Louis Merz asked:

Global warming research is becoming increasingly important in modern day times. Studying statistics of the changes happening around the world compared to historical times is commonplace. Many scientists around the world are beginning to come up with answers to global warming based on hard data.

The arctic has been a main area of research with scientists studying global warming. Thinning sea ice near the northern reaches of Alaska has been noticed. Since 1979 the sea ice has been tracked and recently in 2007, scientists participating in the Woods Hole Oceangraphic Institution’s Gyre Exploration Project began taking notice of the effects.

While aboard the Canadian Coast Gaurd’s ship, the icebreaker, they noticed the ship easily broke through the ice that years ago would have been to thick to cross through. They also noticed the ice was disintegrating in other areas and new ice was rapidly melting.

Scientists are also noticing polar bears are literally drowning because they are unable to swim the longer distances caused by land and receding ice. In 2007 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have put polar bears on the list of threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. Not only the polar bears in danger because of the melting ice, they are also in danger because the oil and gas companies threaten their habitats. Increased energy consumption produces more greenhouse gases thus increasing the global warming problem and destroying the environment because of the need to drill for oil in protected areas.

There are many ways people all around the world can help alleviate the effects of global warming. In your home you can start by changing your light bulbs to fluorescent or energy efficient bulbs.

You can also make sure you home is well insulated and sealed from the weather. An energy auditor can run tests on your home and help you to determine the efficiency of your home. Any time you buy a product try to buy it with energy efficiency in mind. The Energy Star rating system is helpful in determing how efficient certain products are for your home.

Recycling is also another great way to help reduce the harmful effects of global warming. Keep a seperate trash receptacle for your aluminum cans, and you can make money by turning them in to a recycling center.

Simply maintaining your car and keeping your tires properly inflated will increase your gas mileage, reducing energy consumption. You might also want to look into buying a hybrid vehicle to save on gas and have a more environmentally friendly form of transportation.

Kelvin Ho asked:


It is not a secret that we humans have been destroying the environment for years. It is now that some of us are trying to make all people aware of the affects that our lack of care has had on the environment and what will happen if we do not make changes now and try to stop the progress of global warming. Our focus, or drive, is the thought of what type of world are we leaving our children. We also need to be looking at how global warming is affecting our animals now and in the future if we do not stop and make the needed environmentally safe changes.

There are numerous studies that are being conducted and have been conducted where watching animal behavior and traits to measure the status of the environment. These studies are showing that our Earth is changing in unnatural ways and it is disturbing. Think about the fact that right now as things stand, reindeer will no longer wander the places they currently do, they will disappear.

Marmots no longer hibernate the same amount of time that they used to. Actually compared to thirty years ago, they are ending hibernation three weeks earlier. The Canadian red squirrel is breeding 18 days earlier. Studies are showing that the red fox is moving north and invading the territory of its Arctic cousin. Polar bears are not as healthy as they were 20 years ago and they are thinner.

If we look at the sea and our creatures there we also see changes that should cause alarm. Coral reefs are expected to increase by up to a third in size. Elephant seal pups are thinner because their prey is migrating to cooler waters. Our turtles are changing behavior as well, the loggerhead is laying eggs 10 days earlier and the Hawkbill turtle hatchlings are having more females then males due to temperature changes.

Birds are changing their diets to insects that do not consume leaves that have been treated with high amounts of pesticides. What does all of this mean? It means that global warming is going to cause many of our animal species to become endangered if not extinct.

The melting ice, the warm seas, the spreading dessert are all threats to our animals. These changes, no matter how subtle have a dramatic influence on the lives of our wildlife. In the sea the disappearance of the tiny organisms that the larger creatures feed off of is causing the sea life to migrate northward.

Keeping in mind that global warming plays a huge part in our weather and climate, the increased storminess destroys the breeding colonies of the albatross that already battle the possibility of being captured and killed by fishing boats. The rise in sea levels wipe out the nesting sites of the sea turtles, seals and wading birds are also on the list of species to be affected by their habitats being destroyed.

Thought the very source of nature is change, and adaptation, the changes that are taking place in our environment due to global warming are just happening to fast. The speed is what makes it difficult for the animals to adapt effectively and this will cause us to loose a lot of our wildlife. Can you imagine a world with no reindeer? What about the day that the Sahara dessert covers all of Africa and makes migration impossible for birds?

These are changes that we can see everyday and we need to start paying attention to them. The predicted elevation of sea level by an amazing three feet coupled with the disruptions to the Earth life support systems should be our wake up call.

While you can look out your back window and see these changes taking place, the full effect will be seen by the year 2100 if the predictions of scientist come through and we do not change our ways. Think about is, 2100 is less then one hundred years away. You and I would probably not be here, but our grandchildren will and what will we have left for them? Help stop global warming, do your part to save the Earth, our children and our wildlife. They need us.