Residents of Spain Saving the Ozone!

When you drive by a greenhouse, do think it could help save the world in any way? So often today the word "greenhouse" is associated with "greenhouse gasses," that we don't associate greenhouses with anything positive for the planet. However, the locals in a province called Almeria in Southern Spain, beg to differ and are using greenhouses to reduce greenhouse gas incubation, and offsetting global warming. 

Since the 1980's, the Almerian people in southern Spain have been developing greenhouses for everyone. In fact, Almeria has the largest concentration of greenhouses in the world, covering 26,000 hectares.

What's so great about greenhouses you ask? Well, they actually reflect a majority of the sunlight back into the atmosphere. This allows for less to sunlight incubate in the towns/cities; reducing the susceptibility of holes in the ozone layer.

The greenhouses built in Spain are reflecting so much sunlight back into the atmosphere that they are actually cooling the province! While temperatures in the rest of Spain have climbed faster than the world average, meteorological observatories located in the so-called 'sea of plastic' have shown a decline of 0.3 degrees per decade. It turns out that the plastic’s white colour acts like a mirror, reflecting sunlight back into the atmosphere before it can reach and heat up the ground. This means that at a local level, the greenhouses offset global warming.

This story is inspiring because it demonstrates the power of collaborative thinking and how each of us can make a difference if we would just work together and have a common goal.