Why join the
#FireflyCoalition?
Joining the #FireflyCoalition means that you will commit to reducing your personal carbon dioxide emissions.
We hope to provide three things:
1. An outlet to publicly declare that you are making positive changes.
2. An educational resource to help explain your choices to others.
3. A place for inspiration through seeing others make positive changes.
Below is an summary of how carbon dioxide gas is contributing to global warming:
How does the Earth's temperature stay balanced?
Most of the Earth's heat comes from the sun as sunlight. It is absorbed into the water, the ground, and the plants.
Some of this heat is reflected back towards space as infared light.
The atmosphere is made of several different types of gases. According to NOAA, the atmosphere is 78.084% nitrogen, 20.946% oxygen, 0.934% argon, 0.042% carbon dioxide, and 12 other gases measured in the parts per million.
The three main components -- nitrogen, oxygen, argon (99.964% of the air) -- do not absorb heat. The infrared light passes right through them.
Gases that trap heat in the atmosphere are called greenhouse gases. These are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases.
Among greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide is has the highest atmospheric concentration and the highest annual emissions rate.
Why is there carbon dioxide in the atmosphere?
Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring gas on Earth.
Animals breathe-in oxygen and breathe-out carbon dioxide.
Plants breathe-in carbon dioxide and breathe-out oxygen.
There are also other sources of carbon dioxide and oxygen. Carbon dioxide forms when plants burn in wildfires. It also comes from volcanoes. Most oxygen comes from algae in the Earth’s oceans.
This is called the ‘Carbon Dioxide Cycle’.
What is a "fossil fuel"?
Fossil fuels are ancient plants that have been buried for millions of years. Oil is found where ancient seas filled with algae were buried. Coal is found where ancient forests were buried.
We burn “fossil fuels” to spin motors and generators. We burn oil in cars, planes, and ships. We burn coal in power plants to produce electricity.
Oil and coal are ancient plants that have been hidden away for millions of years. We are bringing them to the surface and then burning them, adding much more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.
The Earth's carbon dioxide levels are rapidly rising.
The Earth's average temperatures are rapidly rising.
What can we do?
We must stop adding more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere whenever possible.
