Climate change, also called global warming, refers to the rise in average surface temperatures on Earth. An overwhelming scientific consensus maintains that climate change is due primarily to the human use of fossil fuels, which releases carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the air.
#1 – The amount of carbon dioxide is higher than at any time in the last 800,000 years. And the Earth’s average temperature is increasing at a concerning rate. (http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/GlobalWarming/page3.php)As a result of increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide, global surface temperatures have increased by about one degree centigrade since 1880. The 10 warmest years ever recorded—with the exception of 1998—have occurred since 2000. 2014 was the warmest year ever recorded.
#2 –The United States is the second largest contributor to CO2 in our atmosphere, though it is home to just 4.4 percent of the world’s population. If everyone in the world lived the way people do in the U.S., it would take four Earths to provide enough resources for everyone (http://www.worldatlas.com/, (http://www.census.gov/popclock/) and (http://www.popsci.com/environment)
#3 Burning one gallon of gasoline puts 19.64 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. (http://www.eia.gov/tools/)
As a result, of global warming world’s average surface temperature has increased by around 0.6 degrees Celsius over last 100 years. The changing climate patterns have already made significant impact on our planet. Melting of polar ice caps, change in rainfall patterns, increase in frequency of hurricanes, storms are few of the adverse effects of climate change. Scientists predicted that due to ongoing activities contributing to global warming, the average global temperature could increase between 1.4 and 6 degrees Celsius in the 21st century.
Human beings can be called ‘men of wisdom’ only if we are prepared and already taking action to save the world from such terrible effects of climate change.
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