Honestly, what is global warming????

Question

I'm always hearing about global warming but to be honest I really have no idea what it is, more importanly I'm not sure why people are so concerned about it??? As you can tell I am clueless as to what this is but obviously its something important since people are talking about it!!!!!?!?

Answer 1

dont worry about it, its just something for the government to complain about. it gives 'scientists' something to do with their time... they should be curing aids!

Answer 2

global warming is an increase in the worlds temperature. generally this is referring to AGW or human caused global warming. [1][2]

global warming can cause massive problems. for example as temperatures go up more and more farmland will be lost to desertification. more water will also be lost because of increased evaporation.

a small increase in temperatures can also cause massive changes in ecosystems. for example, as waters warm currents that normally bring up nutrient rich water from deep water can shut down. this causes the krill population to fall. this in tern causes a ripple effect disrupting fish stocks.[3] [4]

Answer 3

Global warming is the idea that the Earth is getting warmer which could melt ice around the north and south poles. Many people do not believe it is even going on. However, if ice does melt around the poles it could/would lead to rising oceans which would cause flooding on the coastlines of the continents, it could even sink islands if they are not above elevation.

Answer 4

IT IS IMPORTANT!!!!!

Short and sweet:

Global warming is when the Earth's ozone layer depletes, and the sun's harmful rays reach the Earth more. This causes the Earth's temperature to rise.

Answer 5

Global warming is the increase of the global temperature. This will not result in higher temperatures in every region has so many sceptics say. It causes the melting of ice and the melting of land ice specifically will cause an increase in sea levels but also will interfere with ocean currents. As the ice is fresh water it will dilute the oceans which interferes with the thermohaline circulation causing some of the ocean currents. Should this happen many will be stopped. Certain countries rely on these currents to regulate their climates. As warm currents cool it will lower temperatures in some parts of the world and increase in others. Due to warmth in certain areas it will cause hurricanes in areas that don't normally have any such as hurricane delta in 2007. It will also interfere with preciptation distribution causing desertification in some regions. unfortunately the results will mostly affect the poorer countries in the world with some of them becoming victims to drought and famines and others simply ceasing to exist as sea levels rise and flood the country.

Answer 6

Global warming is the increase in the average temperature of the Earth's near-surface air and oceans in recent decades and its projected continuation.

The global average air temperature near the Earth's surface rose 0.74 ± 0.18 °C (1.33 ± 0.32 °F) during the 100 years ending in 2005.[1] The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concludes "most of the observed increase in globally averaged temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations"[1] via the greenhouse effect. Natural phenomena such as solar variation combined with volcanoes probably had a small warming effect from pre-industrial times to 1950 and a small cooling effect from 1950 onward.[2][3] These basic conclusions have been endorsed by at least 30 scientific societies and academies of science,[4] including all of the national academies of science of the major industrialized countries.[5][6][7] While individual scientists have voiced disagreement with some findings of the IPCC,[8] the overwhelming majority of scientists working on climate change agree with the IPCC's main conclusions.[9][10]

Climate model projections summarized by the IPCC indicate that average global surface temperature will likely rise a further 1.1 to 6.4 °C (2.0 to 11.5 °F) during the 21st century.[1] The range of values results from the use of differing scenarios of future greenhouse gas emissions as well as models with differing climate sensitivity. Although most studies focus on the period up to 2100, warming and sea level rise are expected to continue for more than a thousand years even if greenhouse gas levels are stabilized. The delay in reaching equilibrium is a result of the large heat capacity of the oceans.[1]

Increasing global temperature will cause sea level to rise, and is expected to increase the intensity of extreme weather events and to change the amount and pattern of precipitation. Other effects of global warming include changes in agricultural yields, trade routes, glacier retreat, species extinctions and increases in the ranges of disease vectors.

Remaining scientific uncertainties include the amount of warming expected in the future, and how warming and related changes will vary from region to region around the globe. Most national governments have signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but there is ongoing political and public debate worldwide regarding what, if any, action should be taken to reduce or reverse future warming or to adapt to its expected consequences.