Global Warming and Climate Change 101
Is it getting hot in here?
Since the Industrial Revolution (around the middle of the 1800s) we've both burned more fuel and cut down more forest than ever before, and as a result, CO2 concentrations have risen about 30 percent. The correlation between the big swing we've seen in earth's temperature (from a downward trend pre-1850 to a rapid rise since then) and the human-caused increase in CO2 is no coincidence. That's what the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change — a non-partisan, international panel of leading scientists — concluded earlier this year, calling the connection "very likely."
1.5 degrees doesn't sound like much, and I like warm weather. Why should I care?
Even though the warming over the past 150 years might seem moderate, we've already seen major effects. The number of Category 4 and 5 hurricanes has almost doubled in the past 30 years, species are losing their habitats and diseases like malaria are on the rise. But what's worse is that the warming trend shows no signs of slowing down, and we're experimenting with the only home we have. Estimates for warming over the next century range from 2 to 11 degrees F, and with that kind of warming comes a lot of uncertainty:
