A big part of climate change is global warming. You probably felt the effects of global warming this past summer when we experienced a record breaking heat wave that created temperatures as high as 119 degrees and took nearly 100 peoples lives in Oregon. Global warming happens when greenhouse gasses are released into the earth's atmosphere, greenhouse gasses trap the sun's warmth in the earth's atmosphere making it warmer. Greenhouse gasses come from burning fossil fuels like coal and gas. A lot of fossil fuels get burned for things like factories and machinery. Why does this all matter? Well for starters some effects of climate change are irreversible because we already have too many greenhouse gasses in our atmosphere. Additionally we all live on planet earth with no other viable planet discovered yet we should want to take care of it. The fact is we need the earth to survive but the earth does not need us. So why wouldn't we take better care of it?