Global warming

Useful words and phrases

Here are some words and phrases you might come across when researching this topic.

Climate: Climate refers to the normal weather patterns of a place, such as average temperature, rainfall, wind etc.

Climate change: The change in the normal weather patterns, which can mean warming, cooling, or other changes.

Global warming: The long term rising of the earth's temperature.

Global cooling: The long term cooling of the earth's temperature.

Greenhouse effect: The warming of the earth's surface and the air above it, caused by gases in the air that trap energy from the sun.

Greenhouse gas: The gas that contributes to the greenhouse effect, for example carbon dioxide and chlorofluorocarbons.

The ozone layer: A layer of ozone above planet earth that absorbs the harmful ultraviolet rays of the sun.

Ozone depletion: This is the gradual thinning or shrinking of the ozone layer caused by release of poisonous gases from industries and human activities.

What is global warming?

These websites will help you understand the meaning of global warming.

Britannica School

Britannica School is part of EPIC, which is a collection of reliable databases covering lots of different topics. It’s put together especially for New Zealand school students and helps to answer questions like this.

• Choose your level (Primary, Middle or Secondary) and then enter the keywords 'Global warming' into the search bar.

• Select the article global warming (Earth science) to read what global warming is about and other related information.

• Remember you can switch between levels by changing the Level to 1, 2 or 3 in the box at the top left hand side of the page.

Tips: To get to the EPIC resources you will need a password from your school librarian first. Or you can chat with one of our AnyQuestions librarians between 1 and 6 pm Monday to Friday and they will help you online. Some EPIC databases may also be available through your public library.

Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

Te Ara is an excellent starting point for all questions about Aotearoa New Zealand. If we look down to the bottom of the page, we can see that the website belongs to the Ministry for Culture & Heritage, so the information is well-researched and reliable.

• Go to the Topics tab and choose Climate and weather.

• Next select Climate Change.

• The third part of this story looks at global warming and how it effects New Zealand.

Tips: We like sites like this because they’re reliable. You can tell because of their web address – they have either .govt or .ac, meaning they are from government or educational organisations. They’re also New Zealand sites, so relevant for us.

Causes and impacts of global warming

Most scientists agree that global warming is caused by the effect human activity has on the environment. They are also concerned about the impact of global warming on our weather patterns, sea levels and way of life.

NASA

This official site of NASA for students has graded information on various space topics that includes global warming and climate change. It includes images and video galleries.

• Type in the keywords 'global warming' into the search box at the top of the page.

• Select the article called Climate Change.

• If you look further down the page you will find links to evidence, causes and effects.

Tips: Search words, or keywords, are the most important words in our question. Usually it’s better to leave out small words like ‘the’, ‘a’ and ‘of’ and just choose the main ones, eg global warming. We can always change our keywords or add more if we need to.

Tips: A website’s address (URL) can give you a hint about how reliable it is. Look for addresses in the results that include .gov or .edu in the URL. These are quality sites from overseas government or educational organisations.

Global Issues (Gale In Context)

Global Issues in Context is another EPIC database. It has lots of information relating to earth's environmental studies. Remember you need a password from your school librarian or an AnyQuestions librarian to log in to any of these databases.

• Go to Browse Issues from the tabs at the top of the page and look for Global warming in the list of topics.

• Select Read more from the introduction to find more about this topic, its causes and impacts.

Tips: Searches on EPIC databases come up with lots of related articles, videos, audio and other media. We recommend you explore them to learn more about a topic.

Opposing Viewpoints (Gale In Context)

This EPIC database looks at different sides of the argument for many topical subjects, including global warming. There are two different pathways to find information here.

• You can do a general search using the keywords 'global warming' to find information including viewpoints, journal articles, statistics, images and more.

• The other way to find information is by looking under the heading Energy and Environmentalism, then choosing the link to Global Warming and Climate Change.

Science (Gale In Context)

This EPIC resource is full of science information for students covering a wide range of topics, including causes of global warming such as the greenhouse effect.

• Go to Browse Topics.

• Look for topics like Global Warming and Climate Change or Greenhouse Effect/ Greenhouse Gases.

• These topic pages have a good Overview and link to other reference articles, experiments, news, and more.

Tips: Many web pages have links to further information or to other recommended sites. Following these links is a great way to find out more. This searching method is called “pearl growing” because you are picking up pieces of sand to make a beautiful pearl!

Action on global warming

The impacts of global warming are being taken seriously in most parts of the world. For this reason there are many organisations internationally and in New Zealand who are working to reduce it.

NASA

We like NASA's website because it comes from a reliable organisation and has heaps of researched facts about climate change.

• Enter the keywords 'global warming' like we did earlier.

• Find the link to Climate Change.

• Along the top of the page there are different options, choose Mitigation and Adaptation to find out about different responses to climate change, what needs to happen to reduce it, or adapt to it.

Ministry for the Environment | Manatū Mō Te Taiao

The Ministry for the Environment has a large section of its website dedicated to sharing information about global warming and climate change.

• Go to Pūtaiao | Facts and Science and choose Climate Change.

• Explore the links to find out about Aotearoa New Zealand climate projections, and story maps of impacts of New Zealand's changing climate.

Tips: We like sites like this because they’re reliable. You can tell because of their web address – they have either .govt or .ac, meaning they are from government or educational organisations. They’re also New Zealand sites, so relevant for us.

NIWA | Taihoro Nukurangi

The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research was set up by the New Zealand government to research sustainable uses of natural resources like our air and water.

• Choose the Climate & Weather option from along the top of the page.

• Look under the Research heading for the link to Providing climate change advice to New Zealand regions.

• This is about climate related work undertaken in New Zealand.

Tips: Websites that have .com or .co in the address can have good information, but you need to assess how reliable it is. Check the About us link on the website, if you can find one. That can tell you what the company’s mission and values are.

Global Issues (Gale In Context)

This EPIC database has useful information on solutions and actions on global warming.

• After you have logged in with a password from your school or AnyQuestions librarian, find the topic Global warming from Browse Issues like we did before.

• Here you can find information about international groups or agreements that address global warming and climate change, like the Paris Climate Agreement and UN Climate Change Conferences.

• You can also find other related websites, like the official site of the Kyoto Protocol.

Books

There are some great books on global warming- check out your local public or school library to see what they have.

Some recommended titles are:

• How to change everything : the young human's guide to protecting the planet and each other by Naomi Klein and Rebecca Stefoff

• Climate change : the science behind melting glaciers and warming oceans : with hands-on science activities by Joshua Sneideman and Erin Twamley

• Hothouse earth : the climate crisis and the importance of carbon neutrality by Stephanie Sammartino McPherson

• The science of our changing planet : [from global warming to sustainable development] by Tony Juniper

• A global warming primer : pathway to a post-global warming future by Jeffrey O Bennett

• Cool : women leaders reversing global warming by Paola Gianturco and Avery Sangster

SCIS no: 1908750