About Global Warming Global warming is the term used to describe a gradual increase in the average temperature of the Earth s atmosphere and its oceans, a change that WILL permanently upset the Earth s CLIMATE FOREVER, – While many view the effects of global warming to be more substantial and more rapidly occurring than others do, the scientific consensus on climatic changes related to global warming is that the average temperature of the Earth has risen between 0.4 and 0.8 C over the past 100 years. The increased volumes of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases released by the burning of fossil fuels, land clearing, agriculture, and other human activities, are believed to be the primary sources of the global warming that has occurred over the past 50 years. Scientists from many parts of the world, – carrying out global warming research have recently predicted that average global temperatures could increase between 1.4 and 5.8 C by the year 2100. Changes resulting from global warming may include rising sea levels due to the melting of the polar ice caps, as well as an increase in occurrence and severity of storms and other severe weather events. Earth is naturally insulated by a delicate balance of heat-trapping (or greenhouse) gases in the atmosphere.
When the sun shines on the Earth, some of that heat is absorbed, keeping Earth warm enough to support life. The problem is that over the last century, we humans have been releasing more and more carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere when we burn fuels and cut down forests. These additional gases have upset the natural balance of our atmosphere, trapping more heat than is healthy for the Earth. The result is human-caused global warming, which brings serious threats from increased flooding to the spread of disease to the disruption of agriculture in many parts of the world.