Animals aren't the only things we have lost or seen change over time. There are changes to numerous land areas that also reflect loss. Experts may disagree about the "cause", but how do you argue effectively with the results? The conclusion is consistent: something is changing and we need to take steps to be more proactive to prevent further decline or the world as we know it will cease to exist....or, at the very least, become a difficult environment where anyone or anything can continue to thrive.
If you listen, there are those who claim this "awareness" is nothing more than "sensationalism". Is it? I don't know. I do know that I don't want to take that chance but, instead, want to try to do something to help make a difference.
Interested in what changes have been observed?
I'm sure you'll find your own resources to research this topic but you may want to visit MSNBC which has a section re: the environment that discusses issues including global warming. Another option is at the link: Global Warming: What steps will you take to adapt to a warmer world? The site provides information about 2 species already believed to be extinct due to global warming. At the time I visited this link, there were subheadings which included links to information of how the ecosystems are changing, how we can help wildlife, and what humans lose in the scheme of all this.
I also located a website at UnderstandingClimateChange.org, which states: "this website is devoted to assisting the reader in developing a better understanding of how the people of the world are altering climate. Increased concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere due to human activities are the underlying cause of global warming. The greenhouse effect is a phenomenon whereby greenhouse gases in the atmosphere with special physical properties help trap heat received from the sun, making our planet warmer than it would be otherwise. (See Charts to learn more)."
Among the information you can review here, you will learn:
In the past 150 years, average temperatures at the Earth's surface climbed 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit. This seems minor when considering how much temperatures change in a single day. That one degree change, however, has the effect of greatly increasing the frequency of extreme heat waves.
Most of the change has been quite recent. According to the Smithsonian, during "the
past 25 years, the rate of temperature increase has been even greater, about 3.6
degrees F, if extrapolated over a century." Indeed, nineteen of the twenty hottest
years on record have occurred since 1980.
It is important to understand the problem due to the calamities that come with continued climate change: wildfires, increased rainstorm intensity, malnutrition, melting glaciers, sea-level rise, droughts, and hurricanes (more frequently and more intense). The UN based Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) states we can expect a considerable increase in heat waves, storms, floods, and the spread of tropical diseases into temperate areas. (See Health Impact to learn more).
I know. You remember your science classes and all that talk about the Ice Age, don't you? Don't see why documented changes should worry us now? I mean, it's just a cycle and it will all balance out, right? Well, not if you believe what scientists are reporting like:
The Earth has experienced cycles of temperature variation over the last 400,000 years which include warmer periods and ice ages, but civilized human beings have not endured these changes. There appears some inevitability to the change in the world’s average temperatures based upon cyclical fluctuations seen in the historical data derived from samples of polar ice.
The reason our impact upon this change is significant is because the rate of change we are experiencing now is unprecedented in the last 15,000 years. This change is linked to the human activities which produce greenhouse gases. The primary statistical aberration with past cycles is the amount of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere.
Oh, and we have this:
National Geographic, in September 2004, provided: "Global temperatures are shooting up faster than at any other time in the past thousand years. And climate models show that natural forces, such as volcanic eruptions and the slow flickers of the sun, can't explain all that warming."
The Earth's natural mechanisms which absorb greenhouse gases (called "sinks") have been destroyed over the years. Since the last ice age, about half of the worlds forest cover has been lost. This forest once acted as a "sink"- an important mechanism for soaking up atmospheric Carbon Dioxide.
The oceans are another "sink." Carbon Dioxide levels in the deep ocean have begun increasing at a rate twice that of the atmosphere.
Got your attention? Good! Finish the article and then meet back here for more suggestions on what you can do!