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global warming is a gradual increase in the overall temperature of the earth's atmosphere generally attributed to the greenhouse effect caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide, CFCs, and other pollutants.

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The increasing concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere means that more heat is being trapped and Earth is getting warmer, like a greenhouse. Over the past 100 or so years, the temperature of the Earth has increased by an average of between 1 and 1.2 degrees Celsius

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Understand the meaning of global warming with this online explainer for children aged 11 to 14 from BBC Bitesize - The Regenerators.

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In the past, natural factors, such as volcanic eruptions and El Niño, caused fluctuations in the temperature and rainfall. What is new, is the influence of humans on climate change. We drive our cars, are heating our houses when it is cold outside, and use energy to cook. These day to day activities cause the emission of greenhouse gasses, such as methane and carbon. These gasses prevent the heat emitted by the earth to escape, causing global warming

Justdiggit | Cooling Down The Planet | Global Warming Charity

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We are on a mission to regreen Africa and cool down the planet. Together with millions of farmers, and together with you.

All of us are living in a global climate crisis. Our planet is warming fast. Luckily, there is a solution: If nature is brought back by applying cost-effective nature-based solutions, we can mitigate global warming by 37%! This will benefit nature, biodiversity and people everywhere, and help cool down our planet.

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Justdiggit | Cooling Down The Planet | Global Warming Charity

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Justdiggit is a grassroots organisation that fights global warming by re-greening Africa. Learn how you can help in cooling down the planet.

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Human Activity Is the Cause of Increased Greenhouse Gas Concentrations. Over the last century, burning of fossil fuels like coal and oil has increased the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂). This increase happens because the coal or oil burning process combines carbon with oxygen in the air to make CO₂.

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Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet

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The Greenhouse Effect

Increasing Greenhouses Gases Are Warming the Planet

Scientists attribute the global warming trend observed since the mid-20 th century to the human expansion of the "greenhouse effect" - warming that results when the atmosphere traps heat radiating from Earth toward space.

Life on Earth depends on energy coming from the Sun. About half the light energy reaching Earth's atmosphere passes through the air and clouds to the surface, where it is absorbed and radiated in the form of infrared heat. About 90% of this heat is then absorbed by greenhouse gases and re-radiated, slowing heat loss to space.

Gases that Contribute

The Role of Humans

Human Activity Is the Cause of Increased Greenhouse Gas Concentrations

Over the last century, burning of fossil fuels like coal and oil has increased the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO ₂). This increase happens because the coal or oil burning process combines carbon with oxygen in the air to make CO ₂. To a lesser extent, clearing of land for agriculture, industry, and other human activities has increased concentrations of greenhouse gases.

How do we know what greenhouse gas and temperature levels were in the distant past?

Ice cores are scientists' best source for historical climate data. Other tools for learning about Earth's ancient atmosphere include growth rings in trees, which keep a rough record of each growing season's temperature, moisture and cloudiness going back about 2,000 years. Corals also form growth rings that provide information about temperature and nutrients in the tropical ocean. Other proxies, such as benthic cores, extend our knowledge of past climate back about a billion years.

detailed answer

The industrial activities that our modern civilization depends upon have raised atmospheric carbon dioxide levels by nearly 50% since 1750. This increase is due to human activities, because scientists can see a distinctive isotopic fingerprint in the atmosphere.

In its Sixth Assessment Report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, composed of scientific experts from countries all over the world, concluded thatit is unequivocal that the increase of CO ₂, methane, and nitrous oxide in the atmosphere over the industrial era is the result of human activities and that human influence is the principal driver of many changes observed across the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere and biosphere.

"Since systematic scientific assessments began in the 1970s, the influence of human activity on the warming of the climate system has evolved from theory to established fact."

- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

The panel's AR6 Working Group I (WGI) Summary for Policymakers report is online at https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/.

Is the Sun to Blame?

Evidence Shows That Current Global Warming Cannot Be Explained by Solar Irradiance

Scientists use a metric called Total Solar Irradiance (TSI) to measure the changes in energy the Earth receives from the Sun. TSI incorporates the 11-year solar cycle and solar flares/storms from the Sun's surface.

Studies show that solar variability has played a role in past climate changes. For example, a decrease in solar activity coupled with increased volcanic activity helped trigger the Little Ice Age.

The above graph compares global surface temperature changes (red line) and the Sun's energy that Earth receives (yellow line) in watts (units of energy) per square meter since 1880. The lighter/thinner lines show the yearly levels while the heavier/thicker lines show the 11-year average trends. Eleven-year averages are used to reduce the year-to-year natural noise in the data, making the underlying trends more obvious.

The amount of solar energy that Earth receives has followed the Sun's natural 11-year cycle of small ups and downs with no net increase since the 1950s. Over the same period, global temperature has risen markedly. It is therefore extremely unlikely that the Sun has caused the observed global temperature warming trend over the past half-century. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

But several lines of evidence show that current global warming cannot be explained by changes in energy from the Sun:

Since 1750, the average amount of energy from the Sun either remained constant or increased slightly.

If a more active Sun caused the warming, scientists would expect warmer temperatures in all layers of the atmosphere. Instead, they have observed a cooling in the upper atmosphere and a warming at the surface and lower parts of the atmosphere. That's because greenhouse gases are slowing heat loss from the lower atmosphere.

Climate models that include solar irradiance changes can't reproduce the observed temperature trend over the past century or more without including a rise in greenhouse gases.
References
References

1. IPCC Fifth Assessment Report, 2014 United States Global Change Research Program, "Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States," Cambridge University Press, 2009 Naomi Oreskes, "The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change," Science 3 December 2004: Vol. 306 no. 5702 p. 1686 DOI: 10.1126/science.1103618

2. Friedlingstein et al 2021: " The mass of carbon in the atmosphere increased by 48% from 590 GtC in 1750 to 876 GtC in 2020." https://essd.copernicus.org/preprints/essd-2021-386/

3. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: "Climate Impacts on Agriculture and Food Supply"

4. Mike Lockwood, "Solar Change and Climate: an update in the light of the current exceptional solar minimum," Proceedings of the Royal Society A, 2 December 2009, doi 10.1098/rspa.2009.0519;

Judith Lean, "Cycles and trends in solar irradiance and climate," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, vol. 1, January/February 2010, 111-122.

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The Greenhouse Effect Scientists attribute the global warming trend observed since the mid-20 th century to the human expansion of the "greenhouse effect" - warming that results when the atmosphere traps heat radiating from Earth toward space. Life on Earth depends on energy coming from the Sun.

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Sea levels are expected to rise between 10 and 32 inches (26 and 82 centimeters) or higher by the end of the century.

Hurricanes and other storms are likely to become stronger. Floods and droughts will become more common. Large parts of the U.S., for example, face a higher risk of decades-long "megadroughts" by 2100.

Less freshwater will be available, since glaciers store about three-quarters of the world's freshwater.

Some diseases will spread, such as mosquito-borne malaria (and the 2016 resurgence of the Zika virus).

Ecosystems will continue to change: Some species will move farther north or become more successful; others, such as polar bears, won’t be able to adapt and could become extinct.

Precipitation (rain and snowfall) has increased across the globe, on average. Yet some regions are experiencing more severe drought, increasing the risk of wildfires, lost crops, and drinking water shortages.

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The planet is warming, from North Pole to South Pole. Since 1906, the global average surface temperature has increased by more than 1.6 degrees Fahrenheit (0.9 degrees Celsius)- even more in sensitive polar regions. And the impacts of rising temperatures aren't waiting for some far-flung future-the effects of global warming are appearing right now. The heat is melting glaciers and sea ice, shifting precipitation patterns, and setting animals on the move.

Many people think of global warming and climate change as synonyms, but scientists prefer to use "climate change" when describing the complex shifts now affecting our planet's weather and climate systems. Climate change encompasses not only rising average temperatures but also extreme weather events, shifting wildlife populations and habitats, rising seas, and a range of other impacts. All of these changes are emerging as humans continue to add heat-trapping greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.

Scientists already have documented these impacts of climate change:

Ice is melting worldwide, especially at the Earth's poles. This includes mountain glaciers, ice sheets covering West Antarctica and Greenland, and Arctic sea ice. In Montana's Glacier National Park the number of glaciers has declined to fewer than 30 from more than 150 in 1910.

Much of this melting ice contributes to sea-level rise. Global sea levels are rising 0.13 inches (3.2 millimeters) a year. The rise is occurring at a faster rate in recent years and is predicted to accelerate in the coming decades.

Rising temperatures are affecting wildlife and their habitats. Vanishing ice has challenged species such as the Adélie penguin in Antarctica, where some populations on the western peninsula have collapsed by 90 percent or more.

As temperatures change, many species are on the move. Some butterflies, foxes, and alpine plants have migrated farther north or to higher, cooler areas.

Precipitation (rain and snowfall) has increased across the globe, on average. Yet some regions are experiencing more severe drought, increasing the risk of wildfires, lost crops, and drinking water shortages.

Some species-including mosquitoes, ticks, jellyfish, and crop pests-are thriving. Booming populations of bark beetles that feed on spruce and pine trees, for example, have devastated millions of forested acres in the U.S.

Other effects could take place later this century, if warming continues. These include:

Sea levels are expected to rise between 10 and 32 inches (26 and 82 centimeters) or higher by the end of the century.

Hurricanes and other storms are likely to become stronger. Floods and droughts will become more common. Large parts of the U.S., for example, face a higher risk of decades-long "megadroughts" by 2100.

Less freshwater will be available, since glaciers store about three-quarters of the world's freshwater.

Some diseases will spread, such as mosquito-borne malaria (and the 2016 resurgence of the Zika virus).

Ecosystems will continue to change: Some species will move farther north or become more successful; others, such as polar bears, won't be able to adapt and could become extinct.

Read next: Is Global Warming Real?

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The planet is warming, from North Pole to South Pole, and everywhere in between.

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Extreme weather.

Ozone depletion.

Spread of infectious diseases.

Changes to food and water supplies.

health impacts -The health impacts of global climate change are divided into three specific categories:

Those caused by climate changes to ecological systems.

Direct effects.

Indirect effects.

human settlement impacts

climate security

impacts our energy recources

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The impact of climate change on the lives of humans could be disastrous if more isn't done to prevent it.

Effects of Global Warming on Humans

The fact that global warming poses a threat to the environment and wildlife has been a public concern for years. Lesser known is the degree of global warming's direct impact on humans around the world. Research has been conducted to explore the effect on biological, ecological, and geological systems, but less research has focused on how humans specifically are affected by global climate change.

Some of the many factors that directly influence human lives include:

Extreme weather.

Ozone depletion.

Spread of infectious diseases.

Changes to food and water supplies.

The humans most directly affected by these issues are those living in poverty and marginalized communities. Not only are these individuals more likely to experience the negative consequences of global warming, but are also less likely to have the financial resources to deal with these issues.

As a result of these changes, the World Health Organization estimates that at least 160,000 lives have been lost since 1950. Other experts, like the Global Humanitarian Forum, believe that number is much higher and estimate that over 300,000 deaths occur annually as a result of global warming. Additionally, this organization suggests that the global economy loses around $125 billion. This article takes a closer look at the global warming threats facing humans around the world.

Health Impacts

The health impacts of global climate change are divided into three specific categories:

Those caused by climate changes to ecological systems.

Direct effects.

Indirect effects.

The health issues that result from ecological systems changes are often secondary effects of events like changes in agricultural production, coastal ecosystem production, and mosquito population size. The global warming events that directly influence human health include: droughts, air pollution, natural disasters, and heat waves. Indirectly, human health is affected by conflicts over natural resources (particularly fresh water), forced resettlement, mental issues after disaster survival, and increasing levels of poverty.

As the climate becomes warmer, dengue- and malaria-carrying mosquitos are able to rapidly multiply and infect thousands of unsuspecting victims. Additionally, food is at risk of contamination in warmer climates, resulting in increased diarrheal disease which often kills children, particularly those under 5 years of age. Crop production is also reduced, leading to increased malnutrition and even starvation in extreme cases. Additionally, increased temperatures often result in increased pollutants in the air, which has been linked to asthma and other respiratory problems. Global warming also allows for faster and wider spread of infectious diseases.

Human Settlement Impacts

Community location is also at risk as a result of global warming. This is particularly true of coastal regions, which are threatened by continuously rising sea levels. Rising sea levels are particularly detrimental on small islands as people living in these areas have no alternatives for resettlement.

Within coastal communities, the poorest individuals tend to live in the floodplains. When flooding does occur due to increasing natural disasters like hurricanes and tsunamis, the poorest individuals most often lose their homes. Unfortunately these people are less likely to have home insurance, savings accounts, or access to credit in order to overcome the disasters. Estimates suggest that millions of people will suffer sea level rise flooding by 2080. This will disproportionately affect large urban areas. Currently, approximately 66% of cities with over 5 million inhabitants can be found in low-lying coastal regions.

Climate Security

Climate security is a term used to describe threats and insecurity to a country due to the effects of climate change. These changes often make an already difficult situation worse, which can lead to violence and instability in international relations. As global warming continues to cause sea level rise, unpredictable weather patterns (like heavy rains), drought, desertification, and lack of access to water sources, inhabitants of the most affected regions will likely take part in environmental migrations as they search for safer homes. These large-scale migrations are expected to provoke violent conflict as groups of people begin fighting for access to scarce resources.

Researchers have already identified several instances in which global warming and climate change have resulted in conflict. For example, the Syrian Civil War began after approximately 1.5 million people sought new homes because of drought and crop and livestock failure. The Somali Civil War has also been connected to extreme heat waves and drought. The same is true of the War in Darfur and the Islamist Insurgency in Nigeria. Researchers have calculated that for every standard deviation temperature increase, there is a 4% increase in interpersonal violence and a 14% increase in intergroup violence. History shows that this pattern of climate change followed by conflict has been happening since before the preindustrial age.

Effect of Global Warming on Sources of Energy

Just as global warming and climate change can negatively influence access to food and water, it also has an impact on access to energy resources. Thermal power stations, which use fossil fuel derived heat energy to create electricity, require freshwater for cooling. As freshwater becomes more scarce due to drought, the demand becomes more pronounced. Additionally, as temperatures continue to increase, thermal power stations produce electricity less efficiently, which requires burning more fossil fuels to maintain output levels.

Oil and natural gas deposits are often found off of coastal areas. Higher occurrences of hurricanes, flooding, cyclones, and tropical storms threaten the infrastructure used to extract these resources. In the post-Hurricane Katrina Gulf of Mexico, 126 oil and gas stations were destroyed and another 183 were damaged. This disruption in extraction often results in increased prices for consumers, which again has a more detrimental impact on those individuals living in poverty.

The same natural disasters that threaten the oil and gas industry also work against nuclear energy. Because salt water causes corrosion to processing plants, freshwater must be utilized. When freshwater is unavailable, explosions, nuclear meltdowns, and leaked radioactive materials are all likely to occur. This was seen in the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan after the earthquake and tsunami of 2011. Increased temperatures have also forced other nuclear power plants to shut down over safety concerns, as in France in 2003, 2006, and 2009.

Even renewable energy sources such as hydroelectricity are not safe from the effects of global warming. Hydroelectricity relies on a large amount of freshwater to run over dams in order to move turbines and produce energy. Decreases in water availability mean decreases in energy production at these sites as well. Research conducted along the Colorado River has shown that an increase in temperature of 2° Celsius results in a 10% decline in rainfall. In Brazil, for example, hydroelectric energy production is expected to decrease by 7% by the year 2100 due to global warming.

The evidence is clear and should not be ignored. Global climate change and warming threaten the lives of plants, animals, and people. If governments and industries do not come together soon to reverse these effects, it may be too late.

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How Will Global Warming Affect Human Beings?

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Global warming will have long-term negative effects on the human race and also adversely affect all other life on earth.

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Actions that can help reduce global warming 

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Actions that can help reduce global warming 

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Change a light
Replacing one regular light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb will save 150 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.

Drive less
Walk, bike, carpool or take mass transit more often. You'll save one pound of carbon dioxide for every mile you don't drive!

Recycle more
You can save 2,400 pounds of carbon dioxide per year by recycling just half of your household waste.

Check your tires
Keeping your tires inflated properly can improve your gas mileage by more than 3 percent. Every gallon of gasoline saved keeps 20 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.

Use less hot water
It takes a lot of energy to heat water. Use less hot water by taking shorter and cooler showers and washing your clothes in cold or warm instead of hot water (more than 500 pounds of carbon dioxide saved per year).

Avoid products with a lot of packaging
You can save 1,200 pounds of carbon dioxide if you reduce your garbage by 10 percent.

Adjust your thermostat
Moving your thermostat down just 2 degrees in winter and up 2 degrees in summer could save about 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.

Plant a tree
A single tree will absorb one ton of carbon dioxide over its lifetime.

Turn off electronic devices
Simply turning off your television, DVD player, stereo, and computer, when you're not using them, will save you thousands of pounds of carbon dioxide a year

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10 Ways to Stop Global Warming

Want to help stop global warming? Here are 10 simple things you can do and how much carbon dioxide you'll save doing them.

Change a light
Replacing one regular light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb will save 150 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.

Drive less
Walk, bike, carpool or take mass transit more often. You'll save one pound of carbon dioxide for every mile you don't drive!

Recycle more
You can save 2,400 pounds of carbon dioxide per year by recycling just half of your household waste.

Check your tires
Keeping your tires inflated properly can improve your gas mileage by more than 3 percent. Every gallon of gasoline saved keeps 20 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.

Use less hot water
It takes a lot of energy to heat water. Use less hot water by taking shorter and cooler showers and washing your clothes in cold or warm instead of hot water (more than 500 pounds of carbon dioxide saved per year).

Avoid products with a lot of packaging
You can save 1,200 pounds of carbon dioxide if you reduce your garbage by 10 percent.

Adjust your thermostat
Moving your thermostat down just 2 degrees in winter and up 2 degrees in summer could save about 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.

Plant a tree
A single tree will absorb one ton of carbon dioxide over its lifetime.

Turn off electronic devices
Simply turning off your television, DVD player, stereo, and computer, when you're not using them, will save you thousands of pounds of carbon dioxide a year.

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10 Ways to Stop Global Warming: Facilities - Northwestern University

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Change a light Replacing one regular light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb will save 150 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. Drive less Walk, bike, carpool or take mass transit more often. You'll save one pound of carbon dioxide for every mile you don't drive!

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actions that can help reduce global warming

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actions that can help reduce global warming

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That means swapping fossil fuel-based power for renewables, greening public transport, cutting industrial emissions and reducing emissions from agriculture. But there are signs of progress. Cleaning our air is one of the most immediate ways to protect the planet.

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Climate and air pollution - Clean Air Fund

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Both air pollution and climate change are mainly caused by burning fossil fuels - and they share many of the same solutions.

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actions that can help reduce global warming

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actions that can help reduce global warming

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-Eat more vegetables

Eating more vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds, and less meat and dairy, can significantly lower your environmental impact. Producing plant-based foods generally results in fewer greenhouse gas emissions and requires less energy, land, and water. Switching from a mixed to a vegetarian diet can reduce your carbon footprint by up to 500 kilograms of CO2e per year (or up to 900 kilograms for a vegan diet).
-Throw away less food

When you throw food away, you're also wasting the resources and energy that were used to grow, produce, package, and transport it. And when food rots in a landfill, it produces methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. So use what you buy and compost any leftovers. Cutting your food waste can reduce your carbon footprint by up to 300 kilograms of CO2e per year.
-Make your money count

Everything we spend money on affects the planet. You have the power to choose which goods and services you support. To reduce your environmental impact, choose products from companies who use resources responsibly and are committed to cutting their gas emissions and waste. If you have money that is being invested for you, through a pension fund for instance, it may be supporting fossil fuels or deforestation. Making sure your savings are invested in environmentally sustainable businesses can greatly reduce your carbon footprint.

-Speak up and get others to join in taking action. It's one of the quickest and most effective ways to make a difference. Talk to your neighbors, colleagues, friends, and family. Let business owners know you support bold changes. Appeal to local and world leaders to act now. Climate action is a task for all of us.

Start with these ten actions! | United Nations