Back in the early 1700s, the temperatures were much cooler. Winter brought heaps of snow, and it was very cold. Now, in 2006, and at least in Maine, the annual snowfall seems to be lacking.

Back before the invention of early cars, people traveled mostly by train. Lots of passengers could ride at the same time, and the production of carbon dioxide and burning of fossil fuels was low. Then the invention of the car came, and soon almost everyone in America was in possession of one. Cars were more efficient, but burned more fuels.

In that time period, the Earth’s temperature has risen a few degrees. See a pattern? The more cars people buy, the more factories that spew pollution into the sky, the more global warming we get.

Although scientists have informed the public that using more of the greenhouse gases is worse for the atmosphere, people are always building more houses and buildings, clear-cutting trees to make room for our growing population, The rainforest which provides almost half of the Earth’s oxygen, is also being destroyed, and more carbon dioxide is eating away al the ozone.

What can you do?

• Turn off lights in an unoccupied room.

• If possible, walk or bike to school or other activities.

• Limit time on gameboys or other similar devices, because their batteries give off greenhouse gases.

• Try and power parts of your house by solar power.

• If your family is looking for a new car, check out a hybrid, the kind that runs partly on electricity, and is a new branch of stopping global warming.

• Plant a tree, plant a garden. Plants give off oxygen, and take in gases

like carbon dioxide.