Monday, February 8, 2010

Rapid Climate Change

The global warming debate, despite having vociferous proponents on each side, appears to have been decided. Global warming is very real, and it is the preeminent danger to human civilization today. The rising global temperature threatens to create catastrophic weather systems, crop failures, disease outbreaks, and water shortages worldwide.

Emissions of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane are trapping heat within the Earths’ atmosphere, slowly increasing the overall temperature. These emissions are the byproduct of our modern way of life, and to halt them would require a voluntary shift in the very structure of our society, a move unprecedented in human history.

To not take action, however, would be to alter the very chemical composition of our planet. Life on Earth evolved over hundreds of millions of years to survive within very specific conditions, and those conditions are changing…

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