What is global warming текст ответы

Global Warming – Глобальное потепление. Текст на английском языке с переводом и аудио

Здесь вы найдете текст на английском языке с переводом на тему «Global Warming» (глобальное потепление). Глобальное потепление — это не только глобальная проблема человечества, но и локальная проблемка школьников и студентов, которые пишут сочинения, готовят доклады по этой теме. Здесь вы найдете текст с переводом и аудио на тему «Global Warming», а также полезные слова по этой теме.

Global Warming – Глобальное потепление. Текст на английском языке + аудио

Это топик «Глобальное потепление» на английском + аудио. Вариант с переводом вы найдете ниже.

Текст на английском языке с переводом. Global Warming – Глобальное потепление

Это сочинение о глобальном потеплении на английском с переводом. Чуть ниже вы найдете список полезных слов из текста.

Упражнение 84 на грамматическое преобразование (ЕГЭ)

Упражнение на грамматическое преобразование слов. Рекомендуем всем, кто готовится к сдачи ЕГЭ по английскому языку.

Прочитайте приведённый ниже текст. Образуйте от слов, напечатанных заглавными буквами, однокоренные слова, так, чтобы они грамматически соответствовали содержанию текста.

What is Global Warming?

Climate change, specifically global warming, ___CAPTURE___ the attention of people worldwide.

It ___INSPIRE___ more debate and action — personal, political and corporate — than perhaps any other environmental issue in history.

Global warming is the worldwide warming of the atmosphere. Governments, corporations, and individuals around the world ___DEBATE___ the reality of global warming, and have already started working on solutions.

Global warming ___CAUSE___ by the increases in the amount of carbon dioxide and other gases being released into the atmosphere by the burning of fossil fuels. These gases add to the natural greenhouse effect.

In future the effects of global warming in the 21st century ___FEEL___ in every region and at all levels of society.

They ___EXPECT___ to be disastrous, according to the summary of a scientific report issued on April 6′, 2007 by the world’s leading panel of climate change scientists. And many of those changes are already under way.

For example, sea levels will rise due to the melting of the ice caps. This will cause ___FLOOD___ in many low-lying area of the world. These areas include Bangladesh, East Anglia (England) and The Netherlands.

What is Global Warming?

Climate change, specifically global warming, HAS CAPTURED the attention of people worldwide.

It HAS INSPIRED more debate and action — personal, political and corporate — than perhaps any other environmental issue in history.

Global warming is the worldwide warming of the atmosphere. Governments, corporations, and individuals around the world ARE DEBATING the reality of global warming, and have already started working on solutions.

Global warming IS CAUSED by the increases in the amount of carbon dioxide and other gases being released into the atmosphere by the burning of fossil fuels. These gases add to the natural greenhouse effect.

In future the effects of global warming in the 21st century WILL BE FELT in every region and at all levels of society.

They ARE EXPECTED to be disastrous, according to the summary of a scientific report issued on April 6′, 2007 by the world’s leading panel of climate change scientists. And many of those changes are already under way.

For example, sea levels will rise due to the melting of the ice caps. This will cause FLOODING in many low-lying area of the world. These areas include Bangladesh, East Anglia (England) and The Netherlands.

What is global warming?

By Stephanie Pappas published 20 January 22

Facts about global warming: Causes and effects

Global warming is the rise in average temperatures across the globe, which has been ongoing at least since record keeping began in 1880.

Here are the bare numbers, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) (opens in new tab) : Between 1880 and 1980, the global annual temperature increased at a rate of 0.13 degrees Fahrenheit (0.07 degrees Celsius) per decade, on average. Since 1981, the rate of increase has sped up, to 0.32 F (0.18 C) per decade. This has led to an overall 3.6 F (2 C) increase in global average temperature today compared with the preindustrial era. So far, 2016 is the hottest year on record, but that record has been close to falling several times already. The years 2019 and 2020 both came within fractions of degrees of knocking 2016 off its perch. In 2020, the average global temperature over land and ocean was 1.76 F (0.98 C) warmer than the 20th-century average of 57.0 F (13.9 C).

Modern global warming is caused by humans. The burning of fossil fuels has released greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, which trap warmth from the sun and drive up surface and air temperatures. Global warming is a synonym for climate change, though «climate change» has become the preferred term among scientists.

What causes global warming?

The main driver of today’s warming is the combustion of fossil fuels. These hydrocarbons heat up the planet via the greenhouse effect, which is caused by the interaction between Earth’s atmosphere and incoming radiation from the sun.

«The basic physics of the greenhouse effect were figured out more than a hundred years ago by a smart guy using only pencil and paper,» Josef Werne, a professor of geology and environmental science at the University of Pittsburgh, told Live Science.

That «smart guy» was Svante Arrhenius, a Swedish scientist and eventual recipient of a Nobel Prize in chemistry. Simply put, solar radiation hits Earth’s surface and then bounces back toward the atmosphere as heat. Gases in the atmosphere trap this heat, preventing it from escaping into the void of space (good news for life on the planet). In a paper presented in 1895, Arrhenius figured out that greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide could trap heat close to the Earth‘s surface, and that small changes in the amount of those gases could make a big difference in how much heat is trapped.

How greenhouse gases cause global warming

In 2016, CO2 accounted for 81.6% of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, according to an analysis from the Environmental Protection Agency (opens in new tab) (EPA).

«We know through high-accuracy instrumental measurements that there is an unprecedented increase in CO2 in the atmosphere. We know that CO2 absorbs infrared radiation [heat] and the global mean temperature is increasing,» Keith Peterman, a professor of chemistry at York College of Pennsylvania, and his research partner, Gregory Foy, an associate professor of chemistry at York College of Pennsylvania, told Live Science in a joint email message.

CO2 makes its way into the atmosphere through a variety of routes. Burning fossil fuels releases CO2 and is, by far, the biggest U.S. contribution to emissions that warm the globe. According to the 2018 EPA report, U.S. fossil fuel combustion, including electricity generation, released just over 5.8 billion tons (5.3 billion metric tons) of CO2 into the atmosphere in 2016. Other processes — such as non-energy use of fuels, iron and steel production, cement production and waste incineration — boost the total annual CO2 release in the U.S. to 7 billion tons (6.5 billion metric tons).

Globally, methane is the second most common greenhouse gas, but it is the most efficient at trapping heat. The EPA reports that methane is 25 times more efficient at trapping heat than carbon dioxide. In 2016, the gas accounted for about 10% of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, according to the EPA.

Methane can come from many natural sources, but humans cause a large portion of methane emissions through mining, the use of natural gas, the mass raising of livestock and the use of landfills. Cattle constitute the largest single source of methane in the U.S., according to the EPA, with the animals producing nearly 26% of total methane emissions.

What are the effects of global warming?

Global warming doesn’t just mean warming, which is why «climate change» has become the favored term among researchers and policymakers. While the globe is becoming hotter on average, this temperature increase can have paradoxical effects, such as more frequent and severe snowstorms. Climate change can and will affect the globe in several big ways: by melting ice, by drying out already-arid areas, by causing weather extremes and by disrupting the delicate balance of the oceans.

Melting ice

Heating up

Global warming will change things between the poles, too. Many already-dry areas are expected to get even drier as the world warms. The southwest and central plains of the United States, for example, are expected to experience decades-long «megadroughts» harsher than anything else in human memory.

«The future of drought in western North America is likely to be worse than anybody has experienced in the history of the United States,» Benjamin Cook, a climate scientist at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York City who published research in 2015 projecting these droughts, told Live Science. «These are droughts that are so far beyond our contemporary experience that they are almost impossible to even think about.»

The study predicted an 85% chance of droughts lasting at least 35 years in the region by 2100. The main driver, the researchers found, is the increasing evaporation of water from hotter and hotter soil. Much of the precipitation that does fall in these arid regions will be lost.

Meanwhile, 2014 research found that many areas will likely see less rainfall as the climate warms. Subtropical regions, including the Mediterranean, the Amazon, Central America and Indonesia, will likely be hardest hit, that study found, while South Africa, Mexico, western Australia and California will also dry out.

Extreme weather

Another impact of global warming: extreme weather. Hurricanes and typhoons are expected to become more intense (opens in new tab) as the planet warms. Hotter oceans evaporate more moisture, which is the engine that drives these storms. The U.N Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts that even if the world diversifies its energy sources and transitions to a less fossil-fuel-intensive economy (known as the A1B scenario), tropical cyclones are likely to be up to 11% more intense on average. That means more wind and water damage on vulnerable coastlines.

Ocean disruption

Some of the most immediate impacts of global warming are beneath the waves. Oceans act as carbon sinks, which means they absorb dissolved carbon dioxide. That’s not a bad thing for the atmosphere, but it isn’t great for the marine ecosystem. When carbon dioxide reacts with seawater, the pH of the water declines (that is, it becomes more acidic), a process known as ocean acidification. This increased acidity eats away at the calcium carbonate shells and skeletons that many ocean organisms depend on for survival. These creatures include shellfish, pteropods and corals, according to NOAA.

Corals, in particular, are the canary in a coal mine for climate change in the oceans. Marine scientists have observed alarming levels of coral bleaching, events in which coral expel the symbiotic algae that provide the coral with nutrients and give them their vivid colors. Bleaching occurs when corals are stressed, and stressors can include high temperatures. In 2016 and 2017, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef experienced back-to-back bleaching events. Coral can survive bleaching, but repeated bleaching events make survival less and less likely.

Global warming fast facts

Further resources on global warming

Bibliography

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. «Climate Change.» Jan. 14, 2022. https://www.epa.gov/climate-change (opens in new tab)

Stephanie Pappas is a contributing writer for Live Science, covering topics ranging from geoscience to archaeology to the human brain and behavior. She was previously a senior writer for Live Science but is now a freelancer based in Denver, Colorado, and regularly contributes to Scientific American and The Monitor, the monthly magazine of the American Psychological Association. Stephanie received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of South Carolina and a graduate certificate in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

The subject of global warming is always discussed only from the perspective of greenhouse gases, and I don’t want to say that it’s not true.
But please listen to another issue that I raise and more obvious than the atmospheric gases.

Imagine that our earth’s surface and the atmosphere are like a closed room that is overheating and many have said and proved over time.
Do you think that by adding more heat-generating sources you will reduce the temperature in the room? Like adding a new working radiator in the room will decrease the temperature?!
This is the main point and now let’s get back to the real cases.

Every no pollutant non-CO2 power generating device still has a goal to generate energy that is in the end converted mostly to heat, by the fabrication process generates heat, by the transportation, conversion, and finally the end device generate heat.
I will cover 2 cases that in my opinion have disastrous consequences for heating the planet and are considered good options to combat global warming.

1. Nuclear-powered factories generate huge amounts of heat because of their working principle, such as they usually need a huge water source nearby to cool down their components.
2. Geothermal plants extract heat from inside the earth, to warm the atmosphere, cooling the planet inside has disastrous effects over a long time because a cooling planet loses its magnetic field and after its atmosphere, as happened in the past with Mars.

So, in the end, no matter the power source and its CO2 footprint, the heat is still produced and the only real way to stop the planet’s atmosphere from warming is to reduce the heat by reducing human activity entirely.

Yes. but they are separate items. This is an article on Global Warming. If you want a Climate Change article there is a search feature.

Sooner rather than later, a more real and palpable threat appears on the scene and takes the role of Climate Change.

We do not need to take action to stop an issue if we are able to think of a bigger one, even if it is not affecting us?

The appearance of Covid-19 has united the world in a desperate search for a vaccine and we are attentive to the words of scientists.
Climate change did not achieve this.

We have multiple vaccines so no need to search.

Not really sure. Are you suggesting we try and cure the ‘common cold’ ahead of Global Warming and/ or Climate Change?

Global warming has caused many huge effects like heatwaves, cyclones, hurricanes, heavy rain, storms, tornadoes, tsunami, etc. Scientists believe that the weather will rise from 2.5 to 10 degrees due to greenhouse gasses produced by human activities. Please take care of nature.
Here are some tips that might help:
Don’t use electricity, water, fire, or any type of energy when not necessary.
Use paper bags instead of plastic bags when your shoppingUpvote
Reply

Imagine that our earth’s surface and the atmosphere are like a closed room that is overheating and many have said and proved over time.
Do you think that by adding more heat-generating sources you will reduce the temperature in the room? Like adding a new working radiator in the room will decrease the temperature?!
This is the main point and now let’s get back to the real cases.

It doesn;t matter how many working radiators you have in a room if you open all the windows and doors.

Greenhouse gases are the people that go around and close the doors and windows and then over time insulate the walls and make the radiators work more efficiently.

1. Nuclear-powered factories generate huge amounts of heat because of their working principle, such as they usually need a huge water source nearby to cool down their components.
2. Geothermal plants extract heat from inside the earth, to warm the atmosphere, cooling the planet inside has disastrous effects over a long time because a cooling planet loses its magnetic field and after its atmosphere, as happened in the past with Mars.

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Global Warming 101

Jump to Section

Q: What is global warming?

A: Since the Industrial Revolution, the global annual temperature has increased in total by a little more than 1 degree Celsius, or about 2 degrees Fahrenheit. Between 1880—the year that accurate recordkeeping began—and 1980, it rose on average by 0.07 degrees Celsius (0.13 degrees Fahrenheit) every 10 years. Since 1981, however, the rate of increase has more than doubled: For the last 40 years, we’ve seen the global annual temperature rise by 0.18 degrees Celsius, or 0.32 degrees Fahrenheit, per decade.

The result? A planet that has never been hotter. Nine of the 10 warmest years since 1880 have occurred since 2005—and the 5 warmest years on record have all occurred since 2015. Climate change deniers have argued that there has been a “pause” or a “slowdown” in rising global temperatures, but numerous studies, including a 2018 paper published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, have disproved this claim. The impacts of global warming are already harming people around the world.

Now climate scientists have concluded that we must limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2040 if we are to avoid a future in which everyday life around the world is marked by its worst, most devastating effects: the extreme droughts, wildfires, floods, tropical storms, and other disasters that we refer to collectively as climate change. These effects are felt by all people in one way or another but are experienced most acutely by the underprivileged, the economically marginalized, and people of color, for whom climate change is often a key driver of poverty, displacement, hunger, and social unrest.

Q: What causes global warming?

A: Global warming occurs when carbon dioxide (CO₂) and other air pollutants collect in the atmosphere and absorb sunlight and solar radiation that have bounced off the earth’s surface. Normally this radiation would escape into space, but these pollutants, which can last for years to centuries in the atmosphere, trap the heat and cause the planet to get hotter. These heat-trapping pollutants—specifically carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, water vapor, and synthetic fluorinated gases—are known as greenhouse gases, and their impact is called the greenhouse effect.

Though natural cycles and fluctuations have caused the earth’s climate to change several times over the last 800,000 years, our current era of global warming is directly attributable to human activity—specifically to our burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil, gasoline, and natural gas, which results in the greenhouse effect. In the United States, the largest source of greenhouse gases is transportation (29 percent), followed closely by electricity production (28 percent) and industrial activity (22 percent).

Curbing dangerous climate change requires very deep cuts in emissions, as well as the use of alternatives to fossil fuels worldwide. The good news is that countries around the globe have formally committed—as part of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement—to lower their emissions by setting new standards and crafting new policies to meet or even exceed those standards. The not-so-good news is that we’re not working fast enough. To avoid the worst impacts of climate change, scientists tell us that we need to reduce global carbon emissions by as much as 40 percent by 2030. For that to happen, the global community must take immediate, concrete steps: to decarbonize electricity generation by equitably transitioning from fossil fuel–based production to renewable energy sources like wind and solar; to electrify our cars and trucks; and to maximize energy efficiency in our buildings, appliances, and industries.

Q: How is global warming linked to extreme weather?

A: Scientists agree that the earth’s rising temperatures are fueling longer and hotter heat waves, more frequent droughts, heavier rainfall, and more powerful hurricanes.

In 2015, for example, scientists concluded that a lengthy drought in California—the state’s worst water shortage in 1,200 years—had been intensified by 15 to 20 percent by global warming. They also said the odds of similar droughts happening in the future had roughly doubled over the past century. And in 2016, the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine announced that we can now confidently attribute some extreme weather events, like heat waves, droughts, and heavy precipitation, directly to climate change.

The impacts of global warming are being felt everywhere. Extreme heat waves have caused tens of thousands of deaths around the world in recent years. And in an alarming sign of events to come, Antarctica has lost nearly four trillion metric tons of ice since the 1990s. The rate of loss could speed up if we keep burning fossil fuels at our current pace, some experts say, causing sea levels to rise several meters in the next 50 to 150 years and wreaking havoc on coastal communities worldwide.

Q: What are the other effects of global warming?

A: Each year scientists learn more about the consequences of global warming, and each year we also gain new evidence of its devastating impact on people and the planet. As the heat waves, droughts, and floods associated with climate change become more frequent and more intense, communities suffer and death tolls rise. If we’re unable to reduce our emissions, scientists believe that climate change could lead to the deaths of more than 250,000 people around the globe every year and force 100 million people into poverty by 2030.

Global warming is already taking a toll on the United States. And if we aren’t able to get a handle on our emissions, here’s just a smattering of what we can look forward to:

Though everyone is affected by climate change, not everyone is affected equally. Indigenous people, people of color, and the economically marginalized are typically hit the hardest. Inequities built into our housing, health care, and labor systems make these communities more vulnerable to the worst impacts of climate change—even though these same communities have done the least to contribute to it.

Q: Where does the United States stand in terms of global-warming contributors?

A: In recent years, China has taken the lead in global-warming pollution, producing about 26 percent of all CO2 emissions. The United States comes in second. Despite making up just 4 percent of the world’s population, our nation produces a sobering 13 percent of all global CO2 emissions—nearly as much as the European Union and India (third and fourth place) combined. And America is still number one, by far, in cumulative emissions over the past 150 years. As a top contributor to global warming, the United States has an obligation to help propel the world to a cleaner, safer, and more equitable future. Our responsibility matters to other countries, and it should matter to us, too.

Q: Is the United States doing anything to prevent global warming?

A: We’ve started. But in order to avoid the worsening effects of climate change, we need to do a lot more—together with other countries—to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and transition to clean energy sources.

Under the administration of President Donald Trump (a man who falsely referred to global warming as a “hoax”), the United States withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement, rolled back or eliminated dozens of clean-air protections, and opened up federally managed lands, including culturally sacred national monuments, to fossil fuel development. Although President Biden has pledged to get the country back on track, years of inaction during and before the Trump administration—and our increased understanding of global warming’s serious impacts—mean we must accelerate our efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Despite the lack of cooperation from the Trump administration, local and state governments made great strides during this period through efforts like the American Cities Climate Challenge and ongoing collaborations like the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. Meanwhile, industry and business leaders have been working with the public sector, creating and adopting new clean-energy technologies and increasing energy efficiency in buildings, appliances, and industrial processes. Today the American automotive industry is finding new ways to produce cars and trucks that are more fuel efficient and is committing itself to putting more and more zero-emission electric vehicles on the road. Developers, cities, and community advocates are coming together to make sure that new affordable housing is built with efficiency in mind, reducing energy consumption and lowering electric and heating bills for residents. And renewable energy continues to surge as the costs associated with its production and distribution keep falling. In 2020 renewable energy sources such as wind and solar provided more electricity than coal for the very first time in U.S. history.

President Biden has made action on global warming a high priority. On his first day in office, he recommitted the United States to the Paris Climate Agreement, sending the world community a strong signal that we were determined to join other nations in cutting our carbon pollution to support the shared goal of preventing the average global temperature from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. (Scientists say we must stay below a 2-degree increase to avoid catastrophic climate impacts.) And significantly, the president has assembled a climate team of experts and advocates who have been tasked with pursuing action both abroad and at home while furthering the cause of environmental justice and investing in nature-based solutions.

Q: Is global warming too big a problem for me to help tackle?

A: No! While we can’t win the fight without large-scale government action at the national level, we also can’t do it without the help of individuals who are willing to use their voices, hold government and industry leaders to account, and make changes in their daily habits.

Wondering how you can be a part of the fight against global warming? Reduce your own carbon footprint by taking a few easy steps: Make conserving energy a part of your daily routine and your decisions as a consumer. When you shop for new appliances like refrigerators, washers, and dryers, look for products with the government’s ENERGY STAR ® label; they meet a higher standard for energy efficiency than the minimum federal requirements. When you buy a car, look for one with the highest gas mileage and lowest emissions. You can also reduce your emissions by taking public transportation or carpooling when possible.

And while new federal and state standards are a step in the right direction, much more needs to be done. Voice your support of climate-friendly and climate change preparedness policies, and tell your representatives that equitably transitioning from dirty fossil fuels to clean power should be a top priority—because it’s vital to building healthy, more secure communities.

You don’t have to go it alone, either. Movements across the country are showing how climate action can build community, be led by those on the front lines of its impacts, and create a future that’s equitable and just for all.

What is global warming, explained

The planet is heating up—and fast.

Causes and Effects of Climate Change

Glaciers are melting, sea levels are rising, cloud forests are dying, and wildlife is scrambling to keep pace. It has become clear that humans have caused most of the past century’s warming by releasing heat-trapping gases as we power our modern lives. Called greenhouse gases, their levels are higher now than at any time in the last 800,000 years.

We often call the result global warming, but it is causing a set of changes to the Earth’s climate, or long-term weather patterns, that varies from place to place. While many people think of global warming and climate change as synonyms, scientists use “climate change” when describing the complex shifts now affecting our planet’s weather and climate systems—in part because some areas actually get cooler in the short term.

Climate change encompasses not only rising average temperatures but also extreme weather events, shifting wildlife populations and habitats, rising seas, and a range of other impacts. All of those changes are emerging as humans continue to add heat-trapping greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, changing the rhythms of climate that all living things have come to rely on.

What will we do—what can we do—to slow this human-caused warming? How will we cope with the changes we’ve already set into motion? While we struggle to figure it all out, the fate of the Earth as we know it—coasts, forests, farms, and snow-capped mountains—hangs in the balance.

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An iceberg melts in the waters off Antarctica. Climate change has accelerated the rate of ice loss across the continent.

An iceberg melts in the waters off Antarctica. Climate change has accelerated the rate of ice loss across the continent.

Understanding the greenhouse effect

The «greenhouse effect» is the warming that happens when certain gases in Earth’s atmosphere trap heat. These gases let in light but keep heat from escaping, like the glass walls of a greenhouse, hence the name.

Sunlight shines onto the Earth’s surface, where the energy is absorbed and then radiate back into the atmosphere as heat. In the atmosphere, greenhouse gas molecules trap some of the heat, and the rest escapes into space. The more greenhouse gases concentrate in the atmosphere, the more heat gets locked up in the molecules.

Scientists have known about the greenhouse effect since 1824, when Joseph Fourier calculated that the Earth would be much colder if it had no atmosphere. This natural greenhouse effect is what keeps the Earth’s climate livable. Without it, the Earth’s surface would be an average of about 60 degrees Fahrenheit (33 degrees Celsius) cooler.

A polar bear stands sentinel on Rudolf Island in Russia’s Franz Josef Land archipelago, where the perennial ice is melting.

In 1895, the Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius discovered that humans could enhance the greenhouse effect by making carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. He kicked off 100 years of climate research that has given us a sophisticated understanding of global warming.

Levels of greenhouse gases have gone up and down over the Earth’s history, but they had been fairly constant for the past few thousand years. Global average temperatures had also stayed fairly constant over that time—until the past 150 years. Through the burning of fossil fuels and other activities that have emitted large amounts of greenhouse gases, particularly over the past few decades, humans are now enhancing the greenhouse effect and warming Earth significantly, and in ways that promise many effects, scientists warn.

Aren’t temperature changes natural?

Human activity isn’t the only factor that affects Earth’s climate. Volcanic eruptions and variations in solar radiation from sunspots, solar wind, and the Earth’s position relative to the sun also play a role. So do large-scale weather patterns such as El Niño.

But climate models that scientists use to monitor Earth’s temperatures take those factors into account. Changes in solar radiation levels as well as minute particles suspended in the atmosphere from volcanic eruptions, for example, have contributed only about two percent to the recent warming effect. The balance comes from greenhouse gases and other human-caused factors, such as land use change.

The short timescale of this recent warming is singular as well. Volcanic eruptions, for example, emit particles that temporarily cool the Earth’s surface. But their effect lasts just a few years. Events like El Niño also work on fairly short and predictable cycles. On the other hand, the types of global temperature fluctuations that have contributed to ice ages occur on a cycle of hundreds of thousands of years.

For thousands of years now, emissions of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere have been balanced out by greenhouse gases that are naturally absorbed. As a result, greenhouse gas concentrations and temperatures have been fairly stable, which has allowed human civilization to flourish within a consistent climate.

Greenland is covered with a vast amount of ice—but the ice is melting four times faster than thought, suggesting that Greenland may be approaching a dangerous tipping point, with implications for global sea-level rise.

Now, humans have increased the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by more than a third since the Industrial Revolution. Changes that have historically taken thousands of years are now happening over the course of decades.

Why does this matter?

The rapid rise in greenhouse gases is a problem because it’s changing the climate faster than some living things can adapt to. Also, a new and more unpredictable climate poses unique challenges to all life.

Historically, Earth’s climate has regularly shifted between temperatures like those we see today and temperatures cold enough to cover much of North America and Europe with ice. The difference between average global temperatures today and during those ice ages is only about 9 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees Celsius), and the swings have tended to happen slowly, over hundreds of thousands of years.

But with concentrations of greenhouse gases rising, Earth’s remaining ice sheets such as Greenland and Antarctica are starting to melt too. That extra water could raise sea levels significantly, and quickly. By 2050, sea levels are predicted to rise between one and 2.3 feet as glaciers melt.

As the mercury rises, the climate can change in unexpected ways. In addition to sea levels rising, weather can become more extreme. This means more intense major storms, more rain followed by longer and drier droughts—a challenge for growing crops—changes in the ranges in which plants and animals can live, and loss of water supplies that have historically come from glaciers.