ShmoopTube

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[Coop and Dino singing]

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Energy is something that everyone and everything needs...

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Whether it's your blender...

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Your parents' car... [Kids driving with parents]

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Or even just you...

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Everything that moves or grows runs off of some sort of energy.

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Seems like the only thing in the world that doesn't need energy is a toddler... [Man on the floor and toddler on his back]

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Seriously, how do they do it…?

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We're tired just watching them…

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Unfortunately, certain kinds of energy can have some negative consequences.

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One of the biggest consequences?

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Way, way too much greenhouse gas. [Pollution appearing from factory]

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Take a look at this planet.

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There's a pretty good chance you might recognize it…after all, it is your home.

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And if it's not your home, then cool! [Spaceship appears by Earth]

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We're flattered you decided to spend your time on earth watching our videos, you cool

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alien, you!

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Now let's zoom in a bit.

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This is Earth's atmosphere.

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Greenhouse Gases is a phrase used by scientists to describe some of the gases within the earth's [Coop discussing greenhouse gases]

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atmosphere.

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Which ones, you ask?

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The ones that have a warming function, such as carbon dioxide and chlorofluorocarbons.

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We swear, we didn't make that last one up…but yes, it does sound like something straight

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out of a super hero comic.

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Greenhouse gases like those trap heat from the sun and keep things nice and toasty by [Arrows trapped inside earths atmosphere]

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reflecting the rays of the sun back and forth between the atmosphere and Earth.

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Normally you hear about how bad these are, but they aren't all bad.

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After all, without them, Earth wouldn't be warm enough for us to even live here.

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These greenhouse gases are what make Earth such a great place for life to…y'know…live. [Man protesting and walks away cold]

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But here's the problem....

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Over the past 150 years, the amount of Greenhouse Gases in the Earth's atmosphere has increased

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by a whole lot.

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And now things are a little out of balance.

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But how did that happen?

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Was it all part of some super evil alien plan??

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…Oh.

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Sorry, alien friend.

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We forgot you were there…ahem.

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Anyway.

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It's actually because of that pesky old energy thing we were talking about earlier. [Gas blowing out of an exhaust]

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See, for a lot of our energy, we burn something called fossil fuels – y'know, like gas,

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coal and oil.

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And when you burn fossil fuels, they release carbon dioxide into the air.

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Scientists believe that it's all this fuel burning that's causing the average global

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temperatures to rise. [Fuel burning and thermometer rising]

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So what's a planet to do?

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Obviously we're not exactly ready to just give up energy altogether...

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We need our cars for awesome road trips...

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And our blenders for awesome milkshakes... [Boy with a milkshake]

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And TVs and motor boats and cell phones and Laser Tag and roller coasters and those weird

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massage chairs they have at the mall, and a million other things that require some form

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of energy.

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We can't just give up all of that nifty stuff, can we?

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Of course not.

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No milkshakes?

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That'd be barbaric. [Cows in a field]

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Which is why for years now, people have been creating and experimenting with alternative

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sources of energy...

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We're using things like solar energy, which is when we harness the power of the sun's [Dino discussing alternative energy solutions]

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rays, just like Superman, to create energy.

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This is done either by using solar panels that convert sunlight directly into energy,

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or by using the heat from the sun to heat up fluid enough to create steam, which then

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powers a generator. [Large solar energy panels]

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There's also wind power, which uses the power of the wind to blow big turbines around and

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around, generating electricity that way.

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And we even have hydroelectricity, which is similar to wind power, but instead of using

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wind to spin the turbines, it uses the flow of water to do it!

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By shifting to these forms of alternative energy, we're able to burn less fossil fuels,

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create less greenhouse gas, and hopefully reduce the effects of climate change. [Coop explaining benefits of alternative energy]

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Now if only we could somehow figure out a way to harness the power of children after

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they've eaten two slices of birthday cake. [Child bouncing up and down at birthday party]

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Just think…we could get rid of power plants altogether.

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