8 Ways Global Warming is Already Changing the World

Live Science
Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience Senior Writer
Published April 21, 2012
http://www.livescience.com/19833-8-ways-global-warming-changing-world.html

Summary
Over the past century, the temperature of the Earth has increased by approximately 1.33°F. This has led to many changes on Earth. First of all, the rich resources under the Arctic region are becoming more accessible to humans, causing militaries to move farther north to deal with security and border problems. Secondly, the breeding seasons of many animals are becoming longer or shorter. Changes in high elevation area are also occurring because less snowfall allows more species to move to the area. The new species affect the whole ecosystem. Another change is that many common plants around Massachusetts are flowering about 10 days earlier and some species have completely vanished because of earlier springs. Another effect of earlier springs is that people are visiting National Parks earlier in the year. An additional effect of global warming is that the genotypes of some species are changing to be more like similar species in areas closer to the equator. Furthermore, the population of polar bears is decreasing because the sea ice that they live on is melting, forcing them to swim farther between pieces of ice. This causes a higher mortality rate in polar bear cubs who can’t swim the entire distance. Finally, species are moving away from their natural habitats at a much faster rate than ever before.

Connection
      This connects to our unit on ecology. We learned that Earth’s temperature is increasing because a greater amount of carbon dioxide is being added to the atmosphere through the burning of wood and fossil fuels. The greenhouse effect of this carbon dioxide increases with more gas and prevents heat from escaping Earth. This global warming can have major effects on Earth. This article outlines some of these effects.