Scientists from over 130 countries have said that it is likely that global warming is caused mostly by humans using energy sources and transportation fuels that release carbon dioxide into the athmosphere.
The graphs above show the predictions by climate change scientists from around the world on how much temperatures worldwide could rise in the next century.
The Scientists who sit on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predict that temperatures are most likely to increase from 1.8-4 degrees celcius by 2100. But, it is also possible that these temperatures can rise from 1.1-6.4 degrees celcius. The maps above show how different possibilities that will affect different parts of the earth.
The scenarios, A1B, A2, B1, are used to create the graphs above. They are based on different and detailed data on future scenarios relating to population statistics and energy uses. These possibilities of the future consider how the population of the world will increase, how many fossil and alternative fuels will be used, and amount of CO2 increases.
These different outcomes show that, if we act, we can change the amount the carbon dioxide that goes into the atmosphere, and we can make gloobal warming less cataclysmic.
Key conclusions of the Intergovernmental Panel based on the above analysis include the following:
Sea levels are likely to rise by 28-43cm. This could result in major flooding of low lying coastal states and cities causing many deaths and millions of refugees. Some countries like the Maldives could disappear entirely.
All ice in the Arctic could disappear by the second half of this Century.
The increase of intense heatwaves could be catastrophic for humans and their economies.
Climate change could also lead to increased occurence and intensity of tropical storms like Katarina that devastated New Orleans.
Environmental Groups like World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Greenpeace have warned that global warming could also lead to large parts of Africa becoming desert with massive droughts, famine and even wars in fights over decreasing water supplies from rivers and lakes.
For excellent websites on the impact of global warming on nature and our environment see the WWF and Greepeace sites at the following urls:
http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/climate_change/problems/impacts/index.cfm
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/climate-change
The Greenpeace website also deals with the most frequent arguments used to deny that global warming is a threat to mankind. Click on the website to see if you agree or disagree with the global warming deniers.
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GLOBAL WARMING: A MAJOR THREAT TO CANADA'S ARCTIC REGIONS AND PEOPLES.
With the Northern Icecap starting to disappear, Canada's arctic regions and its peoples are already starting to feel the impacts. Many Inuit and Aboriginal peoples are seeing a decline in traditional hunting and fishing activities as the climate change affects wildlife. When the permafrost melts, roads could become unusable and vegetation could disappear. Animals such as the Polar Bear are starving and in danger of becoming extinct.
The major warning signs have already begun. Ellesmere island is about 800km (500 miles) from the North Pole. Scientists have discovered that an large ice shelf broke off an island in the Canadian Arctic last year. This could be sign of global warming. It is the largest ice break in 25 years, creating an ice floe with an volume of 66 sqare kilomertres. It happened in August 2005 but was only recently detected on satellite images. The chunk of ice bigger than Manhattan could create a lot of trouble if it moves into oil drilling regions and shipping lanes next summer, scientists warned. This large ice island can move itself around off the coast and one potential path for it is to make its way westward toward the Beaufort Sea where there is a lot of oil and gas exploration, oil rigs and shipping and sink ships containing oil causing oil spills with devastating impact on the environment. Satellite images showed the 15km (9mile) crack, then the ice floating about 1km (0.6 miles) from the coast within about an hour. A combination of low amounts of sea ice around the edges of the ice mass, as well as the Arctic's warmest temperatures on record, contributed to the break.The region was 3C (5.4F) above average temperatire. Ice shelves in Canada's far north have shrunk by as much as 90% since 1906
By 2040, the Ice in Canada's North and off the coast of Greenland will have disappeared almost entirely, see the following graphic from the BBC Website:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/06/sci_nat_enl_1165954155/html/1.stm
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Finally, below is a video from WWF on You Tube which offer a lighter side on this serious topic:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnjlKtEKYWc
