by Bill Fitzgerald

Created on: December 01, 2009   Last Updated: December 02, 2009

It seems that over the past two hundred years in our rush to the modern age, we contributed greatly to global warming while doing little to protect our environment. We must now begin to take the necessary steps to slow the process or risk doing irreparable harm to not only ourselves but every living thing on this planet.

In November 2007, the U.N. panel on climate change issued a warning calling on all nations to take immediate action on global warming, calling the situation "frightening" "urgent" and "dire'. With carbon dioxide levels at the highest they have been in millions of years, one of the greatest concerns is that human activity is accelerating the melting of the arctic ice sheets.

The arctic ice melt is the most dramatic evidence of global warming and could result in rising sea levels and the flooding of millions of communities along coastlines.

In 2007, the arctic sea ice melt-rate accelerated compared to previous years, shattering the record for ice loss in a single season. The remaining ice was 38 percent less than average and 23 percent less then the old record. Satellite photographs showed that the remaining sea ice was also much thinner than normal; this could result in rapid melting and the loss of even more ice.

550 billion tons of ice melted that summer alone. In August 2008, another record was broken when the ice retreated at the fastest rate ever recorded.

Greenhouse gases are necessary because they keep the planet's surface warm enough to sustain life. But, as the concentrations of these gases continue to rise, the Earth's temperature is climbing to historic highs. For the past 200 years, our use of fossil fuels, such as coal and oil, combined with deforestation has caused the concentrations of heat-trapping gases to increase significantly. These gases prevent heat from escaping, like the glass panels of a greenhouse

The effects of global warming are already being felt around the world say many experts. Birds are laying eggs earlier, plants are blooming earlier, migratory patterns are changing and animals that hibernate are waking earlier in the spring. Many animals are moving to higher elevations than they have in the past, as well as moving closer to the north and south poles, indicating warmer temperatures.

One recent study shows that over 150 species have already been affected and this could easily disrupt the natural connective balance between species and also lead to extinction of many.

Shorter winters, earlier spring snow melts

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