Global Warming Facts

Did You Know?

• Scientists have recognized and studied the phenomenon of Global Warming's potential consequences for the past 20 years!

• Good drinking water sources decrease as warmer temperatures promote algal growth and reduce oxygen levels in rivers and lakes.
• Global warming is hazardous to our health. It increases our vulnerability to diseases. If cold nights and cold winters remained stable, germs and viruses would be less threatening.
• Coral reefs are as important to marine wildlife as rainforests are to land-based wildlife, but the coral reefs are dying off in large numbers due to global warming. The world lost about 16% of its coral reefs in 1998 – the 2nd hottest year on record.
• When an ice shelf breaks apart into the sea, the land-based ice behind it becomes unstable. As a result, sea levels rise when the land ice falls into the sea – affecting millions of people around the world living in coastal communities.
• What's the scoop on rainforests? Clearing rain forests releases carbon dioxide, causing significant problems for the environment. The trees that stored carbon dioxide are gone for good. What happens in one place affects another.
• While the greatest population of people live in cities, vast areas of remote forests are cut down to provide timber and forest products like paper and to grow food for increasing populations worldwide.
• Frogs and toads are among the first to suffer the consequences of environmental threats such as pollution and destruction of wetlands and other habitats. They have porous skin that makes them especially sensitive to changes in their environment.
• Over 200 amphibians, such as frogs and toads, around the world have recently declined in population, due to the health of our environment.
• Scientists can measure the average world temperature each year, by looking at layers of glacier ice, similar to how a forester can "read" tree rings to determine a tree's history.