Global warming is the rise in the average temperature of Earth's atmosphere

and oceans since the late 19th century and its projected continuation. Since the
early 20th century, Earth's mean surface temperature has increased by about
0.8 C (1.4 F), with about two-thirds of the increase occurring since 1980. [2]
Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and scientists are more than 90%
certain that it is primarily caused by increasing concentrations of greenhouse
gases produced by human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels and
deforestation.

Earths natural greenhouse effect

Earths temperature begins with the Sun. Roughly 30 percent of incoming sunlight is
reflected back into space by bright surfaces like clouds and ice. Of the remaining 70 percent,
most is absorbed by the land and ocean, and the rest is absorbed by the atmosphere. The
absorbed solar energy heats our planet.
As the rocks, the air, and the seas warm, they radiate heat energy (thermal infrared
radiation). From the surface, this energy travels into the atmosphere where much of it is
absorbed by water vapor and long-lived greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and
methane.
When they absorb the energy radiating from Earths surface, microscopic water or
greenhouse gas molecules turn into tiny heaters like the bricks in a fireplace, they radiate
heat even after the fire goes out. They radiate in all directions. The energy that radiates back
toward Earth heats both the lower atmosphere and the surface, enhancing the heating they get
from direct sunlight.
This absorption and radiation of heat by the atmospherethe natural greenhouse effectis
beneficial for life on Earth. If there were no greenhouse effect, the Earths average surface
temperature would be a very chilly -18C (0F) instead of the comfortable 15C (59F) that it
is today.

Effects Of Global Warming

Drought! Flooding! Disease! Hurricanes! Starvation! Unbearable Heat! Any of these words
seem to you to be appearing much more often in the news than before?
Do you remember the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that claimed more than 200,000 people?
Remember hurricane Katrina that claimed more than 2,000 lives? These are the better
documented horror stories. The less well documented global-warming related stories are
often dismissively written off as ethnic conflicts in a region (Africa) where supposedly little
else can be expected.

Catastrophic Environmental Effects Caused By Global Warming

1. Larsen B Ice Shelf: In 2002, a 500 billion ton chunk of ice that was 220m thick and
covering a surface area of 3,250 sq km disintegrated in 35 days! What was especially
alarming was that the experts expected this ice shelf to still be around for the next 100 years
even after factoring in current global warming trends.
Yet more alarming still is that there're two other MUCH, MUCH BIGGER ice masses that are
exhibiting the same global warming related disintegration characteristics!
These endangered ice masses are Greenland and the West Antarctic Ice Shelf which was
previously thought to be stable. Since these ice masses are land based (unlike the Larsen B
Ice Shelf) if either one of them goes they could raise sea levels by 20ft apiece!
If both of them disintegrate around the same time, sea levels could rise by 40ft! Catastrophic
does not adequately describe the ensuing destruction.
More than 66% of the world's largest cities would be devastated if even just one of these ice
masses disintegrated. Though many of the affected low-elevation costal areas are located in
Asia, New York, Florida, San Francisco and The Netherlands are also on the list!
Perhaps this disturbing data may explain the belated, albeit grudging acknowledgement by
the Bush II administration that global warming is not a myth after all and that it won't just
affect the poorer regions of the world. As things stand, experts are predicting that with current
unmodified global warming trends Greenland may collapse as soon as 2050.
2. Lake Chad: Lake Chad used to be the 6th largest lake in the world but due to global
warming has shrunk to 1/20th of its former size. In fact Chad the country for which it is
named after, is now more than 60 miles from the water's edge!
3. New Ice Age: The northern hemisphere of the world is located above the equator and
constitutes most of the world's land mass as well as almost 90% of the world population.
Though current expert reports on global warming imply that the northern hemisphere will
initially actually benefit from the temperature increase (unlike the southern hemisphere where
unprecedented drought and starvation is predicted by 2020) what is little mentioned is how
global warming could usher in a new Ice Age!

Boosting energy efficiency: The energy used to power, heat, and cool our homes,
businesses, and industries is the single largest contributor to global warming. Energy
efficiency technologies allow us to use less energy to get the sameor higherlevel
of production, service, and comfort. This approach has vast potential to save both
energy and money, and can be deployed quickly.

Greening transportation: The transportation sector's emissions have increased at a

faster rate than any other energy-using sector over the past decade. A variety of
solutions are at hand, including improving efficiency (miles per gallon) in all modes
of transport, switching to low-carbon fuels, and reducing vehicle miles traveled
through smart growth and more efficient mass transportation systems.

Revving up renewables: Renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, geothermal

and bioenergy are available around the world. Multiple studies have shown that
renewable energy has the technical potential to meet the vast majority of our energy
needs. Renewable technologies can be deployed quickly, are increasingly costeffective, and create jobs while reducing pollution.

Phasing out fossil fuel electricity: Dramatically reducing our use of fossil fuels
especially carbon-intensive coalis essential to tackle climate change. There are
many ways to begin this process. Key action steps include: not building any new coalburning power plants, initiating a phased shutdown of coal plants starting with the
oldest and dirtiest, and capturing and storing carbon emissions from power plants.
While it may sound like science fiction, the technology exists to store carbon
emissions underground. The technology has not been deployed on a large scale or
proven to be safe and permanent, but it has been demonstrated in other contexts such
as oil and natural gas recovery. Demonstration projects to test the viability and costs
of this technology for power plant emissions are worth pursuing.

Managing forests and agriculture: Taken together, tropical deforestation and

emissions from agriculture represent nearly 30 percent of the world's heat-trapping
emissions. We can fight global warming by reducing emissions from deforestation
and forest degradation and by making our food production practices more sustainable.

Exploring nuclear: Because nuclear power results in few global warming emissions,
an increased share of nuclear power in the energy mix could help reduce global
warmingbut nuclear technology poses serious threats to our security and, as the
accident at the Fukushima Diaichi plant in Japan illustrates to our health and the
environment as well. The question remains: can the safety, proliferation, waste
disposal, and cost barriers of nuclear power be overcome?

Developing and deploying new low-carbon and zero-carbon technologies:

Research into and development of the next generation of low-carbon technologies will
be critical to deep mid-century reductions in global emissions. Current research on
battery technology, new materials for solar cells, harnessing energy from novel
sources like bacteria and algae, and other innovative areas could provide important
breakthroughs.

Ensuring sustainable development: The countries of the worldfrom the most to

the least developedvary dramatically in their contributions to the problem of
climate change and in their responsibilities and capacities to confront it. A successful
global compact on climate change must include financial assistance from richer
countries to poorer countries to help make the transition to low-carbon development
pathways and to help adapt to the impacts of climate change.