In recent years we have realized the horrible effects we have had on our environment. Not only have we put many species on the extinct list and even more on the endangered list, but we have polluted our planet, and destroyed biodiversity through deforestation, desertation and overharvesting. Now scientists are concerned with a new problem that has affected our planet very quickly. Global warming, as it’s name implies, is the warming of the Earth. In the past 120 years the average temperature of our planet has risen 0.5 degrees celsius.
The increase in Earth’s temperature could limit our amount of fresh water. It affects our water resources by increasing the intensity of rain. In the past 50 years more water is falling as rain than as snow and the ice caps are beginning to melt. It could also cause sea-level to rise, which could affect our groundwater supplies and cause flooding.
This change of climate could be the downfall of many ecosystems. Ecosystems are very sensitive and complex things, and the slightest change, may it be in inhabiting organisms or the amount of nutrients available, could cause an ecosystem to crash.
Global Warming: Humans in the Biosphere by: Jenell Louissaint
With global warming, biomes with generally cold climates like the Arctic could become very hot very fast, killing all the organisms that spent so long adapting to its cold weather.
The effects this would have on the biosphere could be catastrophic, and as the cause of this problem it is up to us humans to fix it. If we don’t begin to respect our planet, then global warming could kill us. We need to learn how to preserve the natural wonders of our world so we won’t have to repair it.