Some Basic Global Warming Facts

Posted: 19-May-2004; Updated: 14-Apr-2005

Global warming skeptics might be loud, thanks to a well-funded effort to sway public opinion to question whether this phenomenon is happening, but their arguments hold little water. The consensus among scientists is not only that global warming is happening; acting fast and acting now are imperative to undo the trend. Arm yourself with knowledge with our quick facts and download our fact sheets to hand to the skeptical folks in your network.

Some Quick Facts on Global Warming

Global warming is an intensification of the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect refers to the natural system that keeps Earth warm enough to sustain life--this is a good thing. But an abundance of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere has been collecting in the atmosphere and effectively forming an additional heat blanket around the Earth. In other words, human activities are intensifying the greenhouse effect and moving the Earth's temperature to dangerous levels.
Weather and climate are different. Weather in a given area can fluctuate significantly from year to year regardless of whether or not the climate is changing. Climate, which refers to average weather conditions over a longer period of time (such as a few decades, at minimum), can show clearer signs of human-produced changes.
Global warming refers to a warming of the average global temperature. It does not preclude cooling in some locations. In fact, if some locations are cooling while the globe is warming on average, it follows that there must be other areas that are warming even faster than the global average. This is precisely what is happening in the Arctic, where temperatures over the past few decades have risen twice as fast as the global average, with potentially disastrous consequences. Polar bears in the southern range, for instance, who hunt on sea ice, experience shorter hunting seasons now that sea ice melts earlier in the spring and freezes later in the fall. Read about these and other findings laid out in the recent eight-nation report, Impacts of a Warming Arctic.
2004 was the fourth warmest year on record. The 10 hottest years on record have all occurred since 1990.
Record heat waves responsible for some 26,000 deaths battered Europe in the summer of 2003. The scorching temperatures caused over $16 billion in damages to agriculture and other industries. Global warming has already doubled the risk of such events, according to a paper in the scientific journal Nature.
A massive ice shelf the size of Rhode Island broke off from Antarctica in 2002. Rapidly warming temperatures on the Antarctic Peninsula were blamed for the loss of the Larsen B Ice Shelf.
The melting of glaciers around the world have been contributing to sea level rise around the globe, which means damage to the United States' booming coastal counties that are now home to more than half of the U.S. population.

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Downloadable Fact Sheets:

Separate fact from fiction with our fact sheets below and help spread the word about this critical environmental threat. Sign our petition supporting the Climate Stewardship Act and tell your friends and family how the U.S. must start addressing this issue today. ( Adobe Acrobat Reader required.)