5B John Rack How Global Warming will Affect the Enviroment

The loss of ice shelves is evidence of the effects of global warming," says USGS scientist and lead author Jane Ferrigno.

The ice shelves in the southern part of the Antarctic Peninsula appear to be disappearing because of climate change, according to a new report from the U.S. Geological Survey and the British Antarctic Survey.

According to the report, "the resulting rise in sea level could severely impact the densely populated coastal regions on Earth."

Scientists are warning the world is on the verge of reaching critical thresholds where damage from global warming will become irreversible. One scientist called this "the critical decade" for curbing global warming, saying the tipping point for irreversible damage to polar ice sheets has probably already been passed. Research shows the world’s temperature could rise by six degrees Celsius by the end of the century if greenhouse gas emissions continue to escalate.

National Wildlife magazine - "Wildlife on the Hot Seat" - What happens to the natural world when the Earth warms?

Global warming is making hot days hotter, rainfall and flooding heavier, storms stronger, and droughts more severe. This intensification of weather and climate extremes will be the most visible impact of global warming in our everyday lives and will have grave implications for public health and social justice. Indeed, our urban infrastructure, flood protection measures, emergency management strategies, and agricultural systems were all developed based on past experience with extreme weather. But, with global warming pushing these extremes beyond their historical limits, we can no longer plan for the future based on past climate conditions

Earth is the hottest it has been in at least 400 years, and possibly even the last 2,000 years. Studies indicate that the average global surface temperature has increased by approximately 0.5-1.0°F (0.3-0.6°C) over the last century. This is the largest increase in surface temperature in the last 1,000 years and scientists are predicting an even greater increase over this century

A panel convened by the U.S National Research Council, the nation's premier science policy body, in June 2006 voiced a "high level of confidence"

"Taken as a whole, the range of published evidence indicates that the net damage costs of climate change are likely to be significant and to increase over time."- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Global climate change has already had observable effects on the environment. Glaciers have shrunk, ice on rivers and lakes is breaking up earlier, plant and animal ranges have shifted and trees are flowering sooner. Effects that scientists had predicted in the past would result from global climate change are now occuring: loss of sea ice, accelerated sea level rise and longer, more intense heat waves.

Scientists have high confidence that global temperatures will continue to rise for decades to come, largely due to greenhouse gasses produced by human activities

(IPCC) reports that 11 of the past 12 years are among the dozen warmest since 1850.

• Average temperatures have climbed 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit (0.8 degree Celsius) around the world since 1880, much of this in recent decades, according to NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

The rate of warming is increasing. The 20th century's last two decades were the hottest in 400 years and possibly the warmest for several millennia, according to a number of climate studies. And the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change