Today, the earth has gone through many changes due to global warming. These changes have impacted everything on the planet, and will continue to get worse over time. For instance, global warming has changed rainfall patterns, amplified coastal erosion, melting ice caps, and growing seasons in some areas (NASA, N.D., p.628). Some major changes are: changing weather, rising sea levels, impacting ecosystems and even extinction (NASA, N.D., p.629-631). Many of these global warming changes happening now are getting worse, causing planet Earth to change as global warming increases. These changes will affect everything on the planet. First, one effect of global warming is changing weather. Global warming has influenced many areas …show more content…
Melting ice caps will affect many nations with rising sea levels. Rising sea levels will impact nations that are at or below sea levels. However, many of these nations are now being affected with rising sea levels due to global warming. Per, The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) “estimates that sea levels will rise between .018 and .0.59 meters by 2099 as warming sea water expands, and mountain and polar glaciers melt” (NASA, N.D., p.629). Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets are melting at about a rate of 125 billion tons of ice per year, enough to raise the sea level by .01 inch per year (NASA, N.D., p.629). If the melting of the ice sheets in Greenland and West Antarctic speeds up, the raise in sea level will also increase. Rising sea levels due to global warming will threaten to cover any low-lying areas across the globe When sea levels rise, low lying areas now become part of the sea. When the sea meets the land, demographics of that area will change, forcing anyone who lived in these areas to …show more content…
With the major shift in climate change and raising sea levels, the earths ecosystem is being affected, possibly causing extinction of some species of animal and plant life. Extinction will happen due to a rapid change so serve that the species cannot change fast enough (Withgott & Brennan, 2012, p.637). Warming weather patterns have shifted many growing season around the world (NASA, N.D. p.630). Areas that had a normal growing season are seeing an increase in the length of the season. This increase in the growing season causes the plants to require more water to grow during the season. Lack of water will cause the plant life to dry out increasing the chance of failed crops and wild fires (NASA, N.D, p.630). Lack of water, will also force people and animals to migrate towards the north or milder climates. In the northern climates, growing, seasons were shorter than the lower states They now face longer growing seasons during the spring and summer