the course wants us to think about rather than a greenhouse when we think about sun entering the earthy's atmosphere.  The sun is radiating light and heat onto the earth's surface.  From what reaches the earth 30% is reflected back and 70% is absorbed by the earth.  However, that heat reflected from the earth's surface just doesn't all go back into space. There are "Greenhouse gases" (the important ones being carbon dioxide, water, methane, nitrous oxide and ozone) that are acting like a "blanket" and re-emiting some of the reflected heat from the earth back to the earth.

So why a blanket instead of a greenhouse?  A greenhouse doesn't have the airflow inside of it.  So if you think about when you are at the gym and really sweating and you go and stand in front of a fan which then evaporates the sweat from your skin and cools you down, a green house doesn't do that.  But the earth does which is why the concept of a blanket (rather than a greenhouse).

And why is it important to understand that greenhouse gases are acting like a blanket rather than a greenhouse?  Stay tuned as I learn more....