Global Warming

Global warming
This is a summary of global warming and its effects, in plain readable term. Some question who or what is responsible for global warming; if it is our fault or just a natural phenomenon that has happened before and is now happening again. Even if it isn’t our fault the temperature is still rising. I has already risen 0,74 C from 1900 - 1950 (in the Netherlands). After 1950 temperature has risen twice as fast. Estimates say that before 2100 the temperature will be 1,1 C tot 6,4 C higher. The great difference between these numbers is due to the difficulty to predict it and because it depends on if we as humans are going to do anything about it or not.

We can’t reverse this global warming, but we can, slowly, bring it to a halt. We have to, because if we let the temperature rise above 2,0 C the effects will be disastrous:
- Due to the warming of the planet the pole caps are melting and the water level will rise. The ice surface that normally reflects a lot of the sunrays shrinks, which only contributes to the global warming
- The permafrost (land ice) is melting. No only are inhabited northern (like the coast of Alaska) parts of the world slowly falling in the ocean, the water level is rising further. But that’s not all the CO2 in the permafrost is released, which also contributes to the global warming.
- The Deserts will grow larger and become inhabitable
- Animal species will be extinguished
- Increase of extreme weather conditions (hurricanes, tornados, etc)
- Spreading of diseases
- Decrease of drinkable water in many parts of the world
- Shrinking of the ozone layer
If we want to prevent this, or stop the things that are already happening from getting worse, we have to decrease our CO2 output to 15% of the current output before 2050.

If you want the to see the numbers, facts and research for yourself I suggest you visit http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/

Why am I telling you this? Because I want you to be aware of it. What you do with it is entirely up to you.