Global Warming is Happening Now
Scientists are no longer telling us what will happen, they are telling us what is happening.
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Global warming could soon push polar bears to the brink of extinction. Starvation is already impacting the population, and as sea ice melts, more bears are drowning in an attempt to find food.
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The Earth's climate is changing: since the start of the Industrial Revolution, the burning of fossil fuels such as oil, coal and gas have driven up average global temperatures by approximately 1 degree Fahrenheit. Such increases are projected not only to continue, but increase—according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), by anywhere between 2.5 and 10.4 degrees Fahrenheit over the course of this century.
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This warming is not, and will not be, uniform. Warming in the Arctic is projected to be two to three times the global average, and already, temperature increases in the region are far exceeding those in more temperate zones. In Alaska and western Canada, winter temperatures have increased by as much as 5-7 degrees F over the past fifty years; over the next 100 years, annual average temperatures are projected to rise 5-9 degrees F over land and up to 13 degrees F over the ocean. Winter temperatures are projected to increase by 7-13 degrees F over land and by 13-18 degrees F over the ocean.
Such wholesale changes are already having an impact throughout the Arctic region, and the associated impacts will only become more pronounced as warming continues.
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