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The effects of Global Warming may be measured in extinctions, not degrees.
Now imagine yourself as a species that finds its natural habitat has vanished, destroyed forever by global warming. Instincts developed over thousands or even millions of years are rendered useless, food sources disappear and the very climate around you is drastically altered. If we don't take steps now to curb global warming, this grim future could become reality for countless species around the world. They will not have thousands of years to make the transition -- they will be forced to try to adapt to massive environmental changes in the span of a few decades. Those that fail will face extinction.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an international body made up of 2,500 of the world's leading climate scientists, estimates that global warming could raise worldwide average temperatures as much as 11 degrees Fahrenheit by the year 2100. That would be a faster rise than any other experienced during the past 10,000 years. Up to Top HOME | Email Signup | About Us | Contact Us | Terms of Use | © 2008 Sierra Club |
Imagine returning home to find your neighborhood transformed. You know you are in the right place, but instead of finding familiar streets and landmarks you find a strange new landscape. Your home, your community -- everything you knew -- is gone.
Global warming is a pollution problem. As we burn coal, oil and natural gas, we are thickening the natural blanket of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases around the earth, trapping more of the sun's heat and altering the natural balance of our climate.