Global Warming

Global warming, the gradual rise of the Earth's surface temperature thought to be caused by the greenhouse effect. Global warming may be responsible for the changes in global climate patterns. The cause of Global warming is the increased air pollution that is collecting in the atmosphere like a thickening blanket, trapping the sun's heat and causing the planet to warm up. Cola-burning power plants are the largest U.S. source of carbon dioxide pollution, they produce 2.5 billon tons every year. Automobiles, the second largest source, create nearly 1.5 billion tons of CO2 annually.

The effect of Global Warming is the earth is getting hotter, over the past 50 years the average global temperature has increased at the fastest rate in recorded history. Experts think the trend is accelerating, scientists' say that unless we curb global warming emissions, average U.S. temperatures could be 3 to 9 degrees higher by the end of the century. Global warming is already causing damage in many parts of the United States, in 2002; Colorado, Arizona and Oregon endured their worst wildfire seasons ever. The same year, drought created severe dust storms in Montana, Colorado and Kansas, and floods caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage in Texas, Montana and North Dakota. Since the early 1950s, snow accumulation has declined 60 percent and winter seasons have shortened in some areas of the Cascade Range in Oregon and Washington. Of course, the impacts of global warming are not limited to the United States. In 2003, extreme heat waves caused more than 20,000 deaths in Europe and more than 1,500 deaths in India. And in what scientists regard as an alarming sign of events to come, the area of the Arctic's perennial polar ice cap is declining at the rate of 9 percent per decade.

We can cut Global Warming by reducing pollution from vehicles and power plants. Right away, we should put existing technologies for building cleaner cars and