Pretty much since I can remember and I’m sure you all can attest to this, but I have heard or been warned about the effects of global warming and how it will ultimately be earth’s downfall.  Taking a closer look, that may not necessarily be the case.

In the last 650,000 years there have been 7 cycles of glacial advance and retreat with the last ice age just over 7,000 years ago which marked the beginning of human civilization.  In the past 1,300 years the warming trend is very likely to have been induced and is currently proceeding at a rate that is unprecedented before.  There has been a lot of evidence for the rapid climate change that is quite compelling such as how the global sea level has risen 6.7 inches in the last century.  However, that rate has nearly doubled in the last decade.  Since the industrial revolution, the acidification of the oceans has also increased by about 30 percent.  This is from the result of humans emitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Another way we can tell that the Earth has been warming is by seeing the thermometer records from all over the world over the past century and a half.  The Earth’s average temperature has risen more then 1 degree Fahrenheit and over twice that in parts of the arctic.  Now this doesn’t mean that temperatures haven’t differed among regions of the globe or different seasons just for being in different parts of the world but if you average out the temperatures over the course of a year, you can easily see the temperatures creeping up.

Obviously we cannot go back thousands of years to tell the temperature of the world although we do have a way to get some insight on our past, trees.  Trees store information about the climate that they live.  Every year, trees grow thicker and form new rings.  In the years where the weather is warmer and wetter, the rings grow thicker.  This helps us study just precisely where the weather has been fluctuating the most.

Many critics argue that global warming isn’t a real thing and we shouldn’t worry about it.  I’m not going to tell you what to believe but I will ask you to at least look at the facts.  The Earth is heating up.  It’s not heating up at a pace where we will ever be affected in our lifetimes or even our childrens children lifetime but that doesn’t mean at some point during mankind’s existence it won’t become a factor.  So, do your part and recycle when you can, don’t litter, and overall just keep your conscience clean by preserving and protecting our beautiful earth as best as you can.  One day it will matter.

Sources: http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/gw-real/
http://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/
http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/global-warming7.htm