The planet is warming, from North Pole to South Pole, and everywhere in between.

Globally, the mercury is already

up more than 1 degree Fahrenheit (0.8 degree Celsius), and even more in sensitive polar regions. And the effects of
rising temperatures arent waiting for some far-flung future. Theyre happening right now. Signs are appearing all
over, and some of them are surprising. The heat is not only melting glaciers and sea ice, its also shifting precipitation
patterns and setting animals on the move.
Some impacts from increasing temperatures are already happening.

Ice is melting worldwide, especially at the Earths poles. This includes mountain glaciers, ice sheets covering
West Antarctica and Greenland, and Arctic sea ice.

Researcher Bill Fraser has tracked the decline of the Adlie penguins on Antarctica, where their numbers
have fallen from 32,000 breeding pairs to 11,000 in 30 years.

Sea level rise became faster over the last century.

Some butterflies, foxes, and alpine plants have moved farther north or to higher, cooler areas.

Precipitation (rain and snowfall) has increased across the globe, on average.

Spruce bark beetles have boomed in Alaska thanks to 20 years of warm summers. The insects have
chewed up 4 million acres of spruce trees.
Other effects could happen later this century, if warming continues.

Sea levels are expected to rise between 7 and 23 inches (18 and 59 centimeters) by the end of the century,
and continued melting at the poles could add between 4 and 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters).
Hurricanes and other storms are likely to become stronger.

Species that depend on one another may become out of sync. For example, plants could bloom earlier than
their pollinating insects become active.

Floods and droughts will become more common. Rainfall in Ethiopia, where droughts are already common,
could decline by 10 percent over the next 50 years.

Less fresh water will be available. If the Quelccaya ice cap in Peru continues to melt at its current rate, it will
be gone by 2100, leaving thousands of people who rely on it for drinking water and electricity without a source of
either.

Some diseases will spread, such as malaria carried by mosquitoes.

Ecosystems will changesome species will move farther north or become more successful; others wont be
able to move and could become extinct. Wildlife research scientist Martyn Obbard has found that since the mid1980s, with less ice on which to live and fish for food, polar bears have gotten considerably skinnier. Polar bear
biologist Ian Stirling has found a similar pattern in Hudson Bay. He fears that if sea ice disappears, the polar bears
will as well.

One of the biggest issues facing us right now is global warming. Its effects on
animalsand on agriculture are indeed frightening, and the effects on the human
population are even scarier. The facts about global warming are often debated in
politics and the media, but, unfortunately, even if we disagree about the causes, global
warming effects are real, global, and measurable. The causes are mainly from us, the
human race, and the effects on us will be severe

Highly recommended: What is Causing Global Warming?

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Global Warming Effects and Causes: A Top

10 List
1. Global Warming Cause: Carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel
burning power plants
Our ever increasing addiction to electricity from coal burning power plants
releases enormous amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. 40% of U.S.
CO2 emissions come from electricity production, and burning coal accounts for
93% of emissions from the electric utility industry [EPA, pg. 10]. Every day, more
electric gadgets flood the market, and without widespread alternative energy
sources, we are highly dependent on burning coal for our personal and
commercial electrical supply.
2. Global Warming Cause: Carbon dioxide emissions from burning gasoline
for transportation
Our modern car culture and appetite for globally sourced goods is responsible for
about 33% of emissions in the U.S. [EPA pg. 8] With our population growing at
an alarming rate, the demand for more cars and consumer goods means that we
are increasing the use of fossil fuels for transportation and manufacturing. Our
consumption is outpacing our discoveries of ways to mitigate the effects, with no
end in sight to our massive consumer culture.
3. Global Warming Cause: Methane emissions from animals, agriculture
such as rice paddies, and from Arctic seabeds
Methane is another extremely potent greenhouse gas, ranking right behind CO2.
When organic matter is broken down by bacteria under oxygen-starved
conditions (anaerobic decomposition) as in rice paddies, methane is produced.
The process also takes place in the intestines of herbivorous animals, and with
the increase in the amount of concentrated livestock production, the levels of
methane released into the atmosphere is increasing. Another source
of methane is methane clathrate, a compound containing large amounts of
methane trapped in the crystal structure of ice. As methane escapes from the
Arctic seabed, the rate of global warming will increase significantly.

4. Global Warming Cause: Deforestation, especially tropical forests for

wood, pulp, and farmland
The use of forests for fuel (both wood and for charcoal) is one cause of
deforestation, but in the first world, our appetite for wood and paper products, our
consumption of livestock grazed on former forest land, and the use of tropical
forest lands for commodities like palm oil plantations contributes to the mass
deforestation of our world. Forests remove and store carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere, and this deforestation releases large amounts of carbon, as well as
reducing the amount of carbon capture on the planet.
5. Global Warming Cause: Increase in usage of chemical fertilizers on
croplands
In the last half of the 20th century, the use of chemical fertilizers (as opposed to
the historical use of animal manure) has risen dramatically. The high rate of
application of nitrogen-rich fertilizers has effects on the heat storage of cropland
(nitrogen oxides have 300 times more heat-trapping capacity per unit of volume
than carbon dioxide) and the run-off of excess fertilizers creates dead-zones in
our oceans. In addition to these effects, high nitrate levels in groundwater due to
over-fertilization are cause for concern for human health.
Global Warming Effect: Rise in sea levels worldwide
Scientists predict an increase in sea levels worldwide due to the melting of two
massive ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland, especially on the East coast of
the U.S. However, many nations around the world will experience the effects
of rising sea levels, which could displace millions of people. One nation, the
Maldives, is already looking for a new home, thanks to rising sea levels.
. Global Warming Effect: More killer storms
The severity of storms such as hurricanes and cyclones is increasing, and
research published in Nature found:

Scientists have come up with the firmest evidence so far

that global warming will significantly increase the intensity
of the most extreme storms worldwide. The maximum wind
speeds of the strongest tropical cyclones have increased
significantly since 1981, according to research published in

Nature this week. And the upward trend, thought to be

driven by rising ocean temperatures, is unlikely to stop at
any time soon.
Global Warming Effect: Massive crop failures
According to recent research, there is a 90% chance that 3 billion people
worldwide will have to choose between moving their families to milder
climes and going hungry due to climate change within 100 years.

Climate change is expected to have the most severe

impact on water supplies. Shortages in future are likely to
threaten food production, reduce sanitation, hinder
economic development and damage ecosystems. It causes
more violent swings between floods and droughts."
Guardian: Global warming causes 300,000 deaths a year
Global Warming Effect: Widespread extinction of species
According to research published in Nature, by 2050, rising temperatures could
lead to the extinction of more than a million species. And because we cant
exist without a diverse population of species on Earth, this is scary news for
humans.
This 6th mass extinction is really just a continuation of the holocene extinction
which began at the end of the last ice age and has resulted in the extinction of
nearly all of the Earths megafauna animals, largely as a result of humanexpansion.

Climate change now represents at least as great a threat

to the number of species surviving on Earth as habitatdestruction and modification. Chris Thomas,
conservation biologist at the University of Leeds
Global Warming Effect: Disappearance of coral reefs

A report on coral reefs from WWF says that in a worst case scenario, coral
populations will collapse by 2100 due to increased temperatures and ocean
acidification. Thebleaching of corals from small but prolonged rises in sea
temperature is a severe danger for ocean ecosystems, and many other species
in the oceans rely on coral reefs for their survival.

Despite the oceanss immensity 71 per cent of the

Earths surface with an average depth of almost 4km
(2m) there are indications that it is approaching its
tipping point. For reefs, warming waters and acidification
are closing in like a pair of jaws that threaten to make them
the first global ecosystem to disappear. Times
Online: 21st-century Noahs Ark needed to save coral reefs
from extinction