Global Warming Facts
Now that we know some effects, let’s face the facts of global warming:
1. Temperatures have risen 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit since 1880
2. The last two decades were the hottest in the past 400 years and possibly in several millennia
3. 11 of 12 recent years were among the dozen warmest since 1850
4. Temperatures in Alaska, Canada, and Russia have risen twice the global average
5. Glacier National Park, Montana, has 27 glaciers out of original 150 in 1910
6. Coral reefs experienced the worst bleaching (death because of stress) in 1998
7. Industrialization, deforestation, and pollution increased concentrations of water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide which are all greenhouse gases (gases that stay in Earth’s atmosphere and trap Sun’s rays)
8. Humans are putting carbon dioxide in the atmosphere faster than plants and oceans can absorb it
9. Sea levels could rise 7-23 inches by the end of the century–a rise of 4 inches could flood South Seas islands and swamp parts of Southeast Asia
10. Coal-burning plants and automobiles are the two leading producers of carbon dioxide
11. In the last 50 years, global temperature has risen the fastest in recorded history
12. Colorado, Arizona, and Oregon had worst wildfire seasons in 2002
13. In 2003, there were 20,000+ deaths in Europe and 1,500+ in India due to heat waves
14. Spruce bark beetle population has risen in Alaska; the beetles chewed through 4 million acres of spruce trees
15. The pine bark beetle is killing off entire forests in British Colombia
16. The Elkhorn Coral on the floor of the Caribbean Sea is almost gone thanks to pollution
17. The U.S. contibutes most to global warming pollution
