1. The Greenhouse Effect
What is a greenhouse?
A greenhouse is a house made of glass. It has glass
walls and a glass roof. People grow tomatoes and
flowers and other plants in them, because greenhouse
stays warm inside, even during winter.
Sunlight shines in and warms the plants and air inside.
But the glass traps the heat, so it can’t (can’t=no
puede) escape.
So during the daylight hours, it gets warmer and
warmer inside a greenhouse, and stays pretty warm at
night too.
So, what is the Greenhouse Effect?
Earth's atmosphere does the same thing as the
greenhouse. Gases in the Earth’s atmosphere (water
vapour, carbon dioxide ) do what the roof of a
greenhouse does.
During the day, the Sun shines through the
atmosphere. Earth's surface warms up in the sunlight.
At night, Earth's surface cools, releasing the heat
back into the air. But some of the heat is trapped by
the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
This phenomenon is called the greenhouse effect.
So, the greenhouse effect makes Earth’s temperature
increase. This sounds good but it really isn’t: think
about glaciers. If the temperature increases, glaciers
melt, and that makes the sea level rise.
What causes the Greenhouse Effect?
The Earth's atmosphere naturally contains these
greenhouse gases. Over the past decades their
presence has increased, and this caused the
temperature of the earth to increase.
The following human activities are the main
contributors to the increase of
greenhouse gases:
- burning gasoline to drive cars and trucks
- burning oil, coal or wood to produce
electricity
- burning forests to clear land (deforestation)
The Greenhouse Effect: think about it

2. Human activities have an extremely strong impact over nature. It is possible to control the
increase of greenhouse gases, but we all have to change our habits.
Is there something that you or your family can change in your daily life in order to respect
Nature and try to control the greenhouse effect? Give an example below.
ENGLISH SPANISH
Greenhouse
Glass
Roof
Sunlight
To shine
To grow
Heat
To trap
To increase
Rise
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