Climate Action Plan
Global Warming: Reason for Concern
Since 1988, global warming has been a topic of hot debate. Today, all of the credible scientific community agrees that global warming is occurring. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a peer-reviewed group of over 2,500 international scientists created by the United Nations and the World Meteorological Organization, has released three reports over the past 16 years which confirm that the Earth's atmosphere is indeed warming up, with the actions of human beings having a discernible influence. Studies done by the American Geophysical Union (AGU) have concluded that the recent warming cannot be explained by natural variations, as many skeptics claim. There is currently little doubt that global warming is in fact happening and it has become evident that it is an issue that humanity can no longer afford to ignore.
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The greenhouse effect is a natural occurrence where atmospheric greenhouse gases (water vapor, carbon dioxide, and other gases) trap some of the sun's energy in our atmosphere while allowing some of it to escape, in turn creating the hospitable climate of Earth. The climate changes when the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere begin to increase, causing the atmosphere to trap too much of the sun's energy thus causing the Earth's temperature to rise. Studies have shown that since the industrial revolution, concentrations of carbon dioxide have increased nearly 30%, concentrations of methane have more than doubled, and the concentration of nitrous oxide has risen 15%. These increases have caused the average temperature on Earth to rise by more than one degree Fahrenheit since the end of the 19th century, with the IPCC warning of an increase of up to 10.4 degrees Fahrenheit within the next century if business-as-usual emissions continue. |
The consequences of a warmer planet will be far-reaching, both in scope and in scale, having adverse effects on the natural systems of the planet as well as on many of the world's economies. As the temperature of Earth's atmosphere continues to rise, climates around the world will begin to shift faster than they have at any point in the history of man. Shifting climates will have negative effects for numerous reasons. Diseases and/or pests will migrate into regions where they have never been able to survive before, spreading Malaria, Dengue fever and other diseases in many parts of the world and causing large-scale crop destruction in others. As rising amounts of heat are absorbed by the world's oceans, the resulting thermal expansion and melting glaciers will cause the sea level to rise anywhere from 4 to 39 inches by 2100. Evidence of this has already been documented by the quickening recession of glaciers around the world, the collapse of the Larsen Ice Shelf in Antarctica between January and March of 2002, and the rapid sea level rise that is causing the tiny South Pacific island nation of Tuvalu to be swallowed up by the ocean.
Global warming is the most serious issue for the future of all life on planet Earth. Recently there has been an international surge of energy to fight global warming. Large-scale environmental efforts such as the United Nations formulation of the Kyoto Protocol, the creation of international campaigns such as Cities for Climate Protection, and the growing popularity of "green" technology are beacons of light in the darkness.
Links
 EPA Climate Change web site |
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 IPCC website |
 Union of Concerned Scientists website |
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 National Academy of Science website |
National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) website |
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