Global Warming - Temperature of Earth

Global Warming Essay

Over the last hundred years, the global temperatures have been increasing slowly. Since 1980, the temperature has risen 0.2 degrees Celsius each decade. Scientist predict that if we continue putting the same amount of gas into the atmosphere, that by the year 2030 the temperature will be rising as much as 0.5 degrees C or more per decade. Overall, the global temperature could rise anywhere from 5 to 9 degrees over the next fifty years. If the temperatures do rise, as predicted, several things could happen. The increase of temperature could alter the growth of crops in areas near the equator due to insufficient rain and heat. With the high temperatures, the polar ice caps could melt and cause the sea water level to go up 1 to 3 feet. This could take out small islands, coastal cities and some shallow rivers. The Everglades in Florida would be almost gone if this happened. The Everglades is home for many animals and plant life. If it did get flooded, they would all have to move northward across very dry land. When the hot temperatures do spread southward and northward, scientists predict that tropical disease will spread with it.

These new diseases will be hard to deal with, causing many deaths and illnesses. Because of flooding, dams will built and cities to be reconstructed. The shortage in food will cause the price of the food to go up and with all the diseases, we will need more medical supplies and workers. All of this combined could cost a lot of money. The computer models can’t predict exactly that the climate is going to be in the future, but they can come close to what it will be like down the road. A large experiment collected information on the changes of the sea level, the temperatures