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Global Warming: A Threat to Our Future
By: Amanda M. McGuire
Axia (UOP)
SCI/275
Michael Stead
February 3rd, 2008
Global Warming: A Threat to Our Future
By: Amanda M. McGuire
As oceans rise, land and cities along the coasts may be flooded. Millions of people may
have to abandon their homes, and low-lying islands may disappear completely. Heat and drought
may cause forests to die and food crops to fail. Wildlife population may be wiped out, and
countless people may face severe food shortages. Global warming will affect weather
everywhere, plants and animals everywhere, people everywhere.
Each year the evidence grows that humans are warming Earth's atmosphere by their
everyday activities, including cutting down forests and especially by burning fuels that release
heat-holding gases into the air. Some people say that we should wait for more evidence before
taking any action, but climate experts from all over the world say that we should act now.
Humans can halt global warming, but to do so, people everywhere will need to cooperate more
than they ever have before.
Weather changes from day to day. It may also change from year to year. The area where
you live may have an occasion drought or an unusually cold weather. Variations like these are a
part of overall climate-the weather that prevails in an area over the years.
You can often find slightly different climates in places that are very close to one another.
For example, the year round climate on the north side of a house or even of a tree is cooler than
the south side, where more sunlight falls.
Our planet has a great range of climates, from the frigid Polar Regions to the hot tropics
of the equator.
People expect weather to change but often assume that climates...