What is Global Warming?
To get a sense of how global warming works, imagine a car with all the windows rolled up on a hot day. What happens? The heat from the sun gets trapped inside the car by all the glass. The car gets hot! The same thing happens on a global scale.
When we burn fossil fuels for energy, carbon dioxide and other gases are released, surrounding our planet like a blanket. Just like glass, these gases capture the heat. For millenniums, there's been a fairly stable level of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere, enabling Earth's average temperature to remain consistent.
In the last century, carbon dioxide levels in our atmosphere have increased by more than 25 percent. The six hottest years in recorded history have all occurred in the last decade. This has made portions of polar ice caps melt on both ends of the Earth, causing the oceans to rise by 4-8 inches in the last century. And global warming has only barely begun. Scientists predict that in 50 years the Earth will be 3-5 degrees hotter than it is today. This would lead to the melting of far larger chunks of the polar ice caps, and a rise of up to 14 feet in global sea levels.
With a substantial rise in sea levels, we would see massive floods. Changing weather patterns could lead to droughts in some places and torrential rain in others. It could become difficult to grow food on planet Earth. Billions of people could starve to death. Some scientists also fear global warming could cause so much water to evaporate that the Earth would be surrounded in clouds, bringing on the next ice age. So far, climate destabilization has mainly been noticed by scientists and environmentalists. But in the years to come, it may have a substantial impact on all of us. Only time will tell if we will make wise choices or continue to create such massive climate destabilization.
Source: Yes world org
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