Oceans rising, flooding of coastal areas, increase in hurricanes, global warming. These are the problems we are facing. We have a climate change crisis, despite what some people believe.
A new report, the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, has been released. This is the most thorough, comprehensive report detailing the scientific knowledge on climate change and it states, “Climate change is the greatest challenge of our time… In short, it threatens our planet, our only home.”
Scientists have been saying for years that the warming of the climate system is unequivocal. “The atmosphere and oceans have warmed, the amounts of snow and ice have diminished, sea level has risen, … and the concentrations of greenhouse gases have increased.” The report goes on to say: “It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century.”
Although there are some who try to deny global warming and human influence on the phenomenon, scientists have found enough evidences to prove that human activities and the use of fossil fuels are causing global warming. The emissions have caused the earth’s surface temperature to rise and since oceans absorbs about 80 percent of this heat, the polar ice caps and sea ice have been melting.
Satellite instruments have been telling us that over the past century the Global Mean Sea Level has risen by 4 to
Having been a high school science teacher for years, I know that science deals in facts and any theories that are proven to be false according to new findings must be revised. I believe that the research shows that global warming and the effects on the coastal regions of