The Effects of Global Warming

Simply put, global warming is the rising of the temperature of the Earth's atmosphere and bodies of water on an average, world-wide basis. The phrase "global warming" in and of itself does not infer what is causing that warming to take place. There is, however, no doubt in the minds of the vast majority of scientists that global warming is happening and the results could be catastrophic for human and other life on the planet!

The next thing we need to ask ourselves is, "How fast is this warming taking place?" Very reliable temperature measurements have been taken and recorded for about a century now. In the last century, the average temperature worldwide has increased by 1.3° ± 0.32° Fahrenheit (0.74° ± 0.18° Celsius). Granted, this is be a very small change. Skeptics also often state that global temperatures have often been a lot warmer than they are today in the past. Whether or not you believe that this warming is natural or man-made, there's no doubt that our planet has been warming up for the last 100 years and that as small as the increase seems to we laypeople, scientists are convinced that it is a significant increase.

So are we humans the cause of global warming?" The answer to this question is difficult. There are many other things besides mankind's activities that can cause or add to global warming. The influence of those things varies from year to year and even from century to century. They don't all change in the same manner at the same time either. Some may cause the temperature to rise while others effect a decrease. That makes reaching a conclusion about causes and their effects very hard, even for the experts. Computer projections and other scientific evidence have convinced the majority of scientists today, however, that humans have significantly added to recent global warming.

So should we be worried enough to bother taking any action? There are a few things we know for sure. Very small increases in the Earth’s average temperature can cause very large changes in weather. Just a slight warming in the temperature of ocean water can increase in the strength of a hurricane from say a category two to a category three. Some species of both land and sea life die in just slightly warmer water temperatures. Other animals that feed on them will then also die, and so on right up the food chain, perhaps to us! In recent decades, there have been more storms, more snow, more drought, and more flooding in many parts of the world than there has been in recorded history! The Earth’s polar ice caps have shrunk, causing ocean levels to rise. Some islands that were only barely above sea level are already disappearing! Their residents are being relocated, sometimes to areas that can’t really support additional populations. Further loss of the polar ice caps could cause much of the state of Florida to disappear! Venice, Italy will be gone! Manhattan will become an aquarium!

In conclusion, most of the world's scientists believe that there is plenty of proof that we humans are destroying our planet, at least as we know it. Most believe that action must be taken now in order to prevent catastrophe and some even think it may already be too late! The evidence that global warming will destroy much of our world is getting stronger and stronger and the possibility of a world that is not friendly to human life is just too horrible to ignore!