Our planet is getting warmer. Wherever we live and whatever the season, we are all experiencing changes in temperatures, as well as extremes in weather patterns. The impacts of global climate change are enormous and wide-ranging:

• 
  increased global temperatures will have a significant impact on sea levels. Melting glaciers and thermal expansion of ocean waters could lead to a rise of between 15 to 95 cm in sea levels before the end of this century;
• extreme weather patterns will produce extreme events such as super-storms;
• ecosystems will undergo enormous changes as temperatures rise;
• human communities (especially those communities that depend upon these ecosystems for their livelihoods) will be adversely affected.

Scientists are warning us that an increase in the earth’s temperatures is related directly to the release of carbon (and other gases) into the earth’s atmosphere. These gases remain in the atmosphere where they trap solar radiation that would otherwise be reflected back into outer space. So, the more gases we produce, the warmer the earth becomes.

Image: Rising sea levels/go_green_oz/Flickr

Research results: a collective response