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Essay on Global Warming

Updated on
Apr 27, 2024

Being able to write an essay is an integral part of mastering any language. Essays form an integral part of many academic and scholastic exams like the SAT , and UPSC amongst many others. It is a crucial evaluative part of English proficiency tests as well like IELTS , TOEFL , etc. Major essays are meant to emphasize public issues of concern that can have significant consequences on the world. To understand the concept of Global Warming and its causes and effects, we must first examine the many factors that influence the planet’s temperature and what this implies for the world’s future. Here’s an unbiased look at the essay on Global Warming and other essential related topics.

Short Essay on Global Warming and Climate Change?

Since the industrial and scientific revolutions, Earth’s resources have been gradually depleted. Furthermore, the start of the world’s population’s exponential expansion is particularly hard on the environment. Simply put, as the population’s need for consumption grows, so does the use of natural resources , as well as the waste generated by that consumption.

Climate change has been one of the most significant long-term consequences of this. Climate change is more than just the rise or fall of global temperatures; it also affects rain cycles, wind patterns, cyclone frequencies, sea levels, and other factors. It has an impact on all major life groupings on the planet.

What is Global Warming?

Global warming is the unusually rapid increase in Earth’s average surface temperature over the past century, primarily due to the greenhouse gases released by people burning fossil fuels . The greenhouse gases consist of methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, carbon dioxide, water vapour, and chlorofluorocarbons. The weather prediction has been becoming more complex with every passing year, with seasons more indistinguishable, and the general temperatures hotter.

The number of hurricanes, cyclones, droughts, floods, etc., has risen steadily since the onset of the 21st century. The supervillain behind all these changes is Global Warming. The name is quite self-explanatory; it means the rise in the temperature of the Earth.

What are the Causes of Global Warming?

According to recent studies, many scientists believe the following are the primary four causes of global warming:

Deforestation
Greenhouse emissions
Carbon emissions per capita

Extreme global warming is causing natural disasters , which can be seen all around us. One of the causes of global warming is the extreme release of greenhouse gases that become trapped on the earth’s surface, causing the temperature to rise. Similarly, volcanoes contribute to global warming by spewing excessive CO2 into the atmosphere.

The increase in population is one of the major causes of Global Warming. This increase in population also leads to increased air pollution . Automobiles emit a lot of CO2, which remains in the atmosphere. This increase in population is also causing deforestation, which contributes to global warming.

The earth’s surface emits energy into the atmosphere in the form of heat, keeping the balance with the incoming energy. Global warming depletes the ozone layer, bringing about the end of the world. There is a clear indication that increased global warming will result in the extinction of all life on Earth’s surface.

Also Read: Land, Soil, Water, Natural Vegetation, and Wildlife Resources

Solutions for Global Warming

Of course, industries and multinational conglomerates emit more carbon than the average citizen. Nonetheless, activism and community effort are the only viable ways to slow the worsening effects of global warming. Furthermore, at the state or government level, world leaders must develop concrete plans and step-by-step programmes to ensure that no further harm is done to the environment in general.

Although we are almost too late to slow the rate of global warming, finding the right solution is critical. Everyone, from individuals to governments, must work together to find a solution to Global Warming. Some of the factors to consider are pollution control, population growth, and the use of natural resources.

One very important contribution you can make is to reduce your use of plastic. Plastic is the primary cause of global warming, and recycling it takes years. Another factor to consider is deforestation, which will aid in the control of global warming. More tree planting should be encouraged to green the environment. Certain rules should also govern industrialization. Building industries in green zones that affect plants and species should be prohibited.

Effects of Global Warming

Global warming is a real problem that many people want to disprove to gain political advantage. However, as global citizens, we must ensure that only the truth is presented in the media.

This decade has seen a significant impact from global warming. The two most common phenomena observed are glacier retreat and arctic shrinkage. Glaciers are rapidly melting. These are clear manifestations of climate change.

Another significant effect of global warming is the rise in sea level. Flooding is occurring in low-lying areas as a result of sea-level rise. Many countries have experienced extreme weather conditions. Every year, we have unusually heavy rain, extreme heat and cold, wildfires, and other natural disasters.

Similarly, as global warming continues, marine life is being severely impacted. This is causing the extinction of marine species as well as other problems. Furthermore, changes are expected in coral reefs, which will face extinction in the coming years. These effects will intensify in the coming years, effectively halting species expansion. Furthermore, humans will eventually feel the negative effects of Global Warming.

Also Read: Concept of Sustainable Development

Sample Essays on Global Warming

Here are some sample essays on Global Warming:

Essay on Global Warming Paragraph in 100 – 150 words

Global Warming is caused by the increase of carbon dioxide levels in the earth’s atmosphere and is a result of human activities that have been causing harm to our environment for the past few centuries now. Global Warming is something that can’t be ignored and steps have to be taken to tackle the situation globally. The average temperature is constantly rising by 1.5 degrees Celsius over the last few years.

The best method to prevent future damage to the earth, cutting down more forests should be banned and Afforestation should be encouraged. Start by planting trees near your homes and offices, participate in events, and teach the importance of planting trees. It is impossible to undo the damage but it is possible to stop further harm.

Essay on Global Warming in 250 Words

Over a long period, it is observed that the temperature of the earth is increasing. This affected wildlife, animals, humans, and every living organism on earth. Glaciers have been melting, and many countries have started water shortages, flooding, and erosion and all this is because of global warming.

No one can be blamed for global warming except for humans. Human activities such as gases released from power plants, transportation, and deforestation have increased gases such as carbon dioxide, CFCs, and other pollutants in the earth’s atmosphere. The main question is how can we control the current situation and build a better world for future generations. It starts with little steps by every individual.

Start using cloth bags made from sustainable materials for all shopping purposes, instead of using high-watt lights use energy-efficient bulbs, switch off the electricity, don’t waste water, abolish deforestation and encourage planting more trees. Shift the use of energy from petroleum or other fossil fuels to wind and solar energy. Instead of throwing out the old clothes donate them to someone so that it is recycled.

Donate old books, don’t waste paper. Above all, spread awareness about global warming. Every little thing a person does towards saving the earth will contribute in big or small amounts. We must learn that 1% effort is better than no effort. Pledge to take care of Mother Nature and speak up about global warming.

Essay on Global Warming in 500 Words

Global warming isn’t a prediction, it is happening! A person denying it or unaware of it is in the most simple terms complicit. Do we have another planet to live on? Unfortunately, we have been bestowed with this one planet only that can sustain life yet over the years we have turned a blind eye to the plight it is in. Global warming is not an abstract concept but a global phenomenon occurring ever so slowly even at this moment. Global Warming is a phenomenon that is occurring every minute resulting in a gradual increase in the Earth’s overall climate. Brought about by greenhouse gases that trap the solar radiation in the atmosphere, global warming can change the entire map of the earth, displacing areas, flooding many countries, and destroying multiple lifeforms. Extreme weather is a direct consequence of global warming but it is not an exhaustive consequence. There are virtually limitless effects of global warming which are all harmful to life on earth. The sea level is increasing by 0.12 inches per year worldwide. This is happening because of the melting of polar ice caps because of global warming. This has increased the frequency of floods in many lowland areas and has caused damage to coral reefs. The Arctic is one of the worst-hit areas affected by global warming. Air quality has been adversely affected and the acidity of the seawater has also increased causing severe damage to marine life forms. Severe natural disasters are brought about by global warming which has had dire effects on life and property. As long as mankind produces greenhouse gases, global warming will continue to accelerate. The consequences are felt at a much smaller scale which will increase to become drastic shortly. The power to save the day lies in the hands of humans, the need is to seize the day. Energy consumption should be reduced on an individual basis. Fuel-efficient cars and other electronics should be encouraged to reduce the wastage of energy sources. This will also improve air quality and reduce the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Global warming is an evil that can only be defeated when fought together. It is better late than never. If we all take steps today, we will have a much brighter future tomorrow. Global warming is the bane of our existence and various policies have come up worldwide to fight it but that is not enough. The actual difference is made when we work at an individual level to fight it. Understanding its import now is crucial before it becomes an irrevocable mistake. Exterminating global warming is of utmost importance and each one of us is as responsible for it as the next.

Also Read: Essay on Library: 100, 200 and 250 Words

Essay on Global Warming UPSC

Always hear about global warming everywhere, but do we know what it is? The evil of the worst form, global warming is a phenomenon that can affect life more fatally. Global warming refers to the increase in the earth’s temperature as a result of various human activities. The planet is gradually getting hotter and threatening the existence of lifeforms on it. Despite being relentlessly studied and researched, global warming for the majority of the population remains an abstract concept of science. It is this concept that over the years has culminated in making global warming a stark reality and not a concept covered in books. Global warming is not caused by one sole reason that can be curbed. Multifarious factors cause global warming most of which are a part of an individual’s daily existence. Burning of fuels for cooking, in vehicles, and for other conventional uses, a large amount of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, and methane amongst many others is produced which accelerates global warming. Rampant deforestation also results in global warming as lesser green cover results in an increased presence of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere which is a greenhouse gas. Finding a solution to global warming is of immediate importance. Global warming is a phenomenon that has to be fought unitedly. Planting more trees can be the first step that can be taken toward warding off the severe consequences of global warming. Increasing the green cover will result in regulating the carbon cycle. There should be a shift from using nonrenewable energy to renewable energy such as wind or solar energy which causes less pollution and thereby hinder the acceleration of global warming. Reducing energy needs at an individual level and not wasting energy in any form is the most important step to be taken against global warming. The warning bells are tolling to awaken us from the deep slumber of complacency we have slipped into. Humans can fight against nature and it is high time we acknowledged that. With all our scientific progress and technological inventions, fighting off the negative effects of global warming is implausible. We have to remember that we do not inherit the earth from our ancestors but borrow it from our future generations and the responsibility lies on our shoulders to bequeath them a healthy planet for life to exist.

Climate Change and Global Warming Essay

Global Warming and Climate Change are two sides of the same coin. Both are interrelated with each other and are two issues of major concern worldwide. Greenhouse gases released such as carbon dioxide, CFCs, and other pollutants in the earth’s atmosphere cause Global Warming which leads to climate change. Black holes have started to form in the ozone layer that protects the earth from harmful ultraviolet rays.

Human activities have created climate change and global warming. Industrial waste and fumes are the major contributors to global warming.

Another factor affecting is the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation and also one of the reasons for climate change. Global warming has resulted in shrinking mountain glaciers in Antarctica, Greenland, and the Arctic and causing climate change. Switching from the use of fossil fuels to energy sources like wind and solar.

When buying any electronic appliance buy the best quality with energy savings stars. Don’t waste water and encourage rainwater harvesting in your community.

Tips to Write an Essay

Writing an effective essay needs skills that few people possess and even fewer know how to implement. While writing an essay can be an assiduous task that can be unnerving at times, some key pointers can be inculcated to draft a successful essay. These involve focusing on the structure of the essay, planning it out well, and emphasizing crucial details.

Mentioned below are some pointers that can help you write better structure and more thoughtful essays that will get across to your readers:

Prepare an outline for the essay to ensure continuity and relevance and no break in the structure of the essay
Decide on a thesis statement that will form the basis of your essay. It will be the point of your essay and help readers understand your contention
Follow the structure of an introduction, a detailed body followed by a conclusion so that the readers can comprehend the essay in a particular manner without any dissonance.
Make your beginning catchy and include solutions in your conclusion to make the essay insightful and lucrative to read
Reread before putting it out and add your flair to the essay to make it more personal and thereby unique and intriguing for readers

Also Read: I Love My India Essay: 100 and 500+ Words in English for School Students

Ans. Both natural and man-made factors contribute to global warming. The natural one also contains methane gas, volcanic eruptions, and greenhouse gases. Deforestation, mining, livestock raising, burning fossil fuels, and other man-made causes are next.

Ans. The government and the general public can work together to stop global warming. Trees must be planted more often, and deforestation must be prohibited. Auto usage needs to be curbed, and recycling needs to be promoted.

Ans. Switching to renewable energy sources , adopting sustainable farming, transportation, and energy methods, and conserving water and other natural resources.

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Digvijay Singh

Having 2+ years of experience in educational content writing, withholding a Bachelor's in Physical Education and Sports Science and a strong interest in writing educational content for students enrolled in domestic and foreign study abroad programmes. I believe in offering a distinct viewpoint to the table, to help students deal with the complexities of both domestic and foreign educational systems. Through engaging storytelling and insightful analysis, I aim to inspire my readers to embark on their educational journeys, whether abroad or at home, and to make the most of every learning opportunity that comes their way.

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ENCYCLOPEDIC ENTRY

Global warming.

The causes, effects, and complexities of global warming are important to understand so that we can fight for the health of our planet.

Earth Science, Climatology

Tennessee Power Plant

Ash spews from a coal-fueled power plant in New Johnsonville, Tennessee, United States.

Photograph by Emory Kristof/ National Geographic

Global warming is the long-term warming of the planet’s overall temperature. Though this warming trend has been going on for a long time, its pace has significantly increased in the last hundred years due to the burning of fossil fuels . As the human population has increased, so has the volume of fossil fuels burned. Fossil fuels include coal, oil, and natural gas, and burning them causes what is known as the “greenhouse effect” in Earth’s atmosphere.

The greenhouse effect is when the sun’s rays penetrate the atmosphere, but when that heat is reflected off the surface cannot escape back into space. Gases produced by the burning of fossil fuels prevent the heat from leaving the atmosphere. These greenhouse gasses are carbon dioxide , chlorofluorocarbons, water vapor , methane , and nitrous oxide . The excess heat in the atmosphere has caused the average global temperature to rise overtime, otherwise known as global warming.

Global warming has presented another issue called climate change. Sometimes these phrases are used interchangeably, however, they are different. Climate change refers to changes in weather patterns and growing seasons around the world. It also refers to sea level rise caused by the expansion of warmer seas and melting ice sheets and glaciers . Global warming causes climate change, which poses a serious threat to life on Earth in the forms of widespread flooding and extreme weather. Scientists continue to study global warming and its impact on Earth.

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What is global warming?

What causes global warming, how is global warming linked to extreme weather, what are the other effects of global warming, where does the united states stand in terms of global-warming contributors, is the united states doing anything to prevent global warming, is global warming too big a problem for me to help tackle.

A: Since the Industrial Revolution, the global annual temperature has increased in total by a little more than 1 degree Celsius, or about 2 degrees Fahrenheit. Between 1880—the year that accurate recordkeeping began—and 1980, it rose on average by 0.07 degrees Celsius (0.13 degrees Fahrenheit) every 10 years. Since 1981, however, the rate of increase has more than doubled: For the last 40 years, we’ve seen the global annual temperature rise by 0.18 degrees Celsius, or 0.32 degrees Fahrenheit, per decade.

The result? A planet that has never been hotter . Nine of the 10 warmest years since 1880 have occurred since 2005—and the 5 warmest years on record have all occurred since 2015. Climate change deniers have argued that there has been a “pause” or a “slowdown” in rising global temperatures, but numerous studies, including a 2018 paper published in the journal Environmental Research Letters , have disproved this claim. The impacts of global warming are already harming people around the world.

Now climate scientists have concluded that we must limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2040 if we are to avoid a future in which everyday life around the world is marked by its worst, most devastating effects: the extreme droughts, wildfires, floods, tropical storms, and other disasters that we refer to collectively as climate change . These effects are felt by all people in one way or another but are experienced most acutely by the underprivileged, the economically marginalized, and people of color, for whom climate change is often a key driver of poverty, displacement, hunger, and social unrest.

A: Global warming occurs when carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and other air pollutants collect in the atmosphere and absorb sunlight and solar radiation that have bounced off the earth’s surface. Normally this radiation would escape into space, but these pollutants, which can last for years to centuries in the atmosphere, trap the heat and cause the planet to get hotter. These heat-trapping pollutants—specifically carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, water vapor, and synthetic fluorinated gases—are known as greenhouse gases, and their impact is called the greenhouse effect.

Though natural cycles and fluctuations have caused the earth’s climate to change several times over the last 800,000 years, our current era of global warming is directly attributable to human activity—specifically to our burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil, gasoline, and natural gas, which results in the greenhouse effect. In the United States, the largest source of greenhouse gases is transportation (29 percent), followed closely by electricity production (28 percent) and industrial activity (22 percent). Learn about the natural and human causes of climate change .

Curbing dangerous climate change requires very deep cuts in emissions, as well as the use of alternatives to fossil fuels worldwide. The good news is that countries around the globe have formally committed—as part of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement —to lower their emissions by setting new standards and crafting new policies to meet or even exceed those standards. The not-so-good news is that we’re not working fast enough. To avoid the worst impacts of climate change, scientists tell us that we need to reduce global carbon emissions by as much as 40 percent by 2030. For that to happen, the global community must take immediate, concrete steps: to decarbonize electricity generation by equitably transitioning from fossil fuel–based production to renewable energy sources like wind and solar; to electrify our cars and trucks; and to maximize energy efficiency in our buildings, appliances, and industries.

A: Scientists agree that the earth’s rising temperatures are fueling longer and hotter heat waves , more frequent droughts , heavier rainfall , and more powerful hurricanes .

In 2015, for example, scientists concluded that a lengthy drought in California—the state’s worst water shortage in 1,200 years —had been intensified by 15 to 20 percent by global warming. They also said the odds of similar droughts happening in the future had roughly doubled over the past century. And in 2016, the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine announced that we can now confidently attribute some extreme weather events, like heat waves, droughts, and heavy precipitation, directly to climate change.

The earth’s ocean temperatures are getting warmer, too—which means that tropical storms can pick up more energy. In other words, global warming has the ability to turn a category 3 storm into a more dangerous category 4 storm. In fact, scientists have found that the frequency of North Atlantic hurricanes has increased since the early 1980s, as has the number of storms that reach categories 4 and 5. The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season included a record-breaking 30 tropical storms, 6 major hurricanes, and 13 hurricanes altogether. With increased intensity come increased damage and death. The United States saw an unprecedented 22 weather and climate disasters that caused at least a billion dollars’ worth of damage in 2020, but, according to NOAA, 2017 was the costliest on record and among the deadliest as well: Taken together, that year's tropical storms (including Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria) caused nearly $300 billion in damage and led to more than 3,300 fatalities.

The impacts of global warming are being felt everywhere. Extreme heat waves have caused tens of thousands of deaths around the world in recent years. And in an alarming sign of events to come, Antarctica has lost nearly four trillion metric tons of ice since the 1990s. The rate of loss could speed up if we keep burning fossil fuels at our current pace, some experts say, causing sea levels to rise several meters in the next 50 to 150 years and wreaking havoc on coastal communities worldwide.

A: Each year scientists learn more about the consequences of global warming , and each year we also gain new evidence of its devastating impact on people and the planet. As the heat waves, droughts, and floods associated with climate change become more frequent and more intense, communities suffer and death tolls rise. If we’re unable to reduce our emissions, scientists believe that climate change could lead to the deaths of more than 250,000 people around the globe every year and force 100 million people into poverty by 2030.

Global warming is already taking a toll on the United States. And if we aren’t able to get a handle on our emissions, here’s just a smattering of what we can look forward to:

Disappearing glaciers, early snowmelt, and severe droughts will cause more dramatic water shortages and continue to increase the risk of wildfires in the American West.
Rising sea levels will lead to even more coastal flooding on the Eastern Seaboard, especially in Florida, and in other areas such as the Gulf of Mexico.
Forests, farms, and cities will face troublesome new pests , heat waves, heavy downpours, and increased flooding . All of these can damage or destroy agriculture and fisheries.
Disruption of habitats such as coral reefs and alpine meadows could drive many plant and animal species to extinction.
Allergies, asthma, and infectious disease outbreaks will become more common due to increased growth of pollen-producing ragweed , higher levels of air pollution , and the spread of conditions favorable to pathogens and mosquitoes.

Though everyone is affected by climate change, not everyone is affected equally. Indigenous people, people of color, and the economically marginalized are typically hit the hardest. Inequities built into our housing , health care , and labor systems make these communities more vulnerable to the worst impacts of climate change—even though these same communities have done the least to contribute to it.

A: In recent years, China has taken the lead in global-warming pollution , producing about 26 percent of all CO2 emissions. The United States comes in second. Despite making up just 4 percent of the world’s population, our nation produces a sobering 13 percent of all global CO2 emissions—nearly as much as the European Union and India (third and fourth place) combined. And America is still number one, by far, in cumulative emissions over the past 150 years. As a top contributor to global warming, the United States has an obligation to help propel the world to a cleaner, safer, and more equitable future. Our responsibility matters to other countries, and it should matter to us, too.

A: We’ve started. But in order to avoid the worsening effects of climate change, we need to do a lot more—together with other countries—to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and transition to clean energy sources.

Under the administration of President Donald Trump (a man who falsely referred to global warming as a “hoax”), the United States withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement, rolled back or eliminated dozens of clean air protections, and opened up federally managed lands, including culturally sacred national monuments, to fossil fuel development. Although President Biden has pledged to get the country back on track, years of inaction during and before the Trump administration—and our increased understanding of global warming’s serious impacts—mean we must accelerate our efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Despite the lack of cooperation from the Trump administration, local and state governments made great strides during this period through efforts like the American Cities Climate Challenge and ongoing collaborations like the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative . Meanwhile, industry and business leaders have been working with the public sector, creating and adopting new clean-energy technologies and increasing energy efficiency in buildings, appliances, and industrial processes.

Today the American automotive industry is finding new ways to produce cars and trucks that are more fuel efficient and is committing itself to putting more and more zero-emission electric vehicles on the road. Developers, cities, and community advocates are coming together to make sure that new affordable housing is built with efficiency in mind , reducing energy consumption and lowering electric and heating bills for residents. And renewable energy continues to surge as the costs associated with its production and distribution keep falling. In 2020 renewable energy sources such as wind and solar provided more electricity than coal for the very first time in U.S. history.

President Biden has made action on global warming a high priority. On his first day in office, he recommitted the United States to the Paris Climate Agreement, sending the world community a strong signal that we were determined to join other nations in cutting our carbon pollution to support the shared goal of preventing the average global temperature from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. (Scientists say we must stay below a 2-degree increase to avoid catastrophic climate impacts.) And significantly, the president has assembled a climate team of experts and advocates who have been tasked with pursuing action both abroad and at home while furthering the cause of environmental justice and investing in nature-based solutions.

A: No! While we can’t win the fight without large-scale government action at the national level , we also can’t do it without the help of individuals who are willing to use their voices, hold government and industry leaders to account, and make changes in their daily habits.

Wondering how you can be a part of the fight against global warming? Reduce your own carbon footprint by taking a few easy steps: Make conserving energy a part of your daily routine and your decisions as a consumer. When you shop for new appliances like refrigerators, washers, and dryers, look for products with the government’s ENERGY STAR ® label; they meet a higher standard for energy efficiency than the minimum federal requirements. When you buy a car, look for one with the highest gas mileage and lowest emissions. You can also reduce your emissions by taking public transportation or carpooling when possible.

And while new federal and state standards are a step in the right direction, much more needs to be done. Voice your support of climate-friendly and climate change preparedness policies, and tell your representatives that equitably transitioning from dirty fossil fuels to clean power should be a top priority—because it’s vital to building healthy, more secure communities.

You don’t have to go it alone, either. Movements across the country are showing how climate action can build community , be led by those on the front lines of its impacts, and create a future that’s equitable and just for all .

This story was originally published on March 11, 2016 and has been updated with new information and links.

This NRDC.org story is available for online republication by news media outlets or nonprofits under these conditions: The writer(s) must be credited with a byline; you must note prominently that the story was originally published by NRDC.org and link to the original; the story cannot be edited (beyond simple things such as grammar); you can’t resell the story in any form or grant republishing rights to other outlets; you can’t republish our material wholesale or automatically—you need to select stories individually; you can’t republish the photos or graphics on our site without specific permission; you should drop us a note to let us know when you’ve used one of our stories.

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The Science of Climate Change Explained: Facts, Evidence and Proof

Definitive answers to the big questions.

Credit... Photo Illustration by Andrea D'Aquino

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By Julia Rosen

Ms. Rosen is a journalist with a Ph.D. in geology. Her research involved studying ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica to understand past climate changes.

Published April 19, 2021 Updated Nov. 6, 2021

The science of climate change is more solid and widely agreed upon than you might think. But the scope of the topic, as well as rampant disinformation, can make it hard to separate fact from fiction. Here, we’ve done our best to present you with not only the most accurate scientific information, but also an explanation of how we know it.

How do we know climate change is really happening?

How much agreement is there among scientists about climate change, do we really only have 150 years of climate data how is that enough to tell us about centuries of change, how do we know climate change is caused by humans, since greenhouse gases occur naturally, how do we know they’re causing earth’s temperature to rise, why should we be worried that the planet has warmed 2°f since the 1800s, is climate change a part of the planet’s natural warming and cooling cycles, how do we know global warming is not because of the sun or volcanoes, how can winters and certain places be getting colder if the planet is warming, wildfires and bad weather have always happened. how do we know there’s a connection to climate change, how bad are the effects of climate change going to be, what will it cost to do something about climate change, versus doing nothing.

Climate change is often cast as a prediction made by complicated computer models. But the scientific basis for climate change is much broader, and models are actually only one part of it (and, for what it’s worth, they’re surprisingly accurate ).

For more than a century , scientists have understood the basic physics behind why greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide cause warming. These gases make up just a small fraction of the atmosphere but exert outsized control on Earth’s climate by trapping some of the planet’s heat before it escapes into space. This greenhouse effect is important: It’s why a planet so far from the sun has liquid water and life!

However, during the Industrial Revolution, people started burning coal and other fossil fuels to power factories, smelters and steam engines, which added more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Ever since, human activities have been heating the planet.

We know this is true thanks to an overwhelming body of evidence that begins with temperature measurements taken at weather stations and on ships starting in the mid-1800s. Later, scientists began tracking surface temperatures with satellites and looking for clues about climate change in geologic records. Together, these data all tell the same story: Earth is getting hotter.

Average global temperatures have increased by 2.2 degrees Fahrenheit, or 1.2 degrees Celsius, since 1880, with the greatest changes happening in the late 20th century. Land areas have warmed more than the sea surface and the Arctic has warmed the most — by more than 4 degrees Fahrenheit just since the 1960s. Temperature extremes have also shifted. In the United States, daily record highs now outnumber record lows two-to-one.

Where it was cooler or warmer in 2020 compared with the middle of the 20th century

This warming is unprecedented in recent geologic history. A famous illustration, first published in 1998 and often called the hockey-stick graph, shows how temperatures remained fairly flat for centuries (the shaft of the stick) before turning sharply upward (the blade). It’s based on data from tree rings, ice cores and other natural indicators. And the basic picture , which has withstood decades of scrutiny from climate scientists and contrarians alike, shows that Earth is hotter today than it’s been in at least 1,000 years, and probably much longer.

In fact, surface temperatures actually mask the true scale of climate change, because the ocean has absorbed 90 percent of the heat trapped by greenhouse gases . Measurements collected over the last six decades by oceanographic expeditions and networks of floating instruments show that every layer of the ocean is warming up. According to one study , the ocean has absorbed as much heat between 1997 and 2015 as it did in the previous 130 years.

We also know that climate change is happening because we see the effects everywhere. Ice sheets and glaciers are shrinking while sea levels are rising. Arctic sea ice is disappearing. In the spring, snow melts sooner and plants flower earlier. Animals are moving to higher elevations and latitudes to find cooler conditions. And droughts, floods and wildfires have all gotten more extreme. Models predicted many of these changes, but observations show they are now coming to pass.

There’s no denying that scientists love a good, old-fashioned argument. But when it comes to climate change, there is virtually no debate: Numerous studies have found that more than 90 percent of scientists who study Earth’s climate agree that the planet is warming and that humans are the primary cause. Most major scientific bodies, from NASA to the World Meteorological Organization , endorse this view. That’s an astounding level of consensus given the contrarian, competitive nature of the scientific enterprise, where questions like what killed the dinosaurs remain bitterly contested .

Scientific agreement about climate change started to emerge in the late 1980s, when the influence of human-caused warming began to rise above natural climate variability. By 1991, two-thirds of earth and atmospheric scientists surveyed for an early consensus study said that they accepted the idea of anthropogenic global warming. And by 1995, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a famously conservative body that periodically takes stock of the state of scientific knowledge, concluded that “the balance of evidence suggests that there is a discernible human influence on global climate.” Currently, more than 97 percent of publishing climate scientists agree on the existence and cause of climate change (as does nearly 60 percent of the general population of the United States).

So where did we get the idea that there’s still debate about climate change? A lot of it came from coordinated messaging campaigns by companies and politicians that opposed climate action. Many pushed the narrative that scientists still hadn’t made up their minds about climate change, even though that was misleading. Frank Luntz, a Republican consultant, explained the rationale in an infamous 2002 memo to conservative lawmakers: “Should the public come to believe that the scientific issues are settled, their views about global warming will change accordingly,” he wrote. Questioning consensus remains a common talking point today, and the 97 percent figure has become something of a lightning rod .

To bolster the falsehood of lingering scientific doubt, some people have pointed to things like the Global Warming Petition Project, which urged the United States government to reject the Kyoto Protocol of 1997, an early international climate agreement. The petition proclaimed that climate change wasn’t happening, and even if it were, it wouldn’t be bad for humanity. Since 1998, more than 30,000 people with science degrees have signed it. However, nearly 90 percent of them studied something other than Earth, atmospheric or environmental science, and the signatories included just 39 climatologists. Most were engineers, doctors, and others whose training had little to do with the physics of the climate system.

A few well-known researchers remain opposed to the scientific consensus. Some, like Willie Soon, a researcher affiliated with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, have ties to the fossil fuel industry . Others do not, but their assertions have not held up under the weight of evidence. At least one prominent skeptic, the physicist Richard Muller, changed his mind after reassessing historical temperature data as part of the Berkeley Earth project. His team’s findings essentially confirmed the results he had set out to investigate, and he came away firmly convinced that human activities were warming the planet. “Call me a converted skeptic,” he wrote in an Op-Ed for the Times in 2012.

Mr. Luntz, the Republican pollster, has also reversed his position on climate change and now advises politicians on how to motivate climate action.

A final note on uncertainty: Denialists often use it as evidence that climate science isn’t settled. However, in science, uncertainty doesn’t imply a lack of knowledge. Rather, it’s a measure of how well something is known. In the case of climate change, scientists have found a range of possible future changes in temperature, precipitation and other important variables — which will depend largely on how quickly we reduce emissions. But uncertainty does not undermine their confidence that climate change is real and that people are causing it.

Earth’s climate is inherently variable. Some years are hot and others are cold, some decades bring more hurricanes than others, some ancient droughts spanned the better part of centuries. Glacial cycles operate over many millenniums. So how can scientists look at data collected over a relatively short period of time and conclude that humans are warming the planet? The answer is that the instrumental temperature data that we have tells us a lot, but it’s not all we have to go on.

Historical records stretch back to the 1880s (and often before), when people began to regularly measure temperatures at weather stations and on ships as they traversed the world’s oceans. These data show a clear warming trend during the 20th century.

Global average temperature compared with the middle of the 20th century

+0.75°C

–0.25°

Some have questioned whether these records could be skewed, for instance, by the fact that a disproportionate number of weather stations are near cities, which tend to be hotter than surrounding areas as a result of the so-called urban heat island effect. However, researchers regularly correct for these potential biases when reconstructing global temperatures. In addition, warming is corroborated by independent data like satellite observations, which cover the whole planet, and other ways of measuring temperature changes.

Much has also been made of the small dips and pauses that punctuate the rising temperature trend of the last 150 years. But these are just the result of natural climate variability or other human activities that temporarily counteract greenhouse warming. For instance, in the mid-1900s, internal climate dynamics and light-blocking pollution from coal-fired power plants halted global warming for a few decades. (Eventually, rising greenhouse gases and pollution-control laws caused the planet to start heating up again.) Likewise, the so-called warming hiatus of the 2000s was partly a result of natural climate variability that allowed more heat to enter the ocean rather than warm the atmosphere. The years since have been the hottest on record .

Still, could the entire 20th century just be one big natural climate wiggle? To address that question, we can look at other kinds of data that give a longer perspective. Researchers have used geologic records like tree rings, ice cores, corals and sediments that preserve information about prehistoric climates to extend the climate record. The resulting picture of global temperature change is basically flat for centuries, then turns sharply upward over the last 150 years. It has been a target of climate denialists for decades. However, study after study has confirmed the results , which show that the planet hasn’t been this hot in at least 1,000 years, and probably longer.

Scientists have studied past climate changes to understand the factors that can cause the planet to warm or cool. The big ones are changes in solar energy, ocean circulation, volcanic activity and the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. And they have each played a role at times.

For example, 300 years ago, a combination of reduced solar output and increased volcanic activity cooled parts of the planet enough that Londoners regularly ice skated on the Thames . About 12,000 years ago, major changes in Atlantic circulation plunged the Northern Hemisphere into a frigid state. And 56 million years ago, a giant burst of greenhouse gases, from volcanic activity or vast deposits of methane (or both), abruptly warmed the planet by at least 9 degrees Fahrenheit, scrambling the climate, choking the oceans and triggering mass extinctions.

In trying to determine the cause of current climate changes, scientists have looked at all of these factors . The first three have varied a bit over the last few centuries and they have quite likely had modest effects on climate , particularly before 1950. But they cannot account for the planet’s rapidly rising temperature, especially in the second half of the 20th century, when solar output actually declined and volcanic eruptions exerted a cooling effect.

That warming is best explained by rising greenhouse gas concentrations . Greenhouse gases have a powerful effect on climate (see the next question for why). And since the Industrial Revolution, humans have been adding more of them to the atmosphere, primarily by extracting and burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas, which releases carbon dioxide.

Bubbles of ancient air trapped in ice show that, before about 1750, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was roughly 280 parts per million. It began to rise slowly and crossed the 300 p.p.m. threshold around 1900. CO2 levels then accelerated as cars and electricity became big parts of modern life, recently topping 420 p.p.m . The concentration of methane, the second most important greenhouse gas, has more than doubled. We’re now emitting carbon much faster than it was released 56 million years ago .

30 billion metric tons

Carbon dioxide emitted worldwide 1850-2017

Rest of world

Other developed

European Union

Developed economies

Other countries

United States

E.U. and U.K.

These rapid increases in greenhouse gases have caused the climate to warm abruptly. In fact, climate models suggest that greenhouse warming can explain virtually all of the temperature change since 1950. According to the most recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which assesses published scientific literature, natural drivers and internal climate variability can only explain a small fraction of late-20th century warming.

Another study put it this way: The odds of current warming occurring without anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are less than 1 in 100,000 .

But greenhouse gases aren’t the only climate-altering compounds people put into the air. Burning fossil fuels also produces particulate pollution that reflects sunlight and cools the planet. Scientists estimate that this pollution has masked up to half of the greenhouse warming we would have otherwise experienced.

Greenhouse gases like water vapor and carbon dioxide serve an important role in the climate. Without them, Earth would be far too cold to maintain liquid water and humans would not exist!

Here’s how it works: the planet’s temperature is basically a function of the energy the Earth absorbs from the sun (which heats it up) and the energy Earth emits to space as infrared radiation (which cools it down). Because of their molecular structure, greenhouse gases temporarily absorb some of that outgoing infrared radiation and then re-emit it in all directions, sending some of that energy back toward the surface and heating the planet . Scientists have understood this process since the 1850s .

Greenhouse gas concentrations have varied naturally in the past. Over millions of years, atmospheric CO2 levels have changed depending on how much of the gas volcanoes belched into the air and how much got removed through geologic processes. On time scales of hundreds to thousands of years, concentrations have changed as carbon has cycled between the ocean, soil and air.

Today, however, we are the ones causing CO2 levels to increase at an unprecedented pace by taking ancient carbon from geologic deposits of fossil fuels and putting it into the atmosphere when we burn them. Since 1750, carbon dioxide concentrations have increased by almost 50 percent. Methane and nitrous oxide, other important anthropogenic greenhouse gases that are released mainly by agricultural activities, have also spiked over the last 250 years.

We know based on the physics described above that this should cause the climate to warm. We also see certain telltale “fingerprints” of greenhouse warming. For example, nights are warming even faster than days because greenhouse gases don’t go away when the sun sets. And upper layers of the atmosphere have actually cooled, because more energy is being trapped by greenhouse gases in the lower atmosphere.

We also know that we are the cause of rising greenhouse gas concentrations — and not just because we can measure the CO2 coming out of tailpipes and smokestacks. We can see it in the chemical signature of the carbon in CO2.

Carbon comes in three different masses: 12, 13 and 14. Things made of organic matter (including fossil fuels) tend to have relatively less carbon-13. Volcanoes tend to produce CO2 with relatively more carbon-13. And over the last century, the carbon in atmospheric CO2 has gotten lighter, pointing to an organic source.

We can tell it’s old organic matter by looking for carbon-14, which is radioactive and decays over time. Fossil fuels are too ancient to have any carbon-14 left in them, so if they were behind rising CO2 levels, you would expect the amount of carbon-14 in the atmosphere to drop, which is exactly what the data show .

It’s important to note that water vapor is the most abundant greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. However, it does not cause warming; instead it responds to it . That’s because warmer air holds more moisture, which creates a snowball effect in which human-caused warming allows the atmosphere to hold more water vapor and further amplifies climate change. This so-called feedback cycle has doubled the warming caused by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.

A common source of confusion when it comes to climate change is the difference between weather and climate. Weather is the constantly changing set of meteorological conditions that we experience when we step outside, whereas climate is the long-term average of those conditions, usually calculated over a 30-year period. Or, as some say: Weather is your mood and climate is your personality.

So while 2 degrees Fahrenheit doesn’t represent a big change in the weather, it’s a huge change in climate. As we’ve already seen, it’s enough to melt ice and raise sea levels, to shift rainfall patterns around the world and to reorganize ecosystems, sending animals scurrying toward cooler habitats and killing trees by the millions.

It’s also important to remember that two degrees represents the global average, and many parts of the world have already warmed by more than that. For example, land areas have warmed about twice as much as the sea surface. And the Arctic has warmed by about 5 degrees. That’s because the loss of snow and ice at high latitudes allows the ground to absorb more energy, causing additional heating on top of greenhouse warming.

Relatively small long-term changes in climate averages also shift extremes in significant ways. For instance, heat waves have always happened, but they have shattered records in recent years. In June of 2020, a town in Siberia registered temperatures of 100 degrees . And in Australia, meteorologists have added a new color to their weather maps to show areas where temperatures exceed 125 degrees. Rising sea levels have also increased the risk of flooding because of storm surges and high tides. These are the foreshocks of climate change.

And we are in for more changes in the future — up to 9 degrees Fahrenheit of average global warming by the end of the century, in the worst-case scenario . For reference, the difference in global average temperatures between now and the peak of the last ice age, when ice sheets covered large parts of North America and Europe, is about 11 degrees Fahrenheit.

Under the Paris Climate Agreement, which President Biden recently rejoined, countries have agreed to try to limit total warming to between 1.5 and 2 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 and 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, since preindustrial times. And even this narrow range has huge implications . According to scientific studies, the difference between 2.7 and 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit will very likely mean the difference between coral reefs hanging on or going extinct, and between summer sea ice persisting in the Arctic or disappearing completely. It will also determine how many millions of people suffer from water scarcity and crop failures, and how many are driven from their homes by rising seas. In other words, one degree Fahrenheit makes a world of difference.

Earth’s climate has always changed. Hundreds of millions of years ago, the entire planet froze . Fifty million years ago, alligators lived in what we now call the Arctic . And for the last 2.6 million years, the planet has cycled between ice ages when the planet was up to 11 degrees cooler and ice sheets covered much of North America and Europe, and milder interglacial periods like the one we’re in now.

Climate denialists often point to these natural climate changes as a way to cast doubt on the idea that humans are causing climate to change today. However, that argument rests on a logical fallacy. It’s like “seeing a murdered body and concluding that people have died of natural causes in the past, so the murder victim must also have died of natural causes,” a team of social scientists wrote in The Debunking Handbook , which explains the misinformation strategies behind many climate myths.

Indeed, we know that different mechanisms caused the climate to change in the past. Glacial cycles, for example, were triggered by periodic variations in Earth’s orbit , which take place over tens of thousands of years and change how solar energy gets distributed around the globe and across the seasons.

These orbital variations don’t affect the planet’s temperature much on their own. But they set off a cascade of other changes in the climate system; for instance, growing or melting vast Northern Hemisphere ice sheets and altering ocean circulation. These changes, in turn, affect climate by altering the amount of snow and ice, which reflect sunlight, and by changing greenhouse gas concentrations. This is actually part of how we know that greenhouse gases have the ability to significantly affect Earth’s temperature.

For at least the last 800,000 years , atmospheric CO2 concentrations oscillated between about 180 parts per million during ice ages and about 280 p.p.m. during warmer periods, as carbon moved between oceans, forests, soils and the atmosphere. These changes occurred in lock step with global temperatures, and are a major reason the entire planet warmed and cooled during glacial cycles, not just the frozen poles.

Today, however, CO2 levels have soared to 420 p.p.m. — the highest they’ve been in at least three million years . The concentration of CO2 is also increasing about 100 times faster than it did at the end of the last ice age. This suggests something else is going on, and we know what it is: Since the Industrial Revolution, humans have been burning fossil fuels and releasing greenhouse gases that are heating the planet now (see Question 5 for more details on how we know this, and Questions 4 and 8 for how we know that other natural forces aren’t to blame).

Over the next century or two, societies and ecosystems will experience the consequences of this climate change. But our emissions will have even more lasting geologic impacts: According to some studies, greenhouse gas levels may have already warmed the planet enough to delay the onset of the next glacial cycle for at least an additional 50,000 years.

The sun is the ultimate source of energy in Earth’s climate system, so it’s a natural candidate for causing climate change. And solar activity has certainly changed over time. We know from satellite measurements and other astronomical observations that the sun’s output changes on 11-year cycles. Geologic records and sunspot numbers, which astronomers have tracked for centuries, also show long-term variations in the sun’s activity, including some exceptionally quiet periods in the late 1600s and early 1800s.

We know that, from 1900 until the 1950s, solar irradiance increased. And studies suggest that this had a modest effect on early 20th century climate, explaining up to 10 percent of the warming that’s occurred since the late 1800s. However, in the second half of the century, when the most warming occurred, solar activity actually declined . This disparity is one of the main reasons we know that the sun is not the driving force behind climate change.

Another reason we know that solar activity hasn’t caused recent warming is that, if it had, all the layers of the atmosphere should be heating up. Instead, data show that the upper atmosphere has actually cooled in recent decades — a hallmark of greenhouse warming .

So how about volcanoes? Eruptions cool the planet by injecting ash and aerosol particles into the atmosphere that reflect sunlight. We’ve observed this effect in the years following large eruptions. There are also some notable historical examples, like when Iceland’s Laki volcano erupted in 1783, causing widespread crop failures in Europe and beyond, and the “ year without a summer ,” which followed the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia.

Since volcanoes mainly act as climate coolers, they can’t really explain recent warming. However, scientists say that they may also have contributed slightly to rising temperatures in the early 20th century. That’s because there were several large eruptions in the late 1800s that cooled the planet, followed by a few decades with no major volcanic events when warming caught up. During the second half of the 20th century, though, several big eruptions occurred as the planet was heating up fast. If anything, they temporarily masked some amount of human-caused warming.

The second way volcanoes can impact climate is by emitting carbon dioxide. This is important on time scales of millions of years — it’s what keeps the planet habitable (see Question 5 for more on the greenhouse effect). But by comparison to modern anthropogenic emissions, even big eruptions like Krakatoa and Mount St. Helens are just a drop in the bucket. After all, they last only a few hours or days, while we burn fossil fuels 24-7. Studies suggest that, today, volcanoes account for 1 to 2 percent of total CO2 emissions.

When a big snowstorm hits the United States, climate denialists can try to cite it as proof that climate change isn’t happening. In 2015, Senator James Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican, famously lobbed a snowball in the Senate as he denounced climate science. But these events don’t actually disprove climate change.

While there have been some memorable storms in recent years, winters are actually warming across the world. In the United States, average temperatures in December, January and February have increased by about 2.5 degrees this century.

On the flip side, record cold days are becoming less common than record warm days. In the United States, record highs now outnumber record lows two-to-one . And ever-smaller areas of the country experience extremely cold winter temperatures . (The same trends are happening globally.)

So what’s with the blizzards? Weather always varies, so it’s no surprise that we still have severe winter storms even as average temperatures rise. However, some studies suggest that climate change may be to blame. One possibility is that rapid Arctic warming has affected atmospheric circulation, including the fast-flowing, high-altitude air that usually swirls over the North Pole (a.k.a. the Polar Vortex ). Some studies suggest that these changes are bringing more frigid temperatures to lower latitudes and causing weather systems to stall , allowing storms to produce more snowfall. This may explain what we’ve experienced in the U.S. over the past few decades, as well as a wintertime cooling trend in Siberia , although exactly how the Arctic affects global weather remains a topic of ongoing scientific debate .

Climate change may also explain the apparent paradox behind some of the other places on Earth that haven’t warmed much. For instance, a splotch of water in the North Atlantic has cooled in recent years, and scientists say they suspect that may be because ocean circulation is slowing as a result of freshwater streaming off a melting Greenland . If this circulation grinds almost to a halt, as it’s done in the geologic past, it would alter weather patterns around the world.

Not all cold weather stems from some counterintuitive consequence of climate change. But it’s a good reminder that Earth’s climate system is complex and chaotic, so the effects of human-caused changes will play out differently in different places. That’s why “global warming” is a bit of an oversimplification. Instead, some scientists have suggested that the phenomenon of human-caused climate change would more aptly be called “ global weirding .”

Extreme weather and natural disasters are part of life on Earth — just ask the dinosaurs. But there is good evidence that climate change has increased the frequency and severity of certain phenomena like heat waves, droughts and floods. Recent research has also allowed scientists to identify the influence of climate change on specific events.

Let’s start with heat waves . Studies show that stretches of abnormally high temperatures now happen about five times more often than they would without climate change, and they last longer, too. Climate models project that, by the 2040s, heat waves will be about 12 times more frequent. And that’s concerning since extreme heat often causes increased hospitalizations and deaths, particularly among older people and those with underlying health conditions. In the summer of 2003, for example, a heat wave caused an estimated 70,000 excess deaths across Europe. (Human-caused warming amplified the death toll .)

Climate change has also exacerbated droughts , primarily by increasing evaporation. Droughts occur naturally because of random climate variability and factors like whether El Niño or La Niña conditions prevail in the tropical Pacific. But some researchers have found evidence that greenhouse warming has been affecting droughts since even before the Dust Bowl . And it continues to do so today. According to one analysis , the drought that afflicted the American Southwest from 2000 to 2018 was almost 50 percent more severe because of climate change. It was the worst drought the region had experienced in more than 1,000 years.

Rising temperatures have also increased the intensity of heavy precipitation events and the flooding that often follows. For example, studies have found that, because warmer air holds more moisture, Hurricane Harvey, which struck Houston in 2017, dropped between 15 and 40 percent more rainfall than it would have without climate change.

It’s still unclear whether climate change is changing the overall frequency of hurricanes, but it is making them stronger . And warming appears to favor certain kinds of weather patterns, like the “ Midwest Water Hose ” events that caused devastating flooding across the Midwest in 2019 .

It’s important to remember that in most natural disasters, there are multiple factors at play. For instance, the 2019 Midwest floods occurred after a recent cold snap had frozen the ground solid, preventing the soil from absorbing rainwater and increasing runoff into the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. These waterways have also been reshaped by levees and other forms of river engineering, some of which failed in the floods.

Wildfires are another phenomenon with multiple causes. In many places, fire risk has increased because humans have aggressively fought natural fires and prevented Indigenous peoples from carrying out traditional burning practices. This has allowed fuel to accumulate that makes current fires worse .

However, climate change still plays a major role by heating and drying forests, turning them into tinderboxes. Studies show that warming is the driving factor behind the recent increases in wildfires; one analysis found that climate change is responsible for doubling the area burned across the American West between 1984 and 2015. And researchers say that warming will only make fires bigger and more dangerous in the future.

It depends on how aggressively we act to address climate change. If we continue with business as usual, by the end of the century, it will be too hot to go outside during heat waves in the Middle East and South Asia . Droughts will grip Central America, the Mediterranean and southern Africa. And many island nations and low-lying areas, from Texas to Bangladesh, will be overtaken by rising seas. Conversely, climate change could bring welcome warming and extended growing seasons to the upper Midwest , Canada, the Nordic countries and Russia . Farther north, however, the loss of snow, ice and permafrost will upend the traditions of Indigenous peoples and threaten infrastructure.

It’s complicated, but the underlying message is simple: unchecked climate change will likely exacerbate existing inequalities . At a national level, poorer countries will be hit hardest, even though they have historically emitted only a fraction of the greenhouse gases that cause warming. That’s because many less developed countries tend to be in tropical regions where additional warming will make the climate increasingly intolerable for humans and crops. These nations also often have greater vulnerabilities, like large coastal populations and people living in improvised housing that is easily damaged in storms. And they have fewer resources to adapt, which will require expensive measures like redesigning cities, engineering coastlines and changing how people grow food.

Already, between 1961 and 2000, climate change appears to have harmed the economies of the poorest countries while boosting the fortunes of the wealthiest nations that have done the most to cause the problem, making the global wealth gap 25 percent bigger than it would otherwise have been. Similarly, the Global Climate Risk Index found that lower income countries — like Myanmar, Haiti and Nepal — rank high on the list of nations most affected by extreme weather between 1999 and 2018. Climate change has also contributed to increased human migration, which is expected to increase significantly .

Even within wealthy countries, the poor and marginalized will suffer the most. People with more resources have greater buffers, like air-conditioners to keep their houses cool during dangerous heat waves, and the means to pay the resulting energy bills. They also have an easier time evacuating their homes before disasters, and recovering afterward. Lower income people have fewer of these advantages, and they are also more likely to live in hotter neighborhoods and work outdoors, where they face the brunt of climate change.

These inequalities will play out on an individual, community, and regional level. A 2017 analysis of the U.S. found that, under business as usual, the poorest one-third of counties, which are concentrated in the South, will experience damages totaling as much as 20 percent of gross domestic product, while others, mostly in the northern part of the country, will see modest economic gains. Solomon Hsiang, an economist at University of California, Berkeley, and the lead author of the study, has said that climate change “may result in the largest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich in the country’s history.”

Even the climate “winners” will not be immune from all climate impacts, though. Desirable locations will face an influx of migrants. And as the coronavirus pandemic has demonstrated, disasters in one place quickly ripple across our globalized economy. For instance, scientists expect climate change to increase the odds of multiple crop failures occurring at the same time in different places, throwing the world into a food crisis .

On top of that, warmer weather is aiding the spread of infectious diseases and the vectors that transmit them, like ticks and mosquitoes . Research has also identified troubling correlations between rising temperatures and increased interpersonal violence , and climate change is widely recognized as a “threat multiplier” that increases the odds of larger conflicts within and between countries. In other words, climate change will bring many changes that no amount of money can stop. What could help is taking action to limit warming.

One of the most common arguments against taking aggressive action to combat climate change is that doing so will kill jobs and cripple the economy. But this implies that there’s an alternative in which we pay nothing for climate change. And unfortunately, there isn’t. In reality, not tackling climate change will cost a lot , and cause enormous human suffering and ecological damage, while transitioning to a greener economy would benefit many people and ecosystems around the world.

Let’s start with how much it will cost to address climate change. To keep warming well below 2 degrees Celsius, the goal of the Paris Climate Agreement, society will have to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by the middle of this century. That will require significant investments in things like renewable energy, electric cars and charging infrastructure, not to mention efforts to adapt to hotter temperatures, rising sea-levels and other unavoidable effects of current climate changes. And we’ll have to make changes fast.

Estimates of the cost vary widely. One recent study found that keeping warming to 2 degrees Celsius would require a total investment of between $4 trillion and $60 trillion, with a median estimate of $16 trillion, while keeping warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius could cost between $10 trillion and $100 trillion, with a median estimate of $30 trillion. (For reference, the entire world economy was about $88 trillion in 2019.) Other studies have found that reaching net zero will require annual investments ranging from less than 1.5 percent of global gross domestic product to as much as 4 percent . That’s a lot, but within the range of historical energy investments in countries like the U.S.

Now, let’s consider the costs of unchecked climate change, which will fall hardest on the most vulnerable. These include damage to property and infrastructure from sea-level rise and extreme weather, death and sickness linked to natural disasters, pollution and infectious disease, reduced agricultural yields and lost labor productivity because of rising temperatures, decreased water availability and increased energy costs, and species extinction and habitat destruction. Dr. Hsiang, the U.C. Berkeley economist, describes it as “death by a thousand cuts.”

As a result, climate damages are hard to quantify. Moody’s Analytics estimates that even 2 degrees Celsius of warming will cost the world $69 trillion by 2100, and economists expect the toll to keep rising with the temperature. In a recent survey , economists estimated the cost would equal 5 percent of global G.D.P. at 3 degrees Celsius of warming (our trajectory under current policies) and 10 percent for 5 degrees Celsius. Other research indicates that, if current warming trends continue, global G.D.P. per capita will decrease between 7 percent and 23 percent by the end of the century — an economic blow equivalent to multiple coronavirus pandemics every year. And some fear these are vast underestimates .

Already, studies suggest that climate change has slashed incomes in the poorest countries by as much as 30 percent and reduced global agricultural productivity by 21 percent since 1961. Extreme weather events have also racked up a large bill. In 2020, in the United States alone, climate-related disasters like hurricanes, droughts, and wildfires caused nearly $100 billion in damages to businesses, property and infrastructure, compared to an average of $18 billion per year in the 1980s.

Given the steep price of inaction, many economists say that addressing climate change is a better deal . It’s like that old saying: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. In this case, limiting warming will greatly reduce future damage and inequality caused by climate change. It will also produce so-called co-benefits, like saving one million lives every year by reducing air pollution, and millions more from eating healthier, climate-friendly diets. Some studies even find that meeting the Paris Agreement goals could create jobs and increase global G.D.P . And, of course, reining in climate change will spare many species and ecosystems upon which humans depend — and which many people believe to have their own innate value.

The challenge is that we need to reduce emissions now to avoid damages later, which requires big investments over the next few decades. And the longer we delay, the more we will pay to meet the Paris goals. One recent analysis found that reaching net-zero by 2050 would cost the U.S. almost twice as much if we waited until 2030 instead of acting now. But even if we miss the Paris target, the economics still make a strong case for climate action, because every additional degree of warming will cost us more — in dollars, and in lives.

Veronica Penney contributed reporting.

Illustration photographs by Esther Horvath, Max Whittaker, David Maurice Smith and Talia Herman for The New York Times; Esther Horvath/Alfred-Wegener-Institut

An earlier version of this article misidentified the authors of The Debunking Handbook. It was written by social scientists who study climate communication, not a team of climate scientists.

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With the help of Google Cloud, scientists who hunt killer asteroids churned through hundreds of thousands of images of the night sky to reveal 27,500 overlooked space rocks in the solar system .

A celestial image, an Impressionistic swirl of color in the center of the Milky Way, represents a first step toward understanding the role of magnetic fields in the cycle of stellar death and rebirth.

Scientists may have discovered a major flaw in their understanding of dark energy, a mysterious cosmic force . That could be good news for the fate of the universe.

Is Pluto a planet? And what is a planet, anyway? Test your knowledge here .

Essay on Effects of Global Warming for Students and Children

500+ words essay on effects of global warming.

Global warming refers to climate change that causes an increase in the average of Earth’s temperature. Natural events and human influences are believed to be top contributions towards the increase in average temperatures. Global warming is a rise in the surface and atmospheric temperature of the earth that has changed various life forms on the earth. The issues that ascertain global warming are divided into two broad categories – “natural” and “human influences” of global warming.

Natural Causes of Global Warming

The climate has been continuously changing for centuries. One natural cause of global warming is greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases are carbon monoxide and sulphur dioxide . It traps the solar rays and prevents them from escaping the surface of the earth.

This causes an increase in the temperature of the earth. Volcanic eruptions are another reason for global warming. A single volcanic eruption can release a great amount of carbon dioxide and ash to the atmosphere. Increased carbon dioxide leads to a rise in the temperature of the earth.

Also, methane gas is another contributor to global warming. Methane is also a greenhouse gas. Methane is twenty times more effective in trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. Usually, methane gas is released from many areas like animal waste, landfill, natural gas, and others.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Human Influences on Global Warming

Human influence has been a very serious issue now as it is contributing more than natural causes of global warming. Since human evolution, the earth has been changing for many years until now and it is still changing because of our modern lifestyle. Human activities include industrial production, burning fossil fuel, mining of minerals, cattle rearing and deforestation.

Industries, transportation such as cars, buses, trucks burn fuel to power machines, which eventually releases carbon dioxide and monoxide from the exhaust, leading to an increase in a temperature rise of Earth’s atmosphere.

Another contributor is mining. During the process of mining, the methane gas trapped below the earth escapes. Rearing cattle also causes the release of methane from manure. Another cause is the most common but most dangerous – deforestation.

Deforestation is a human influence because human have been cutting down trees to produce paper, wood, build houses and more. Trees can absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and their absence can lead to the concentration of such gases.

The Effect of Global Warming

The impact that global warming is causing on earth is extremely serious. There are many hazardous effects that will happen in the future if global warming continues. It includes melting of polar ice caps, leading to an increase in sea level drowning coastlines and slowly submerging continents.

Recent studies by National Snow and Ice Datacenter “if the ice melted today the seas would rise about 230 feet”. Another effect is climate change leading to the extinction of various species. More hurricanes, cyclonic storms, heat waves, drought, and extreme rainfalls will occur causing disaster to humankind.

The solution to Stop Global Warming

We humans need to work together towards the prevention of global warming. To reduce global warming we can contribute by reducing the production and concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. We need to curb usage of gasoline, electricity and other activities including mining and industrialization that cause global warming.

Another way to reduce global warming is through recycling. Recycling can help reduce open burning of garbage by reusing plastic bags, bottles, papers or glass. We need to stop open burning dry leaves or burning garbage. It contributes to releasing carbon dioxide and toxins. Besides, we should reduce deforestation and start planting more trees. Trees will help improve the temperature on earth and prevent drastic climatic change.

From today’s scenario, we can derive that our earth is “sick” and we humans need to “heal” it. Global Warming has already caused many problems for human and we need to prevent disasters of the future. Our generation needs to take care of the earth with immediate effect to safeguard future generations or they will suffer the consequences of global warming.

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Essay On Global Warming

Essay on global warming is an important topic for students to understand. The essay brings to light the plight of the environment and the repercussion of anthropogenic activities. Continue reading to discover tips and tricks for writing an engaging and interesting essay on global warming.

Essay On Global Warming in 300 Words

Global warming is a phenomenon where the earth’s average temperature rises due to increased amounts of greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and ozone trap the incoming radiation from the sun. This effect creates a natural “blanket”, which prevents the heat from escaping back into the atmosphere. This effect is called the greenhouse effect.

Contrary to popular belief, greenhouse gases are not inherently bad. In fact, the greenhouse effect is quite important for life on earth. Without this effect, the sun’s radiation would be reflected back into the atmosphere, freezing the surface and making life impossible. However, when greenhouse gases in excess amounts get trapped, serious repercussions begin to appear. The polar ice caps begin to melt, leading to a rise in sea levels. Furthermore, the greenhouse effect is accelerated when polar ice caps and sea ice melts. This is due to the fact the ice reflects 50% to 70% of the sun’s rays back into space, but without ice, the solar radiation gets absorbed. Seawater reflects only 6% of the sun’s radiation back into space. What’s more frightening is the fact that the poles contain large amounts of carbon dioxide trapped within the ice. If this ice melts, it will significantly contribute to global warming.

A related scenario when this phenomenon goes out of control is the runaway-greenhouse effect. This scenario is essentially similar to an apocalypse, but it is all too real. Though this has never happened in the earth’s entire history, it is speculated to have occurred on Venus. Millions of years ago, Venus was thought to have an atmosphere similar to that of the earth. But due to the runaway greenhouse effect, surface temperatures around the planet began rising.

If this occurs on the earth, the runaway greenhouse effect will lead to many unpleasant scenarios – temperatures will rise hot enough for oceans to evaporate. Once the oceans evaporate, the rocks will start to sublimate under heat. In order to prevent such a scenario, proper measures have to be taken to stop climate change.

More to Read: Learn How Greenhouse Effect works

Tips To Writing the Perfect Essay

Consider adopting the following strategies when writing an essay. These are proven methods of securing more marks in an exam or assignment.

Begin the essay with an introductory paragraph detailing the history or origin of the given topic.
Try to reduce the use of jargons. Use sparingly if the topic requires it.
Ensure that the content is presented in bulleted points wherever appropriate.
Insert and highlight factual data, such as dates, names and places.
Remember to break up the content into smaller paragraphs. 100-120 words per paragraph should suffice.
Always conclude the essay with a closing paragraph.

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Home / For Educators: Grades 6-12 / Climate Explained: Introductory Essays About Climate Change Topics

Climate Explained: Introductory Essays About Climate Change Topics

Filed under: backgrounders for educators ,.

Climate Explained, a part of Yale Climate Connections, is an essay collection that addresses an array of climate change questions and topics, including why it’s cold outside if global warming is real, how we know that humans are responsible for global warming, and the relationship between climate change and national security.

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Climate Change Basics: Five Facts, Ten Words

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To simplify the scientific complexity of climate change, we focus on communicating five key facts about climate change that everyone should know.

Why should we care about climate change?

Having different perspectives about global warming is natural, but the most important thing that anyone should know about climate change is why it matters.

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176 Topics for a Global Warming Essay + Outline & Writing Guide

Do you close a faucet while brushing your teeth?

♻️ Have you switched to reusable cotton swabs, grocery bags, personal hygiene items, and other sustainable things?

You probably know how all these tiny subjects affect our planet’s climate. And here we are to discuss this massive issue.

Global warming and climate change are pretty challenging topics. And that happens despite a lot has already been said about these phenomena. It’s OK if you feel a bit overwhelmed, for the subject is broad and consists of various approaches and details.

Below, we offer you an excellent set of topic ideas for different types of essays.
BONUS: global warming essay outline and essential details about each essay type.

Study the article to grasp how to write a well-curated global warming composition entirely!

🌡️ Major Approaches
📑 Outlining Ideas
🗣️ Argumentative Essay Topics
🌍 Persuasive Essay Topics
🖇️ Cause and Effect Essay Topics
💡 Other Essay Topics

🔗 References

🌡️ major approaches to global warming.

Before we get to the list of global warming essay ideas, let’s warm up a bit.

All topics about climate nowadays are of current interest. So we decided to start this article by stating what the critical paradigms for global warming are. Here are some viable approaches and trusted resources you can use to defend any position.

1. There’s no Such Thing as Global Warming

Some claim that several-degree temperature changes are all-natural; nothing special about it.

Gutzler, D. (2000) Evaluating global warming: a post-1990s perspective . GSA Today, pp. 2-7.
Mills, T. (2010). Is global warming real? Analysis of structural time series models of global and hemispheric temperatures. Journal of Cosmology
Why do people still believe climate change is fake…
Is global warming real?
There is no evidence that ‘global warming’ was rebranded as ‘climate change.’

2. Global Warming Debates Are too Politicized

There’s an opinion that the debates around the issue are too politicized, and people believe in global warming only if they’ve noticed a temperature change themselves.

Crow, D. (2014). Culture, politics and climate change: How information shapes our shared future. Routledge: New York, NY.
Hamilton, L. & Stampone, M. (2013). Blowing in the wind. Short-term weather and belief in anthropogenic climate change. Weather, Climate, and Society
Psychological Factors Help Explain Slow Reaction to Global Warming, Says APA Task Force
Do people “personally experience” global warming, and if so how, and does it matter?
Why Seeing Is Believing—Usually—When It Comes to Climate Change
A Growing Majority of Americans Think Global Warming is Happening and are Worried

3. We Need to Understand the Causes

Global warming is a complex issue, and it is acting with many other environmental problems. Factors causing global warming are divided into two categories: human activities and natural causes.

Ring, M., Linder, D., Cross, E., & Schlesinger, M. (2012). Causes of the global warming observed since the 19th century. Atmospheric and Climate Sciences, 401 – 415
Causes of global warming explained
Global warming solutions explained
The Causes of Climate Change
Causes of Global Warming; Encyclopedia Britannica

4. Decision-makers Need to Do Something

The consequences of global warming should motivate decision-makers to act immediately. Climate change legislation has permeated international political discourse. The approaches of developed and developing countries differ a lot. Overall, the number of climate laws continues to multiply.

Daui, A. (2012). Climate changes in cities due to global warming and urban effects. Geophysical research letters, 37(9)
Martens, P. (2013). Modeling the impacts of global warming and ozone depletion. Routledge: New York, NY.
Averchenkova, A. et al. (2021). The impact of strategic climate legislation: Evidence from expert interviews on the UK Climate Change Act. Climate Policy, 21(2), 251-263.
How and when do we need to act on climate change?

5. We Need to Do Something ASAP

Global warming is the greatest threat of the 21st century. There is no time to analyze who, why, and how causes it. People should unite and start fighting it right away.

Baby, J., Jini, D. & Ajisha, S. (2011). Fight global warming with genetically altered trees . Asian Journal of Biotechnology, 3(4): 337 – 344.
Poterba, J. M. (1991). Tax policy to combat global warming: on designing a carbon tax. Global warming: Economic policy responses, 71, 97.
How can we combat climate change?
10 Solutions for Climate Change

Sustainability and Government Resources in Climate Change Fight

Use these sources to write a great essay on global warming.

Need more information about global warming? Continue reading!

📑 Global Warming Essay Outline

If you are looking for ideas for an informative global warming essay, you are at the right place!

A good structure will make your paper readable, persuasive, and reliable. Since global warming is a multidimensional issue, you can be easily distracted from the central idea of a composition. It sometimes happens because there are lots of interrelated and similar sub-topics.

We quite understand that!

A clear plan will help you stick to the initial aim and elaborate on aspects vital to it. You’ll also find all the necessary features for each type of essay under the respective headlines below.

Are you thrilled enough by far?

Let’s get to the point!

Schematic outline for a global warming essay.

Global Warming Introduction Paragraph

First things first! An excellent start will set up a tone for the rest of the essay. You will need a good introductory paragraph for a paper about global warming. It’s not as backbreaking as building a spaceship!

An introduction should include the following points:

a brief description of your issue
some background information – to put the reader wise of your further arguments
a thesis statement

Are you ready to learn the secret of a successful essay?

It is the first sentence of the essay and a tool to grasp the reader’s attention, making them read your paper from the first to the last sentence. For example, you can use a rhetorical question, but it’s the most straightforward way.

Read our recent guide article about narrative hooks and how to use them:

🔗 15 Great Essay Hooks with Samples and Explanations

Let’s see what it can look like.

A metaphor used as a hook in a persuasive essay sounds powerful:

Heaven on Earth is risking becoming an absolute hell within the current century. Global warming causes animal and plant extinction on beautiful coral reefs and Alpine meadows. And it is not a question of aesthetics only. It is devastating for a considerable number of reasons.

Striking stats in an argumentative essay is one of the best tools to get the reader’s attention:

Is 20 billion US dollars much to pay for a single drought? Meanwhile, the economic loss due to the 2012 drought in the United States was around that sum of money, making it the most expensive drought in US history. And it is just one of the numerous examples of global warming’s destructive influence on the economy.

The famous quote has been ironically twisted for a hook in a satirical essay:

California’s definitely not dreaming of that: the state has been suffering from severe wildfires for recent years, not by chance. Forest fires and many other effects of global warming are appearing more frequently.

Vivid comparison is used in this hook for a synthesis essay:

CO2 is like Tony Montana of the environment-conscious world: evil, notorious, and no one understands him. But is the impact of this gas really so hazardous and terrible, as we are told?

Looks good, right?

Hooks always make your intro fresh and catchy. Don’t be lazy to use them properly.

Main Body of a Global Warming Essay

Now let’s speak about the essential part of the essay on global warming.

No doubt, the central part of your essay depends on the particular type of paper. In all cases, the body paragraphs comprise arguments and evidence necessary for supporting your thesis. Let’s dig a little deeper here!

🏁 Follow this scheme to make your essay excellent:

take up the first argument
elaborate on it as much as it’s needed to convince the reader
switch to the next statement and reveal its importance in the following body paragraph.

Be ready to divide all the information you present! If you have five arguments proving global warming is a human-made phenomenon, don’t compile them into one paragraph.

Sound logic will contribute to your essay and show you as a reasonable and consistent author.

Data for an Essay on Global Warming

Good news for those of you who can’t bear the idea of searching for statistics, data, and figures!

It is optional for some kinds of global warming assignments . However, it’s better to have some reliable information and sources in-store.

Some real-life experience will improve your essay, especially if it’s something that has been in the public eye already, like Greta Thunberg’s protests or Donald Trump’s tweets about warming.

Here is a list of reliable sources you can use to get some data:

Climate Monitoring; National Centers for Environmental Information
Datasets and Images; NASA GISS
Global climate change – statistics & facts; Statista.com
Maps & Data | NOAA Climate.gov
Climate Change Data; Worldbank
Climate Change Indicators in the United States; US Environmental Protection Agency
UN Stats Open Sustainable Development Goals Data Hub

There is something else about it! Global warming is a pretty controversial subject, despite many people admitting this problem due to climate change. Make sure that you draw valid evidence.

Conclusion of Global Warming Essay

Finally! The icing on our climate change cake, the final touch – the conclusion!

Should it be mentioned there’s no need to introduce any new information in that part?

If you’ve known that already, you are halfway there. Almost. We still have some crucial things in store to remind you.

The conclusion aims to sum up everything that has been said and told in the previous paragraphs. Avoid adding some extra information to the conclusion. Yes, even if you came up with new brilliant ideas only at the end. In that case, go back and try to edit your text and its logic.

It is time to wind up. And the best thing you can do at this point:

generalize all the facts and arguments,
suggest a solution or a couple if you found some.

Now you are ready for the climate change topics for your essay!

🗣️ Global Warming Argumentative Essay. Topic Ideas & Examples

We can compare the argumentative essay with serious and formal debates. Aspects to consider when working on an argumentative essay:

you choose the line which you’d like to defend
then you start supporting it with solid arguments
you also remember that just your single opinion is insufficient
that’s why you add some views which are opposing your own

The global warming argumentative essay includes examples, survey results, references, and research in the body paragraphs. Some statistics while supporting your claims would also help. Your primary goal is to make the reader take up your position on a particular question.

Human-made catastrophe: Dramatic increase of greenhouse gas content in the atmosphere as a direct result of human activities.
Climate change as health determinant: Policy brief .
Are human-generated greenhouse gas emissions too insignificant to change the Earth’s climate?
Greenhouse effect and global warming .
What are the reasons to trust those scientists who claim that human activity is not to be blamed for global climate change?
Climate change and public health .
The most notorious substance in the ecological discourse: The truth about CO 2 contribution to global warming.
Climate change and energy efficiency in architecture .
Why is it essential to find alternative energy sources instead of coal-burning power plants?
Sixteen percent of all global CO 2 emissions belong to the USA: The reasons we should be aware of statistics.
Wind Energy: Current Status and Future Perspectives on the Energy Market .
Driving electric vehicles instead of classic fossil fuel ones is an essential step in fighting against global warming.
Greenhouse gases: Harmful impact on the external environment .
Should we take the economic collapse in the country seriously due to global warming?
Argumentative essay about global warming .
Planting trees, fabric shopping bags, reusable bottles: Fashion trends or natural aid in the battle with climate change?
Effects of climate change on global health .
Humanity is getting richer, and the Earth is getting poorer: cryptocurrencies and their immense negative impact on the global warming situation .
Sustainable lifestyles and eco-friendly living habits should be affordable for all populations to eliminate global warming effects.
Global warming as costs of environmental degradation .
The role of such organizations as NOAA : To reduce vulnerability and be prepared is essential due to some dramatic global warming consequences.
Impact of climate change and solutions .
Brave new world: We need more alternatives to internal combustion engines.
Carbon emissions and law .
Global warming affects the health of all Americans: We are becoming less healthy due to climate change.
Global warming causes .
We should stop blaming the sun for the Earth’s heating: The sun has nothing to do with it.

🌍 Global Warming Persuasive Essay. Topic Ideas & Examples

You may be wondering if there is any difference between argumentative and persuasive essays. We’ve already got an answer! When it comes to a persuasive essay, there’s no urgent need for figures and statistics. Just imagine: your own words will be enough if they can call to the reader’s heart and excite vivid emotions!

It is about feelings rather than the mind.

So you just need to know your audience to choose the correct keys. The First-Person Narration and Second-Person Narration phrases, such as “In my opinion” and “ I believe,” are commonly used in this type of paper.

After us, the deluge: One of the reasons we should act now is the future of our kids.
Extreme weather patterns and climate change .
We do too little for the Earth: Immediate international action is urgent to reduce greenhouse gas emanations.
Climate change’s impact on human living conditions .
Deforestation is becoming a growing problem: Do we want all these cute forest animals to die out?
Global warming: Future summers .
Turning off the faucet while brushing your teeth isn’t sufficient for reducing dramatic water shortages.
Solar energy as an alternative energy source.
Sunshine State is in danger: The risk of irreversible coastal flooding in Florida due to global warming.
The Role of Renewable Energy in the Global Energy Budget.
Every detail matters: How does even leaving the door of your ice-box can contribute to the increase of the Earth’s temperature?
Discussion of climate change impact .
A great chance to take up a new hobby: Creating your garden can be fruitful both for you and Earth’s condition.
Global warming affecting the wildlife .
The ways we can use our social media platforms to spread awareness of global warming.
Climate change impact on nature and society .
Giant arctic mosquitoes are getting bigger: What should the next level of global warming be for us to admit the problem?
Transforming Waste into Sustainable Energy Source. How Does It Work?
California’s bad dreaming: Wildfires as a destructive effect of global warming.
Global warming problem .
Agricultural collapse: Would you like to pay 100 dollars for a loaf of bread or start acting against global warming?
Climate change crisis and ocean threats .
The Northeast of the US demands immediate help: The effects of global warming are becoming more noticeable.
Climate change: Melting ice and sea-level rise .
We should spare no expense in saving our planet: The importance of investing in commercial services that fight against global warming.
Global warming: Human responsibility .
A clash of titans: How come volcanoes release less CO 2 than humanity?
Global warming threat .
Not only rising in level but also more acidic : The changes that seawater faces due to global warming.
Saving Oceans and Coasts – Top Priority. How Does Climate Change Impact Them?

🖇️ Global Warming Causes and Effects Essay. Topic Ideas & Examples

Cause and effect essay primarily considers two sides:

reasons why certain phenomena take place
the impact which they carry

To put it another way, when writing a cause & effect essay , one should observe the interrelation of different things . You should understand what came first and what consequences it brought.

In climatic processes, many aspects correlate.

For instance, if we take global warming itself, we can say it contributes to climate change. Another example: CO 2 emissions are one of the reasons global warming takes place. Mind that your essay may have a greater focus either on causes or on effects.

Here are some good global warming causes and effects essay topics:

Climate change impact on business activity in Malawi.
What do the most notorious hurricanes , Katrina and Sandy, have to do with global warming?
Global warming: Cause and mitigation .
Methane as a global warming trigger : How does the melting permafrost cause further climate changes?
Impact of global warming on city expansion .
Spreading deserts, devastating hurricanes, and lethal heatwaves: Effects of global warming we already face today.
Global warming, its causes, effects, and prevention .
How can cows save us from global warming catastrophe?
Oil Refinings and Gas Processing Effects .
The interrelation of asthma and global warming: High-level air pollution , pollen-producing ragweed, and other effects prevent us from normal breathing.
Agriculture and global warming effects .
Changing migration patterns of lobsters and birds: Are animals just bored with the old routes, or is it the effect of global warming?
Air Pollution: Causes, Effects, and Solutions .
Time to change the habits: The effects of global warming on the lifestyle we are used to.
Anthropogenic causes of global warming .
Thanks to our ancestors: The real impact of the Industrial Revolution on global warming .
Global warming effect on temperature and agriculture .
We must consider a low level of consciousness as one of the fundamental factors which increase global warming.
Climate change: Primary causes and consequences .
Approaches of going green and ways of becoming more eco-friendly seem the most effective in fighting global warming.
Effect of global warming and climate change .

Transport Industry’s Input to Global Warming .
Vibrio Bacteria: How are diarrhea and liver diseases linked to global warming?
Global warming: Definition, causes, effects .
To be safe and sound or not to be: Anxiety , depression, post-traumatic stress as long-termed effects of climate change.
Global warming causes and effects .
Reducing greenhouse gas emanations is admitted to be beneficial for mental and physical health.
Climate Change Effects on the Arab World .
Save our food: Global heating is a reason for pathogenic bacteria to multiply and invade our food supplies.
Causes of global climate change .
Refugees, homeless , and abandoned children: An unobvious connection between human trafficking and global warming.
Effects of temperature on global warming .
Pride of the nation: The impact global warming carries onto US national parks .

💡 Global Warming Opinion Essay. Topic Ideas & Examples

An opinion essay structure can be described briefly in the following way:

start with rephrasing the initial question
agree or disagree with it.

If the essay requires you to reveal the degree of your admitting the point, make sure you express it straightforwardly.

When writing an opinion essay , a common mistake is a substitution of the topic or emphasis shift – don’t step off!

Responsibility zone: Climate change is not a problem for future generations.
Energy resources: The future of fossil fuels .
Greta Thunberg effect : A solid proof one can be helpful in the fight against global warming at any age.
Heaven or hell on Earth: Coral reefs and Alpine meadows may cease to exist because of global warming.
Climate change and politics of doubt: Expert opinion .
It is never “too late” to start taking action: The ability of humans to slow the rate of global warming.
Investing in energy-efficient appliances can be a good help in reducing the human impact of global warming.
Global climate change .
“Idle load” : How pulling the plugs in your house can save energy and thus reduce damage.
Global warming education: Should kids be taught climate change issues since the very childhood?
Global warming: Speculating about causes .
Can we consider the good news that the year seasons are still arriving on time as they have in the past?
Less frequent use of planes can make a big difference in climate change.
Global warming and climate change controversy .
The support of your local businesses is an essential step to reducing global warming effects.
Measuring and mapping: Being aware of global warming hazards can help us prevent many negative impacts.
Explaining climate science in the modern world .
Humanity should work on its greed: The signs proving overconsumption contributes to global warming.
Two dangerous D’s: denial and delay, are the most frequent human vices for global warming.
Wind: Energy for the future .
The gaps in infrastructure: We are simply not ready to cover all the expenses caused by global warming effects damage.
Wind as an alternative energy source : Why is wind power suitable for individual consumption but not for industrial production?

🌞 Global Warming Synthesis Essay. Topic Ideas & Examples

If you have to review several different sources with diverse views, you get a synthesis essay .

The main requirements of a synthesis essay are:

to explore a compilation of opinions
to evaluate how they relate to your thesis
to classify data
and present it in organic unity

It takes thorough pre-writing work , and you should choose your sources carefully. Spend time examining them to make sure they are valid and ready to use.

The reasons to rely on scientists’ long-termed climate projections despite the mistakes in the regular weather forecast.
CO 2 is not the major greenhouse trigger gas: gases we should know about for the whole picture.

The scientific evidence shows that the globe is warming up and that it’s our responsibility.
Climate change & global warming: Universal strategy .
Are natural weather patterns a fundamental cause of increased hurricane activity and other extreme weather events?
Waste Diversion Programs in Ontario.
The power of devastation: Which factors have the worst influence on our agriculture and fisheries?
Global warming: Realities, challenges, and solutions .
The most effective methods of reducing the effects of global warming that people can implement in their locality.
The greenhouse effect .
20 billion US dollars-cost drought: Economic sectors which suffer from global warming the most.
The global warming issue .
The real part of global warming in the disappearance of coral reefs: Is it significant enough?
Global warming: Threats, pollution and activities to stop .
You choose what to believe in: Different points of view on CO 2 influence on crops and vegetation.
Global warming and climate change: Economic aspects .
Are we moving toward or backward: What are the visible results of the human battle against global warming?
Definition of weather and climate .
More advantages or drawbacks: chances that nuclear power is an effective solution .
Everyday communication surrounding climate change .
International experience: Measures different countries take to reduce the damage from global warming.
Changes in the global climate model .
Which of all everyday products and life items are the least eco-friendly?
Global warming: Causes, effects, solutions .
A scientific approach to the problems of climate change and global warming.
Fossil, clean, and nuclear energy sources .

🦄 Global Warming Myth or Reality Essay. Topic Ideas & Examples

People have always been finding reasons to argue, always!

Some people believe in one thing, and others consider it ridiculous. We cannot blame them, for they have the motives to think a certain way.

Global warming myth or reality essay requires:

Regarding controversial opinions + doing a little research on them
Evaluating whether the statement is the truth or a common misbelief.

Due to the diversity of information, there are many debatable topics about global warming.

Have a look at some of them 👀

Rising levels of atmospheric CO 2 do not necessarily cause global warming: Fiction or truth?
Climate change: How Exxon misled the public.
Do oceans and forests absorb human-produced CO 2 : Myth or reality?
No more threat: Global warming ceased in 1998 – myth or reality?
Climate change and global warming debate .
The truth and lies about renewable energy : Is it our future or just a way of money-making?
Adaptation myth: It’s time to face the truth that not all flora and fauna can fit into the new climate reality.
Global warming: A review of the evidence ‘pro’ and ‘con’ .
Vegetarian heaven: Is the meat industry to be blamed for global warming ?
How come people nowadays live longer than ever before with global warming effects like air pollution?
Is global warming real ?
The eco-friendliness of electric cars : Is it a lie that they are better than regular ones since they consume energy anyway?
Believing that global warming is just about warmer temperature is a large misconception.
Climate change and global warming: Are they real ?
Getting rid of oil dependence will save us from fast-paced global warming: Myth or fact?
The benefits and positive sides of global warming: Are there any?
The global warming phenomenon debate .
If the temperature increases by two or three degrees, it will not harm us: A great lie to avoid the truth.
No time to die, no time to live: Why thinking that it’s too late to take action is a myth .
Myth or reality about drinking water: If glaciers melt, will we stop suffering from water shortage?

🎭 Satirical Essay on Global Warming. Topic Ideas & Examples

A satirical essay has to be seasoned with a nice portion of irony. The purpose is to point out vices and wrong opinions without being offensive.

Here are four practical tools for creating satire:

irony – you can use words in their opposite meaning to create an ironic tone
hyperbole – or exaggeration, can highlight a point you want to deliver to your reader
understatement – the exact opposite of hyperbole
allegory – use symbols to express your points.

Although climate change is a severe and acute issue, you shouldn’t feel guilty for playing around with it. Humor can be a great assistant in delivering a complicated point.

Our satirical essay topics on global warming:

Denial as a magic power: Can you cancel global warming using Twitter?
If I can’t see CO 2 emissions with my own eyes, it means there’s no danger!
Why do we need this ozone layer if we have many other pleasant things like deodorants and air fresheners?
How come I still need a warm coat in winter and can make a snowman if global warming is on?
Volkswagen cheating on emissions systems testing.
Should we get back to our roots and replace cars with horses to reduce CO 2 emissions?
Eternal summer : Global warming is an excellent solution for all these ugly winter overcoats.
The Climate Action Plan as “harmful and unnecessary policy”: Should we get to action despite the US leaving the Paris climate agreement?
What are renewable energy sources, except for heat and wind , that you haven’t been aware of?
Natural resource curse: why do some countries avoid it while others are unable to?
Yes, we know that climate change is a global issue, but can we put all the blame on China anyway?
Zero waste and less consumption ? No, global warming is just too big of a problem for me to even bother.
In case you didn’t know that extinct animals and plants don’t belong to renewable resources, you know now.
If we don’t handle the overpopulation of cities, we’ll have to deal with overpopulation in cemeteries eventually.
Climate refugees in Bangladesh and America .
A couple of reasons why animals and plants shouldn’t be sacrificed to save the “supreme” creation.
If getting cooked to death by the world isn’t your greatest dream, you should start considering global warming an issue.
Backup planet: Global warming is not an issue anymore since Elon Musk has already been working on Mars colonization .

Turns out to be not so difficult, huh?

Now with these examples of global warming essay topics, you’ll master the art of writing papers!

Anyway, we hope you read all of them; there’s plenty of breathtaking information and facts. Let’s discuss them in the comment section!

Below are some additional sources for your inspiration.

🍀 Good luck, and don’t forget to close the faucet!

NASA: Climate Change and Global Warming
Global warming and climate change effects: information and facts | National Geographic
9 questions about climate change you were too embarrassed to ask | Vox
Global warming frequently asked questions | NOAA Climate.gov
Global Warming 101 – Definition, Facts, Causes and Effects of Global Warming | NRDC
Understanding the Global Warming Debate | Forbes
Climate Change Questions & Answers | The Nature Conservancy
What are climate change and global warming? | WWF
Climate Change | ProCon.org

Research Paper Analysis: How to Analyze a Research Article + Example

Film analysis: example, format, and outline + topics & prompts.

What evidence exists that Earth is warming and that humans are the main cause?

We know the world is warming because people have been recording daily high and low temperatures at thousands of weather stations worldwide, over land and ocean, for many decades and, in some locations, for more than a century. When different teams of climate scientists in different agencies (e.g., NOAA and NASA) and in other countries (e.g., the U.K.’s Hadley Centre) average these data together, they all find essentially the same result: Earth’s average surface temperature has risen by about 1.8°F (1.0°C) since 1880.

Bar graph of global temperature anomalies with an overlay of a line graph of atmospheric carbon dioxide from 1850-2023

( bar chart ) Yearly temperature compared to the twentieth-century average from 1850–2023. Red bars mean warmer-than-average years; blue bars mean colder-than-average years. (line graph) Atmospheric carbon dioxide amounts: 1850-1958 from IAC , 1959-2023 from NOAA Global Monitoring Lab . NOAA Climate.gov graph, adapted from original by Dr. Howard Diamond (NOAA ARL).

In addition to our surface station data, we have many different lines of evidence that Earth is warming ( learn more ). Birds are migrating earlier, and their migration patterns are changing. Lobsters and other marine species are moving north. Plants are blooming earlier in the spring. Mountain glaciers are melting worldwide, and snow cover is declining in the Northern Hemisphere (Learn more here and here ). Greenland’s ice sheet—which holds about 8 percent of Earth’s fresh water—is melting at an accelerating rate ( learn more ). Mean global sea level is rising ( learn more ). Arctic sea ice is declining rapidly in both thickness and extent ( learn more ).

Aerial photo of glacier front with a graph overlay of Greenland ice mass over time

The Greenland Ice Sheet lost mass again in 2020, but not as much as it did 2019. Adapted from the 2020 Arctic Report Card, this graph tracks Greenland mass loss measured by NASA's GRACE satellite missions since 2002. The background photo shows a glacier calving front in western Greenland, captured from an airplane during a NASA Operation IceBridge field campaign. Full story.

We know this warming is largely caused by human activities because the key role that carbon dioxide plays in maintaining Earth’s natural greenhouse effect has been understood since the mid-1800s. Unless it is offset by some equally large cooling influence, more atmospheric carbon dioxide will lead to warmer surface temperatures. Since 1800, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased from about 280 parts per million to 410 ppm in 2019. We know from both its rapid increase and its isotopic “fingerprint” that the source of this new carbon dioxide is fossil fuels, and not natural sources like forest fires, volcanoes, or outgassing from the ocean.

DIgital image of a painting of a fire burning in a coal pile in a small village

Philip James de Loutherbourg's 1801 painting, Coalbrookdale by Night , came to symbolize the start of the Industrial Revolution, when humans began to harness the power of fossil fuels—and to contribute significantly to Earth's atmospheric greenhouse gas composition. Image from Wikipedia .

Finally, no other known climate influences have changed enough to account for the observed warming trend. Taken together, these and other lines of evidence point squarely to human activities as the cause of recent global warming.

USGCRP (2017). Climate Science Special Report: Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume 1 [Wuebbles, D.J., D.W. Fahey, K.A. Hibbard, D.J. Dokken, B.C. Stewart, and T.K. Maycock (eds.)]. U.S. Global Change Research Program, Washington, DC, USA, 470 pp, doi: 10.7930/J0J964J6 .

National Fish, Wildlife, and Plants Climate Adaptation Partnership (2012): National Fish, Wildlife, and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy . Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, Council on Environmental Quality, Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Washington, D.C. DOI: 10.3996/082012-FWSReport-1

IPCC (2019). Summary for Policymakers. In: IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate. [H.-O. Pörtner, D.C. Roberts, V. Masson-Delmotte, P. Zhai, M. Tignor, E. Poloczanska, K. Mintenbeck, A. Alegría, M. Nicolai, A. Okem, J. Petzold, B. Rama, N.M. Weyer (eds.)]. In press.

NASA JPL: "Consensus: 97% of climate scientists agree." Global Climate Change . A website at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consensus). (Accessed July 2013.)

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What is global warming, explained

The planet is heating up—and fast.

Glaciers are melting , sea levels are rising, cloud forests are dying , and wildlife is scrambling to keep pace. It has become clear that humans have caused most of the past century's warming by releasing heat-trapping gases as we power our modern lives. Called greenhouse gases, their levels are higher now than at any time in the last 800,000 years .

We often call the result global warming, but it is causing a set of changes to the Earth's climate, or long-term weather patterns, that varies from place to place. While many people think of global warming and climate change as synonyms , scientists use “climate change” when describing the complex shifts now affecting our planet’s weather and climate systems—in part because some areas actually get cooler in the short term.

Climate change encompasses not only rising average temperatures but also extreme weather events , shifting wildlife populations and habitats, rising seas , and a range of other impacts. All of those changes are emerging as humans continue to add heat-trapping greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, changing the rhythms of climate that all living things have come to rely on.

What will we do—what can we do—to slow this human-caused warming? How will we cope with the changes we've already set into motion? While we struggle to figure it all out, the fate of the Earth as we know it—coasts, forests, farms, and snow-capped mountains—hangs in the balance.

Understanding the greenhouse effect

The "greenhouse effect" is the warming that happens when certain gases in Earth's atmosphere trap heat . These gases let in light but keep heat from escaping, like the glass walls of a greenhouse, hence the name.

Sunlight shines onto the Earth's surface, where the energy is absorbed and then radiate back into the atmosphere as heat. In the atmosphere, greenhouse gas molecules trap some of the heat, and the rest escapes into space. The more greenhouse gases concentrate in the atmosphere, the more heat gets locked up in the molecules.

For Hungry Minds

Scientists have known about the greenhouse effect since 1824, when Joseph Fourier calculated that the Earth would be much colder if it had no atmosphere. This natural greenhouse effect is what keeps the Earth's climate livable. Without it, the Earth's surface would be an average of about 60 degrees Fahrenheit (33 degrees Celsius) cooler.

A polar bear stands sentinel on Rudolf Island in Russia’s Franz Josef Land archipelago, where the perennial ice is melting.

In 1895, the Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius discovered that humans could enhance the greenhouse effect by making carbon dioxide , a greenhouse gas. He kicked off 100 years of climate research that has given us a sophisticated understanding of global warming.

Levels of greenhouse gases have gone up and down over the Earth's history, but they had been fairly constant for the past few thousand years. Global average temperatures had also stayed fairly constant over that time— until the past 150 years . Through the burning of fossil fuels and other activities that have emitted large amounts of greenhouse gases, particularly over the past few decades, humans are now enhancing the greenhouse effect and warming Earth significantly, and in ways that promise many effects , scientists warn.

Aren't temperature changes natural?

Human activity isn't the only factor that affects Earth's climate. Volcanic eruptions and variations in solar radiation from sunspots, solar wind, and the Earth's position relative to the sun also play a role. So do large-scale weather patterns such as El Niño .

How global warming is disrupting life on Earth

These breathtaking natural wonders no longer exist

The Gulf of Maine is warming fast. What does that mean for lobsters—and everything else?

But climate models that scientists use to monitor Earth’s temperatures take those factors into account. Changes in solar radiation levels as well as minute particles suspended in the atmosphere from volcanic eruptions , for example, have contributed only about two percent to the recent warming effect. The balance comes from greenhouse gases and other human-caused factors, such as land use change .

The short timescale of this recent warming is singular as well. Volcanic eruptions , for example, emit particles that temporarily cool the Earth's surface. But their effect lasts just a few years. Events like El Niño also work on fairly short and predictable cycles. On the other hand, the types of global temperature fluctuations that have contributed to ice ages occur on a cycle of hundreds of thousands of years.

For thousands of years now, emissions of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere have been balanced out by greenhouse gases that are naturally absorbed. As a result, greenhouse gas concentrations and temperatures have been fairly stable, which has allowed human civilization to flourish within a consistent climate.

Greenland is covered with a vast amount of ice—but the ice is melting four times faster than thought, suggesting that Greenland may be approaching a dangerous tipping point, with implications for global sea-level rise.

Now, humans have increased the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by more than a third since the Industrial Revolution. Changes that have historically taken thousands of years are now happening over the course of decades .

Why does this matter?

The rapid rise in greenhouse gases is a problem because it’s changing the climate faster than some living things can adapt to. Also, a new and more unpredictable climate poses unique challenges to all life.

Historically, Earth's climate has regularly shifted between temperatures like those we see today and temperatures cold enough to cover much of North America and Europe with ice. The difference between average global temperatures today and during those ice ages is only about 9 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees Celsius), and the swings have tended to happen slowly, over hundreds of thousands of years.

But with concentrations of greenhouse gases rising, Earth's remaining ice sheets such as Greenland and Antarctica are starting to melt too . That extra water could raise sea levels significantly, and quickly. By 2050, sea levels are predicted to rise between one and 2.3 feet as glaciers melt.

As the mercury rises, the climate can change in unexpected ways. In addition to sea levels rising, weather can become more extreme . This means more intense major storms, more rain followed by longer and drier droughts—a challenge for growing crops—changes in the ranges in which plants and animals can live, and loss of water supplies that have historically come from glaciers.

What is the ozone layer, and why does it matter?

Why deforestation matters—and what we can do to stop it

There's a frozen labyrinth atop Mount Rainier. What secrets does it hold?

Chile’s glaciers are dying. You can actually hear it.

These caves mean death for Himalayan glaciers

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Global Warming Essay in English (Causes and Solutions) - 100, 200, 500 Words

Essay on Global Warming

The planet is now undergoing changes and modernization is happening at a rapid rate. We desire development in all areas of life. In the name of expansion, an increasing number of industries are being founded. But as humanity has grown, the state of the planet's ecology has substantially deteriorated. When discussing significant environmental dangers, the phrase "Global Warming" is frequently used. The causes and consequences of global warming are still largely unknown to many people. Here are a few sample essays on global warming:

100 Words Essay on Global Warming

200 words essay on global warming, 500 words essay on global warming.

Global Warming Essay in English (Causes and Solutions) - 100, 200, 500 Words

An increase in the Earth's average global temperature is known as global warming. Global warming is mostly caused by burning more fossil fuels and the emission of hazardous pollutants into the atmosphere. Living things can suffer greatly as a result of global warming. The temperature suddenly rises in some places, while in others, it suddenly drops. The use of fossil fuels for energy is the main cause of global warming. It has been noticed that over the last ten years, the Earth's average temperature has risen by 1.5 degrees Celsius. This is cause for concern because it can harm ecosystems and lead to environmental disturbance. If we take decisive action to replace the destroyed vegetation in our forests, we can stop global warming. To slow the rate of global warming, we can also use sustainable energy sources like sun, wind, and tidal energy.

Over time, the cumulative increase in Earth's average global temperatures is referred to as global warming. It has been said that large-scale deforestation by humans for various reasons is to blame. Every year, we use a lot of fuel. It is becoming impossible to meet people's fuel needs as the human population has increased. Natural resources must be used carefully as they are limited. The ecosystem will become unbalanced if humans overuse mineral wealth like forests and waterways. Temperature increases alone are not the only sign of global warming. It also has other consequences.

Natural disasters, including storms, floods, and avalanches , are happening all over the planet. These all have a direct connection to global warming. To protect our environment we must rebuild our ecology to defend it against the negative effects of global warming. To make this globe a nicer place for the generations to come, who also appreciate this Earth in the same way we do, we must all work together. Planting trees is the fundamental action we can do to improve the condition of our world as a whole. Our main objective should be reforestation. If we commit to growing as many plants as we can during our lifetimes, the Earth will become a better place.

The gradual increase in surface climate caused by various factors is known as global warming. It poses serious risks to both the environment and humanity. Climate change effects include global warming . The main contributor to global warming is the unavoidable release of greenhouse gases. Methane and carbon dioxide are two of the main greenhouse gases. There are numerous other causes and ramifications of this warming, which endangers Earth's life.

Reasons Responsible For Global Warming

The causes of global warming are several. These problems are caused by both nature and humanity. Because of the presence of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere , the heat rays that the Earth's surface reflects become trapped there. The "greenhouse effect" is what results from this phenomenon. It is necessary to keep our world from turning into a frozen ball. Global warming results from too much carbon dioxide trapping all the heat from the Earth's surface. The primary gases that cause global warming are referred to as greenhouse gases.

The main greenhouse gases are methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, and carbon dioxide . These gases cause global warming when their concentrations are out of balance. Volcanic eruptions, solar radiation, and other natural occurrences are a few examples that contribute to global warming. People's excessive use of cars and fossil fuels also raises carbon dioxide levels. Among the most prevalent and quickly spreading issues causing global warming is deforestation. The level of carbon dioxide in the air is rising because trees are being cut down. Additional reasons contributing to global warming include the expanding population, industrialisation, pollution, etc.

How Climate Change Impacts Us

Numerous variations in the weather are brought on by global warming, including lengthier summers and fewer winters, greater temperatures, modifications to the trade winds, rain that falls throughout the year, melting polar ice caps, a weaker ozone barrier, etc. Additionally, it may result in a rise in natural disasters, including severe storms, cyclones, floods, and many others. Plants, animals, and other environmental elements are directly impacted by the harm produced by global warming. The rising sea level, swift glacier melting, and other effects of global warming are significant. As global warming worsens, marine life is negatively impacted, significantly destroying marine life and causing additional issues.

Preventing Global Warming

Finding the proper solution is crucial now more than ever since global warming has become a serious issue and is being discussed globally at international forums and conferences. It is time that the age of industrialization to be controlled and continued in a sustainable manner. Everybody, from communities to governments, needs to work together to solve the issue of global warming. Controlling pollution, population growth, and the limiting exploitation of natural resources are a few factors to consider. Using public transportation or carpooling with others will be very helpful. Therefore, recycling should also be promoted to individuals.

There are clear signs that the increase in global warming will wipe out all life on the surface of the world. Global warming is the greatest threat to humanity and cannot be disregarded. Additionally, it is difficult to manage. By participating and responding, we can help lessen its effects.

Also Read: Essay on Diwali in English for Children and Students

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Essay on Effects of Global Warming

Introduction

Our world, as well as all living things such as animals, birds, insects, trees, and plants, were created by nature. They all have the right to live their lives as they see fit, but the human being is the most perplexing of all living creatures. For our own needs and greed, we humans are killing nature, and we will pay the price in the form of catastrophe. Here we have provided both long and short essays on the effects of Global Warming for students of Classes 1 to 12.

Long Effect of Global Warming Essay in English

As carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and other air pollution and greenhouse gases build up in the atmosphere, they absorb sunlight and solar radiation that has bounced off the earth's surface, resulting in global warming. Normally, this radiation will disperse into space, but these contaminants, which can remain in the atmosphere for years or decades, trap the heat and cause the earth to get hotter. The greenhouse effect is the result of this.

So, What causes Global Warming?

Natural Causes of Global Warming:

For decades, the world has been shifting. The natural rotation of the sun causes global warming by changing the strength of sunlight and bringing it closer to the earth.

Greenhouse emissions are another contributor to global warming.

Carbon monoxide and sulphur dioxide are greenhouse gases that absorb solar heat rays and prevent them from escaping the earth's surface. The earth's temperature has increased as a result of this.

Another factor that contributes to global warming is volcanic eruptions. A single volcanic eruption, for example, can release a significant amount of carbon dioxide and ash into the atmosphere.

As carbon dioxide levels rise, the earth's temperature rises, and greenhouse gases absorb solar radiation.

Finally, methane is a contributor to global warming. Methane is a greenhouse gas as well. Methane is 20 times more effective than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere. Methane gas can usually be used in a variety of places. Cattle, landfills, natural gas, petroleum systems, coal mining, mobile explosions, and industrial waste processes are only a few examples.

Human Influences on Global Warming:

Humans are more responsible for global warming than natural causes. Because of modern human lifestyles, the earth has been evolving for many years and continues to do so. Industrial production, fossil fuel combustion, mining, cattle rearing, and deforestation are all examples of human activities.

The industrial revolution is the first thing. Industrial devices have been powered by fossil fuels. All we use is made up of fossil fuels. When we purchase a cell phone, for example, the process of manufacturing the phone involves machines, which use fossil fuels, and carbon dioxide is released into the environment during the process. Aside from industry, transportation, such as automobiles, emits carbon dioxide by the exhaust.

Mining is another problem. Methane would be trapped under the earth during the mining process. Furthermore, raising cattle results in the release of methane in the form of manure. Cattle, on the other hand, are noteworthy because they are equally responsible for the occurrence of global warming.

Then there's deforestation, which is by far the most common problem. Humans have been cutting down trees to manufacture documents, wood, build homes, and other things, so deforestation is a human factor.

Humans also emit carbon dioxide as they breathe. As a result, carbon dioxide has been released into the atmosphere by millions of people. If human deforestation continues, the carbon dioxide released by human breathing will remain in the atmosphere.

Effects of Global Warming

Every year, scientists learn more about the effects of global warming, and all agree that if current patterns continue, environmental, economic, and health impacts are likely. Here's a taste of what we can expect in the coming months:

Melting glaciers, early snowmelt, and extreme droughts would intensify water shortages in the American West, raising the risk of wildfires.

Coastal flooding will occur along the Eastern Seaboard, especially in Florida, as well as in other areas such as the Gulf of Mexico.

New pests will wreak havoc on forests, crops, and towns, as will heat waves, heavy rains, and increased flooding.

Many plant and animal species could become extinct if ecosystems such as coral reefs and Alpine meadows are disrupted.

Increased pollen-producing ragweed growth, higher levels of air pollution, and the spread of conditions favorable to pathogens and mosquitoes will make allergies, asthma, and infectious disease outbreaks more likely.

In the above effect of global warming essay in English, we have discussed in depth all the natural causes of global warming and how humans have contributed towards its drastic increase. Below we have provided short effects of the Global Warming essay for students of Classes 1 to 5.

Effect of Global Warming Short Essay

Since hundreds of years ago, greenhouse gases have remained in the atmosphere for several years. Global warming, on the other hand, would have disastrous consequences for the planet. If global warming persists, a slew of negative consequences will emerge. Melting polar ice caps, economic effects, warming oceans, and more storms, disease transmission, and earthquakes are all examples.

The melting of the polar ice caps is the first consequence. The ice at the North Pole will melt as the temperature increases. Since melting glaciers become seas, the first result of ice melting would be an increase in sea levels. “If the ice melted today, the seas will rise about 230 feet,” according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center. Many low-lying areas, such as the Netherlands, are affected. Once the North Pole melts, the Netherlands will be submerged in water. However, that will not happen easily, and the sea level will continue to rise.

Another impact is the loss of habitat for some species. Polar bears and tropical frogs would become extinct as a result of climate change. Furthermore, since animals are not like humans, different birds will migrate to other locations. They are unable to adjust to changes in their climate, such as temperature or living conditions.

The next result is that more hurricanes will occur, with economic implications. Houses are damaged by hurricanes, and the government will have to spend billions of dollars to repair the damage, and people will need places to stay or will be killed. When a disaster strikes, many people die and illnesses spread. Diseases are more serious because they can spread rapidly to other people, allowing more people to catch the disease. Diseases can also become more serious as the weather changes.

Importance of an Essay on Global Warming

The essay on global warming is important because it will help students to understand the effects of global warming and how it impacts life on earth. They will then be aware and likewise, share their knowledge with their fellow beings and make them conscious of the human actions that lead to an increase in global warming.

Climate change is an issue that humans are actually facing, and the ones causing these problems are humans. Although it is difficult to avoid global warming, people can indeed help to mitigate and slow its effects. If no action is taken to address this problem, people will perish as a result of cli mate change and natural disasters. Humans changed the world; now it's time for humans to change themselves.

FAQs on Essay on Effects of Global Warming

1. State Some Ways to Reduce Global Warming ?

We should reduce the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere to reduce global warming.

We can minimise global warming by reducing our use of oil, electricity, and other practices that contribute to global warming. To save fuel, we should opt for a hybrid vehicle that uses less gasoline.

Taking public transportation or carpooling to work has the potential to minimise carbon dioxide emissions while still saving money.

Recycling is another way to help combat global warming. Reusing plastic bags, bottles, documents, or glass may help to minimise waste.

Finally, open burning should be forbidden, such as the burning of dry leaves or garbage. When garbage is burned with plastic, carbon dioxide and toxic gases are released. Furthermore, since global temperatures are rising, the government should minimise deforestation. Trees will assist in the reduction of global warming.

2. Define Global Warming ?

Global warming is the long-term warming of Earth's climate system that has been observed since the pre-industrial era (between 1850 and 1900) as a result of human activities, mainly fossil fuel combustion, which raises heat-trapping greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere. The words are sometimes used interchangeably, though the latter applies to both human- and naturally-caused warming, as well as the implications for our world. The average rise in Earth's global surface temperature is the most common metric.

3. How to download the Essay on Effects of Global Warming from the Vedantu Website?

The Vedantu website provides a download of the Essay on Effects of Global Warming, which is accurate and well-structured. Vedantu's official website provides the Essay in PDF version which is available for download for free of cost. Students are advised to download the Essay on Global Warming from the Vedantu website to get an idea of the word limit, sentence construction, and basic understanding of what a good essay consists of. Vedantu essay is concise and apt for school-going, students. It uses simple language, perfect for students with limited vocabulary. Following the Vedantu essay enables students to be sufficiently prepared for any essay topics and guarantees that students will score good marks. To access the Essay on Plastic Ban, click on the link available above.

4. Why is plastic bad for the environment?

Nonrenewable resources such as coal, natural gas, and crude oil are used to make plastics. Because plastic bags take a long time to disintegrate, they have a substantial environmental impact. If toxic compounds are allowed to deteriorate, there is concern that they will leak into the environment. Rather than degrading completely, plastic dissolves into smaller chunks and microscopic particles known as microplastics. Microplastics regularly end up in bodies of water, endangering animals. Furthermore, dangerous chemicals are released into the soil when plastic bags degrade in the sun, and harmful substances are released into the air when plastic bags are burnt, resulting in air pollution. All of these reasons make plastic one of the most harmful materials on the earth for all of these reasons. Plastic is one of the main reasons for Global Warming and thus needs to be eliminated from the world.

5. Is writing an essay hard?

Essay writing is a difficult task that needs a great deal of study, time, and focus. It's also an assignment that you can divide down into manageable chunks such as introduction, main content, and conclusion. Breaking down and focusing on each individually makes essay writing more pleasant. It's natural for students to be concerned about writing an essay. It's one of the most difficult tasks to do, especially for people who aren't confident in their writing abilities. While writing a decent essay is difficult, the secret to being proficient at it is reading a lot of books, conducting extensive research on essential topics, and practicing essay writing diligently.

6. Who prepares the essay on global warming for Vedantu?

The Essay on Effects on Global, designed by Vedantu, is created by a group of experts and experienced teachers. The panel of experts have created the essay after analyzing important essay topics that have been repeatedly asked in various examinations. The Essays that are provided by Vedantu are not only well-structured but also accurate and concise. They are aptly suited for young students with limited vocabulary. For best results, the students are advised to go through multiple essays and practice the topics on their own to inculcate the habits of time management and speed.

7. What will be the impact on the phenomena of Global Warming if we ban plastic and petroleum products?

Plastic and petroleum product bans can undoubtedly aid in the conservation of non-renewable resources that, once gone, may not be recovered. Plastic use has two significant negative consequences: it emits carbon dioxide, which contributes to the greenhouse effect, and it increases rubbish collecting in landfills and seas. Bans should be implemented since they are successful in eliminating large amounts of plastic trash. Plastic can be eliminated; but, it will need advances in engineering and applied science, and the capability to do so currently exists. With each passing year, humanity's reliance on plastic gets greater. Thus, one of the only ways to eliminate or reduce global warming is through the elimination of the use of plastic and petroleum products.

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Argumentative Essay on Global Warming

Categories: Climate Change Environmental Issues Global Warming

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Published: Mar 5, 2024

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Article Contents

Introduction: extreme 2023 high temperatures, results: 2023 coral bleaching hotspot spatial patterns, results: caribbean bleaching, results: comparison of 2023 pattern with long-term ocean warming and ocean circulation trends, conclusions: large scale ocean circulation change is underway, acknowledgements, author’s contributions.

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2023 Record marine heat waves: coral reef bleaching HotSpot maps reveal global sea surface temperature extremes, coral mortality, and ocean circulation changes

Article contents
Figures & tables
Supplementary Data

Thomas J F Goreau, Raymond L Hayes, 2023 Record marine heat waves: coral reef bleaching HotSpot maps reveal global sea surface temperature extremes, coral mortality, and ocean circulation changes, Oxford Open Climate Change , Volume 4, Issue 1, 2024, kgae005, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfclm/kgae005

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Coral reefs, the most sensitive ecosystem to high temperature, are on the precipice of mass extinction from global warming [ 1 , 2 ]. 2023 was the hottest year in recorded history on land and in the sea, with dramatic and unexpected temperature increases [ 3 , 4 ]. Coral Reef Bleaching HotSpot maps provide unique insight into global ocean circulation changes in response to greenhouse gas (GHG) forcing that caused dramatic global temperature rises [ 1 , 2 ]. The highest excess daily air temperatures recorded in 175 countries, as well as the most prolonged excessive sea surface temperatures, were centered around Jamaica. 2023 marked the worst coral reef bleaching yet in the Northern Hemisphere, with the Southern Hemisphere poised to follow in early 2024. The HotSpot maps strongly suggest accelerated ocean poleward heat transport, slowdown in upwelling, and decreased deep water formation linked to sharply increased 2023 anomalous sea surface and air temperatures. The 2023 distribution of severe heat and bleaching follows both spatial patterns and temporal trends first shown from a baseline 1982–2001 global SST trend analysis [ 5 ]. Increased warming of both hot and cold ocean currents shows that horizontal mixing of tropical heat to the poles is accelerating, and that vertical mixing with cold deep water is slowing down, leading to increased ocean stratification, which will cause sea temperature to increase more rapidly and CO 2 mixing with the deep ocean to decrease.

2023, an El Niño year [ 6 ], was the hottest year in recorded Earth history [ 3 , 4 ] ( Fig. 1 ). Jamaica had the highest increase of air temperatures out of 175 countries measured in 2023 [ 7 ]. We show here that Jamaica was also in the center of the highest excess sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in coral reef regions in the world during 2023, which resulted in the worst high temperature reef bleaching and coral mortality ever seen across the entire Caribbean Region since the first mass bleaching event in 1987 [ 8 ].

Global sea surface temperatures since 1979 show that 2023 represents a quantum jump. 2023 confirmed as world’s hottest year on record [ 9 ]. Figure from BBC.

Severe bleaching and mortality also happened in Kiribati, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, and other places. As 2024 starts, the El Niño that began in mid-2023 will affect the southern hemisphere. During the first weeks of 2024, New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and the Great Barrier Reef reached bleaching threshold temperatures, and are expected to rise as the El Niño intensifies during the Southern Hemisphere summer bleaching season, and may also affect Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga.

Satellite sensors only measure the ocean surface skin millimeters thick, not what happens deeper in the water column. The present oceanographic database is insufficiently dense in space and time to determine if global ocean circulation is changing, and will take several decades to tell, but could be determined sooner with greatly increased expenditure using remotely operated oceanographic instrumentation [ 6 ].

Here we examine the spatial patterns and temporal trends of excessive SST Coral Reef Bleaching HotSpot heat waves during 2023 in light of long-term changes in order to gain insight into changes in general ocean circulation and heat transport not easily shown by other methods.

The 2023 global patterns of maximum Coral Reef Bleaching HotSpot values are shown in Fig. 2 and their durations in Fig. 3 . We define HotSpots as surface waters with excess temperature more than one degree C above the average temperature during the warmest month at that site as a predictor of coral reef bleaching [ 1–2 , 10–17 ].

2023 Maximum Coral Reef Bleaching HotSpot Map. Figure from NOAA.

2023 Maximum coral reef bleaching degree heating weeks map. Figure from NOAA.

The Coral Reef Bleaching HotSpot is also a general indicator of extreme heat waves in all parts of the surface ocean, with biological stress proportional to the product of excess temperature times its duration [ 18–21 ]. HotSpot intensity and duration (degree heating weeks above the temperature threshold, DHW) allows mapping areas warming most rapidly and identifying changes in ocean current heat transport.

Areas of high 2023 coral reef bleaching mortality, shown in white circles and ovals ( Fig. 4 ), represent coral reefs that underwent high cumulative heat stress. These included the entire Caribbean region, the east and west coasts of Mexico and Central America, Kiribati, Fiji, and Eastern New Guinea, which are reported by local observers to have near total bleaching and severe coral mortality (and probably Hainan, China, which could not be confirmed). More places were affected than were reported, but most tourism dive operations no longer report bleaching because it is “bad for business”. Comprehensive mapping of bleaching is impossible because no international scientific bleaching monitoring network has been established in developing countries, despite urgent pleas from Caribbean coral scientists after the first high temperature bleaching events in the 1980s [ 10 , 11 , 22 ].

Areas of high bleaching and mortality in 2023.

The entire Caribbean region, both islands and continental coasts, was affected by severe excess temperature ( Fig. 5 ), with the longest duration of abnormal heating in the Haiti-Jamaica-Nicaragua-Honduras-Costa Rica area ( Fig. 6 ), along with the west coasts of Mexico and Central America. Severe bleaching began in Florida and moved steadily southward across the region, ending in the southern Caribbean. The authors have seen every bleaching event in the Caribbean, and the mortality is the worst yet seen in the Caribbean region, even though each time there are fewer living corals left to bleach.

2023 Caribbean maximum HotSpot excess temperature levels. Figure from NOAA.

2023 Caribbean Maximum DHW map, the product of excess temperature and duration. The entire region was severely affected by coral reef bleaching, with the longest duration of excessively high temperatures around Jamaica, stretching to Nicaragua in the west and Haiti in the east. Figure from NOAA.

In Jamaica almost all hard corals bleached completely and many died, while bleaching of soft corals and anemones was much less, with little mortality. Coral fragmentation nurseries costing millions of dollars are reported to have lost all their corals, even those removed from the ocean to indoor refrigerated aquariums in Florida. Some surviving Acropora palmata and Acropora cervicornis have been found, but these are widely separated by about a kilometer [ 23 ] and are all colonies that are too small to reproduce and invest energy in reproductive organ growth, generally found in marginal habitats with high turbidity or shaded under larger corals [ 24 ].

At this time, it is still too soon to know how many bleached corals will recover or will die from heat stroke stress. Some are regaining their color, but others will fail to recover, or will be killed by disease, pollution, algae overgrowth, or grazing by snails and polychaete bristleworms. Even though some corals may regain their colors, they will stop depositing a skeleton and reproducing for around a year [ 25 ]. Intensive efforts are underway in Jamaica and other places to find surviving Acroporas and to culture fragments in nurseries in Marine Protected Areas [ 23 ].

Satellite sea surface temperatures (SST) are based on infrared emission from the top millimeters of the sea surface. Changes in sea surface temperature result from alterations in (i) heat transport from the atmosphere due to modified winds and waves, (ii) horizontal transport in surface ocean currents, and (iii) vertical transport due to mixing of surface and deep water [ 6 ]. Although SST measurements provide instantaneous images only of two-dimensional surface heat distribution, regional changes in SST can provide insight into shifts in global heat circulation patterns. In the case of possible changes in vertical heat exchange, they provide unique insights that cannot be obtained from subsurface oceanographic measurements ( Fig. 7 ), which are too sparse in time and space to document large-scale or long-term changes adequately.

The major warm currents are shown as white arrows and cold currents as black arrows. All major surface currents and upwelling zones are warming up more rapidly than average, showing strong HotSpots during 2023.

All major warm currents show extreme warming during 2023, suggesting that heat transport from the tropics to the polar regions has accelerated, causing the most extreme HotSpots of all to be in the axis of the Kuro Shio and Gulf Stream currents. Increasing equatorial to polar heat transport is keeping the tropics relatively cool, making the heating greatest in subpolar oceans, acting as positive feedbacks that accelerate polar ice melting, albedo feedbacks, and increasing ocean stratification, all major global warming feedbacks that have been underestimated and are inadequately modelled in IPCC climate change projections.

All major cold currents also show extreme warming during 2023, suggesting strongly that heat transport in the cold current regions is slowing down, causing decreased upwelling and vertical mixing, and increasing vertical stratification.

The large-scale global patterns seen in all warm and cold currents almost perfectly match the spatial pattern of trends in global sea surface temperatures between 1983 and 2001 [ 5 ] ( Fig. 8 ). 2023 marks a strong continuation of the spatial patterns in global warming noted since the start of the NOAA Satellite SST database. The main areas warming more slowly than average are seen to be largely confined to the interiors of the large ocean basins, the deserts of the oceans, which are downwelling gyres, and the regions of most intense upwelling, waves, and currents in the South East Pacific portion of the Circum-Antarctic Current.

Average rate of NOAA Satellite Sea Surface Temperature warming, 1983–2001, with long-term hot spots (red dots), from Goreau, Hayes, and McAllister, 2005 [ 5 ]. Note higher than average warming (yellow) in all hot and cold ocean currents, and lowest rate of warming (pale) in the mid-ocean gyres and around Antarctica. The 2023 Hot Spot anomaly continues and intensifies these trends, which have now continued for over the last 40 years.

These major spatial patterns and temporal trends have been surprisingly stable over the last four decades. The main exception seen in 2023 is in the diagonal band of very hot water southeast from Fiji to Chile, an area that has been anomalously warm for a few years. 2023, therefore, does not mark an anomaly, but is the continuation of a trend that is at least 4 decades old, the entire period during which global satellite-measured sea surface temperature data have been collected.

Coral reef bleaching mortality has greatly accelerated since the first mass bleaching events in the 1980s, indicating that we are on the precipice of a coral reef mass extinction event caused by extreme temperatures [ 26 ]. Coral Reef Bleaching HotSpot data from 2023 imply significant changes in global ocean circulation and climate change outside of tropical coral reef regions, especially in flow of heat from the equator to the poles. This is not easily determined from oceanographic data, and changing ocean circulation is not considered in IPCC model projections.

Due to failure in the 1980s to set up coral reef bleaching monitoring in developing countries where almost all coral reefs are found, there are almost no data available to estimate coral bleaching mortality or economic impact by comparing before and after monitoring, except for a handful of very rich and unrepresentative countries [ 27 ]. This is a classic example of environmental insensitivity and inequity, because those who most need the information for their economic benefit, fisheries, protection, and climate change adaptation have been systematically denied funding to develop monitoring. Most local coral health monitoring programs in developing countries collapsed during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Coral Reef Bleaching Satellite Sea Surface Temperature HotSpot analysis in the record hot year of 2023 explains the global distribution of coral reef bleaching, and reveals dramatic increases in heat transport by the Gulf Stream and Kuro Shio, increasing ocean vertical stratification, while decreasing atmosphere horizontal equator to pole gradients. This tends to weaken the global Hadley Atmospheric Circulation of heat via atmospheric winds from equator to poles, and makes the Jet Stream more variable, leading to increased weather variability and extreme climatic fluctuations.

Decreased vertical exchange in cold surface currents and in upwelling zones increases thermal stratification and slows down the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), retains heat longer in the surface ocean, and reduces CO 2 exchange among the atmosphere, surface ocean, and the deep sea. The HotSpot maps from year to year suggest that upwelling systems can abruptly shut off, causing sudden sharp rises in regional air temperatures, and reducing air-ocean exchange of temperature and CO 2 . Decreased upwelling is causing bottom-up collapse of fisheries in all of the world’s most important upwelling zones, while overfishing is simultaneously causing their top-down collapse. This strongly suggests that most major currents are changing, and some could collapse entirely, which might add to potential collapse of the global AMOC deep water circulation [ 28 ] causing longer residence times for deep ocean water, greater heat accumulation at the surface [ 29 ], and lower ocean upwelling, primary production and fisheries catches.

We thank Felix Charnley for personal communications, and the anonymous reviewers for helpful suggestions. The authors declare they have no competing interests as they have never profited from, been paid for, or been funded for their coral bleaching work.

Thomas Goreau (Conceptualization [equal], Data curation [equal], Formal analysis [equal], Investigation [equal], Methodology [equal], Visualization [equal], Writing—original draft [equal], Writing—review & editing [equal])

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Despite its ‘nothingburger’ reputation, COVID-19 remains deadlier than the flu

A patient on a ventilator lies in a hospital bed.

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Since the earliest days of the pandemic, health officials have gauged the threat of COVID-19 by comparing it to the flu .

At first, it wasn’t even close . People hospitalized in 2020 with the then-novel respiratory disease were five times more likely to die of their illness than were patients who had been hospitalized with influenza during the preceding flu seasons.

Immunity from vaccines and past coronavirus infections has helped tame COVID-19 to the point that when researchers compared the mortality rates of hospitalized COVID-19 and seasonal influenza patients during the height of the 2022-23 flu season, they found that the pandemic disease was only 61% more likely to result in death .

Now the same researchers have analyzed data for the the fall and winter of 2023 and 2024. Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly , director of the Clinical Epidemiology Center at the VA St. Louis Health Care System, and his colleagues expected to find that the two respiratory diseases had finally equalized.

“There’s a narrative out there that the pandemic is over , that it’s a nothingburger ,” Al-Aly said. “We came into this thinking we would do this rematch and find it would be like the flu from now on.”

The VA team examined electronic health records of patients treated in Veterans Affairs hospitals in all 50 states between Oct. 1 and March 27. They zeroed in on patients who were admitted because they had fevers, shortness of breath or other symptoms due to either COVID-19 or influenza. (People who were admitted for another reason, such as a heart attack, and were then found to have a coronavirus infection weren’t included in the analysis.)

The COVID-19 patients were a little older, on average, than the flu patients (73.9 versus 70.2 years old), and they were less likely to be current or former smokers. They were also more likely to have received at least three doses of COVID-19 vaccine and less likely to have shunned the shots altogether.

Pasadena, CA - October 12: Denise Fractious, 68, of Pasadena, receives her COVID vaccine during a flu and COVID-19 vaccination clinic at Kaiser Permanente Pasadena on Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023, in Pasadena, CA. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

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Yet after Al-Aly and his colleagues accounted for these differences and a host of other factors, they found that 5.7% of the COVID-19 patients died of their disease, compared with 4.2% of the influenza patients.

In other words, the risk of death from COVID-19 was still 35% greater than it was for the flu. The findings were published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Assn.

“There is undeniably an impression out there that [COVID-19] is no longer a major threat to human health,” Al-Aly said. “I think it’s largely driven by opinion and an emotional itch to move beyond the pandemic, to put it all behind us. We want to believe that it’s like the flu, and we did — until we saw the data.”

Dr. Peter Chin-Hong , an infectious diseases specialist at UC San Francisco, said the study results are right in line with what he sees in his hospital.

“COVID continues to make some people in our community very ill and die — even in 2024,” he said. “Although most will not get seriously ill from COVID, for some people it is like 2020 all over again.”

That’s particularly true for people who are older, who haven’t received their most recent recommended COVID-19 booster , and who haven’t taken full advantage of antivirals such as Paxlovid. Chin-Hong noted that only 5% of the COVID-19 patients in the study had been treated with antivirals before they were hospitalized.

Even if the mortality rates for the COVID-19 and flu patients had been equal, COVID-19 would still be the bigger health threat because it is sending more people to the hospital, Al-Aly said.

Between Oct. 1 and the end of March, 75.5 out of every 100,000 Americans had been hospitalized with influenza, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . During that same period, the hospitalization rate for COVID-19 was 122.9 per 100,000 Americans, the CDC says .

“COVID still carries a higher risk of hospitalization,” Al-Aly said. “And among those hospitalized, more will die as a result.”

During the global coronavirus pandemic ICU nurses working on a covid19 patient in the ICU unit at Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Yet Al-Aly noted with frustration that while 48% of adults in the U.S. received a flu shot this year, only 21% of adults are up to date with their COVID-19 vaccinations, according to the CDC.

Chin-Hong added that more than 95% of adults hospitalized with COVID-19 this past fall and winter had not received the latest booster shot , according to the CDC.

Considering all the tools available to prevent hospitalizations and deaths — and especially the fact that they are readily available to patients in the VA system — the 35% relative risk of death from COVID-19 compared with the flu was “surprisingly high,” Chin-Hong said.

And it’s not like the flu is a trivial health threat, especially for senior citizens and people who are immunocompromised. It routinely kills tens of thousands of Americans each year, CDC data show.

“Influenza is a consequential infection,” Al-Aly said. “Even when COVID becomes equal to the flu, it’s still sobering and significant.”

The researchers also compared the mortality rates of VA COVID-19 patients before and after Dec. 24, when the Omicron subvariant known as JN.1 became the dominant strain in the United States. The difference was not statistically significant.

LOS ANGELES, CA - JANUARY 10: Passengers, with and without face mask, at Los Angeles International Airport on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024 in Los Angeles, CA. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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In just the last two weeks, JN.1 appears to have been overtaken by one of its descendants , a subvariant known as KP.2 . It’s part of a family of subvariants that’s taken on the nickname “FLiRT,” a moniker that references some of the mutations that have cropped up on the viruses’ spike proteins.

So far, there’s no indication that KP.2 is any more dangerous than JN.1, Al-Aly said.

“Are the hospitals filling up? No,” he said. “Are ER rooms all over the country flooded with respiratory illness? No.” Nor are there worrying changes in the amount of coronavirus detected in wastewater.

“When you look at all these data streams, we’re not seeing ominous signs that KP.2 is something the general public should worry about,” Al-Aly said.

It’s also too early to tell whether KP.2 — or whatever comes after it — will finally erase the mortality gap between COVID-19 and the flu, he added.

“Maybe when we do a rematch in 2025, that will be the case,” he said.

COVID-19 intensifies across California, with the worst probably still to come

Jan. 6, 2024

SAN DIEGO, CA - AUGUST 06: The Seaport Village Trolley Station is largely empty, save for pigeons pecking around a discarded mask and bottle of Lysol on Thursday, Aug. 6, 2020 in San Diego, CA. The transit system has undertaken a number of safety protocols to help prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. (Sam Hodgson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Opinion: We’ve made huge advances against COVID. Why is it still killing so many people?

June 5, 2023

LOS ANGELES, CA - MAY 27, 2022 - - Travelers begin their Memorial Day getaway at the Los Angeles International Airport on May 27, 2022. Over half a million passengers are expected to pass through LAX over the Memorial Day weekend, and millions more will hit the road for their first trip in nearly two years. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

COVID deaths were cut nearly in half in 2022, but disease is still a top killer, especially in the South

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Karen Kaplan covers science and medical research for the Los Angeles Times. She has been a member of the science team since 2005, including 13 years as an editor. Her first decade at The Times was spent covering technology in the Business section as both a reporter and editor. She grew up in San Diego and is a graduate of MIT and Columbia University.

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LOS ANGELES, CA - MAY 20: Riders board a METRO bus at North Hollywood Station on Thursday, May 20, 2021 in Los Angeles, CA. (Brian van der Brug / {credit

Bus rider fatally shot amid spate of violence on L.A. Metro

PALMDALE, CA - FEBRUARY 04: Electric transmission lines along a power corridor connecting to Southern California Edison's Vincent Substation on Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021 in Palmdale, CA. The lines cross over Highway 14. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

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California bill to scrutinize new electric charge dies in Assembly committee

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FILE - in this Aug. 3, 2007, file photo Magic mushrooms are being weighed and packaged at the Procare farm in Hazerswoude, central Netherlands. Magic mushrooms and other psychedelic plants and fungi are now effectively decriminalized in Ann Arbor, Mich., at least in terms of city police enforcement priority. City Council voted unanimously Monday night, Sept. 21, 2020 in favor of a resolution declaring it's the city's lowest law enforcement priority to investigate and arrest anyone for planting, cultivating, purchasing, transporting, distributing, engaging in practices with or possessing entheogenic plants or plant compounds. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)

California psychedelics bill that would bring ‘magic mushrooms’ into the mainstream fails – again

WESTWOOD, CA - MAY 02: Campus is cleaned up by UCLA facility maintenance locksmith Adrian Banuelos after two days of violent overnight protests at UCLA on Thursday, May 2, 2024 in Westwood, CA. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Congress investigating UCLA over treatment of Jewish students amid pro-Palestinian protests

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1. There’s no Such Thing as Global Warming

2. Global Warming Debates Are too Politicized

3. We Need to Understand the Causes

4. Decision-makers Need to Do Something

5. We Need to Do Something ASAP

📑 Global Warming Essay Outline

Global Warming Introduction Paragraph

Main Body of a Global Warming Essay

Data for an Essay on Global Warming

Conclusion of Global Warming Essay

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