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Global Warming Evidence
Benefits of Recycling.com is presenting this series of pages on global warming becaue we believe there is evidence to support it is real. Even so, we are open to be proven wrong, which is why there are pages on why it is not real. Fair is fair.
1. Rise in Average Temperature The Earth's average temperature has already risen by at least 0.74°C in just the past century and much of the rise occurred in recent decades. In fact, the planet's ten warmest years ever recorded occurred within the past 12 years. The rate of temperate rise is also increasing. 2. Global Warming Evidence / Frequency of Extreme Weather Because of greenhouse gas concentrations, the heat trapped inside the Earth is more intense. This causes an enhancement to the hydrological cycle which, in turn, causes the increased incidences of intense rainfall and flooding as well as droughts and heat waves. Droughts and floods have caused massive crop failure especially in tropical and coastal areas. Heat waves have also become more frequent as well as more intense. Because of this, heat wave-related deaths have increased around the world. The rising heat intensity has also caused numerous wildfires that damage the Earth's forest cover. 3. Global Warming Evidence / Melting Ice and Disappearing Glaciers Ice caps and glacier in Antarctica and around the world are melting. In North America, the Glacier National Park has already lost 123 of its 150 glaciers and the Bering Glacier has already lost over 20% of its parts and 11 kilometers of its entire length. New Zealand's glaciers have also shrunk by about 26% within the last century. Throughout that time, the Tasman Glacier thinned by over a hundred meters. India's Gangotri Glacier has also been melting by 30 meters annually within the past 2 decades. Its annual melting rate was 18 meters from 1935-1990 and 7 meters from 1842-1935. Rapid ice melts have also been occurring across the Arctic. In fact, the Arctic sea ice has already shrunk by over a million square kilometers. Ice melts have also begun in the Antarctic Peninsula. Because the world's ice is melting rapidly, sea levels have begun to increase. Sea levels have already risen by 5-9 inches and studies show that it is still rising. The current rise has already displaced a number of seaside communities and the fact that sea levels are still rising poses a threat to a number of coastal areas. 4. Global Warming Evidence / Disappearing Coral Reefs Due to the rise in global temperature and sea levels, corals have been dying. The worst even coral bleaching was recorded in 1998 when, in some areas, up to 70% of coral reefs died. Among the worst die-offs have been observed in the Caribbean. 5. Global Warming Evidence / Spreading Infectious Tropical Diseases Infectious tropical diseases are slowly spreading to more temperate areas. Dengue fever and malaria, for example, have spread to the United States. As global temperature continues to rise, more areas will be conducive to outbreaks of tropical diseases. With these evidences alone, there is already no doubt that global warming is already occurring. Should concentrations of greenhouse gases continue to increase, the effects of global warming will no longer be reversible.
Definition For Global Warming Return From Global Warming Evidence to the Benefits-of-Recycling home page.
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