- The planet is warming. The average temperature has there has been rise in about 1 degree Fahrenheit (0.6 of a degree Celsius) around the world over the last century.
The 1990s was the warmest decade since the mid-1800s. The hottest years recorded were: 1998, 2002, 2003, 2001, and 1997.
- The multinational Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) report has recently concluded that in Alaska, eastern Russia, and western Canada, the average temperatures have increased as much as 4-7 degrees Fahrenheit (3-4 degrees Celsius) in the past 50 years. The rise is about twice the global average. In Barrow, Alaska the average temperatures are up over 4 degrees Fahrenheit (2.5 to 3 degrees Celsius) in 30 years.
- The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has predicted that there will rise in an additional 3 to10 degrees Fahrenheit (1.6 to 5.5 degrees Celsius) in the global temperatures by century's end.
- During the last million years the Earth’s temperature has fluctuated between colder and warmer periods.
- Changes have also occurred more rapidly in the past. During the last ice age, approximately 70,000 to 11,500 years ago, ice used to cover much of North America and Europe. Some sudden climate changes occurred during the period. Greenland ice cores have indicated that one spike in which the area's surface temperature has increased by 15 degrees Fahrenheit in last 10 years.
- Rising temperatures have a dramatic impact on Arctic ice and glaciers, since 1978 Arctic sea ice area has shrunk by about 9 percent in each decade.
- Greenland's massive ice sheet has enough water if melt can raise sea level by about 23 feet (7 meters). ACIA climate models forecast significant melting of the sheet throughout the 21st century.
- In 1910 there were some 150 glaciers. Now less than 30, greatly shrunken glaciers, remain. Tropical glaciers are in a more trouble.
- There has been rise and fall in the sea levels many times over the Earth's long geological history. Average global sea level has risen by 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20cm) over the past century.
- The IPCC's 2001 report projects that sea level could rise between 4 and 35 inches (10 to 89cm) by century's end. Such rises could have major effects for coastal dwellers. A 1.5-foot (50-centimeter) sea level rise in flat coastal areas would cause a typical coastline retreat of 150 feet (50 meters).
- Worldwide some 100 million people live within 3 feet (1 meter) of mean sea level. Rises of just 4 inches (10 centimeters) could lead to flooding in many South Sea islands, with the risk in the U.S. Florida and Louisiana.
- Climate models suggest that global warming could cause more frequent extreme weather conditions like Hurricanes Katrina, Storm surges could threaten coastal communities.
- After 1860s, increased industrialization and shrinking forests have lead to raise the atmosphere's CO2 level by almost 100 parts per million.
- Sea ice loss is deadly for species that lives in that environment, such as polar bears and ringed seals in the Arctic and Antarctic penguins.
- Studies show that in many European plants flowering comes a week earlier than they did in the 1950s and also lose their leaves 5 days later.
- According to a recent study By 2050, rising temperatures exacerbated by human-induced greenhouse gases could land more than a million of Earth's land-dwelling plants and animals to the road to extinction,.
- Coral reefs worldwide are dying.
