How many of you believe that we are going to live through the apocalypse? Or at least live to see it happen? Well, at the rate that we are going, the chances of that happening are very high. Global warming is happening, whether we believe in it or not.
Global warming as defined by Dictionary.com as a gradual increase in the overall temperature of the earth's atmosphere generally attributed to the greenhouse effect caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons, and other pollutants. It isn't something that is way off in the future that we won't even be alive to see it. Climate change is already happening and it can be seen through the increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, loss of ice in accelerating rate and rise in sea levels.
The Earth's climate has been changing throughout history. However, the current increasing trend is important because it is most probably man induced and climate has never proceeded at this rate. This is proven by analyzing air bubbles trapped in the ice sheets of Iceland and Greenland. Ice sheets are special because the bubbles trapped in them can go back in time and give us the carbon dioxide levels from ages ago. From these tests, it has been confirmed that carbon dioxide levels have never been higher than the current level in more than 400,000 years. Why is that? Since the industrial revolution, human sources of CO2 have been growing. Burning coal, oil, gas, and deforestation are the main cause global warming. Coal-burning power plants are the largest source of CO2 in the United States.
The second reason is that places are losing ice at an accelerating rate. The two ice sheets on earth currently cover most of Greenland and Antarctica. The Discovery News website reports that from 1979 to 2006, summer melt on ice sheet increased by 30%. North Antarctica has warmed 2.5 deg cels since the 1950s. Also, Greenland's summer melt season lasts 70 days more than the 1950s. The disappearance of sea ice affects ocean circulation, winter weather and even the animals living there. Animals like polar bears and seals rely on sea ice to move around and get to their prey. The disappearance of sea ice disrupts the ecosystem and leads to rising sea levels.
Global average sea levels rose about 8 inches from 1880-2009 with high acceleration from 1993-2008 as told by uscusa.org. U.S. East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico have the fastest rate of rise of sea level in the 20th century. The main cause of rising sea level is disappearing sea ice as mentioned before. Rising sea levels put coastal areas like Florida, California, North and South California at risk. Rising sea levels can contaminate our drinking water, interfere with our farming and it will also affect coastal plants and animals.
As mentioned before, the apocalypse creeps nearer to us as we cut down one more tree or as we drive for one more hour. Climate change is happening and most people believe that it is too late to reverse it. However, the least we can do is try to slow it down and save the earth. Simple energy saving things like turning the lights off when you leave, taking a shower instead of a bath or recycling can make a big difference.
