Greenhouse Effect Definition: Bill Nye on Climate Change

Bill Nye is a science communicator, mechanical engineer, and TV personality. Known to many as Bill Nye the Science Guy, Bill began his career as a mechanical engineer at Boeing; he invented a hydraulic resonance suppression tube used on 747 airplanes. Bill rose to greater prominence in the 1990s when he starred on his television show Bill Nye the Science Guy. This Emmy Award–winning half-hour science special taught viewers, often young students, about the principles of science. Bill’s engaging style and informative lessons made science a more accessible field of study for people of all ages.

The natural greenhouse effect describes a scientific cycle in which solar radiation breaks through the Earth’s atmosphere to warm the Earth’s surface temperature. The atmosphere prevents the sun’s heat and energy from returning to space so that the Earth can maintain a warm-enough global temperature to engender a healthy climate system.

In proper atmospheric concentrations, the sun’s ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared radiation are all necessary for the Earth’s energy balance. However, since greenhouse gases trap heat, increasing greenhouse gas emissions can have a dangerous warming effect, leading to a global climate crisis.

Greenhouse gases are gases in Earth’s atmosphere that trap heat. Some major greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, fluorinated gases, and water vapor. Like a greenhouse, these atmospheric gases allow sunlight to create warmth, but they do not let all that warmth escape. The trapped heat then raises the average surface temperature of the Earth. The greenhouse effect is essential to life on Earth. Still, increases in fossil fuel consumption and the burning of natural gases, along with other human activities, have led to a rise in greenhouse gas levels that could be catastrophic.

“A little bit of carbon dioxide goes a long way in keeping a planet like ours warm.But now we're adding so much carbon dioxide so fast that the greenhouse effect is getting stronger and stronger, which is making the world warmer and warmer.” — Bill Nye

Consider the following examples of the greenhouse effect:

1. 1. Cars: A car warming in the sun is one example of the greenhouse effect. The infrared wavelengths have a hard time passing through glass, so once they get through a car window, they will have a hard time escaping, which in turn warms the car, even when sitting outside on a cool day if the sky is clear.
2. 2. Forests: Desertification is another example. In regions suffering from deforestation, areas with fewer trees will warm more quickly. Trees provide shade and block sunlight from warming the Earth’s surface. Exposed and shadeless land on the planet’s surface will warm faster.
3. 3. Oceans: The greenhouse effect also impacts open waters. When there are more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, they trap more heat, which can warm ocean waters more readily as they sit beneath the shining sun with no protection.

“There are people who claim that the Earth's climate is not being affected by humans. There are people who claim that it is. Climate change isn’t a hoax. It’s real, and it’s serious. But it’s not an insurmountable problem.” — Bill Nye

Greenhouse gases are contributing to climate change at an alarming rate. Consider how human activity affects greenhouse gas emissions and possible solutions:

• Industrial Revolution: Pre-industrial times saw much milder concentrations of greenhouse gases and the burning of fossil fuels. The Industrial Revolution in the 1700s and 1800s expedited the earth’s greenhouse effect issues, jumpstarting more significant global warming potential. “People have dumped a great deal of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere since around 1750 when steam engines were perfected by James Watt, after whom we named the unit of power, the watt,” Bill says. “And the world has gotten warmer—we prove this by looking at ice.”
• Global economy: More production with fossil fuels to supply goods to a rapidly growing global economy means more carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide in the atmosphere. Moving into the twentieth century, further popularization of automobiles and planes led to greater carbon dioxide concentrations, increasing global temperatures. “The big problem with climate change is not that the world was not once warmer—it was much warmer during the time of the ancient dinosaurs, and there was a lot more carbon dioxide in the air sixty-six million years ago—but the problem is the speed, the rate at which we are adding carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to the air,” Bill says.
• Human activity: A leading contributor to climate change is human activity. Our landfills trap heat and release methane, our deforestation practices halt the photosynthesis process that consumes carbon dioxide, and chlorofluorocarbons released from factories deteriorate the ozone layer. This has led to many areas being so warm they lack precipitation and risk drought, extreme weather, and decreased biodiversity. “Fighting climate change will require the cooperation of everyone—individuals, businesses, [and] governments,” Bill says.
• Climate change solutions: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) tracks how fabricated structures impact the Earth’s temperature while noting solutions—such as a reliance on wind or solar energy and other renewable resources—as a way to move forward. “What would help is making surfaces whiter or more reflective,” Bill says. “Not because it would keep more heat from getting trapped so much as it would make less of the light coming in change to the longer frequency infrared. If you're a materials [scientist], a kid in engineering school, or a chemical engineer, if you could invent a pavement that is white or much more reflective than black asphalt, you could change the world.”

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