Monday, August 4, 2008

Is Planet Earth Under Threat?

Global warming has been described as the greatest threat facing humanity. For one thing, the physical processes that underlie the global climate systems are complex and not fully understood. In addition, interest groups tend to put their own spin on the scientific data, such as that used to show why temperatures are rising.
Many believe that human activities are the major cause of global warming, which may have catastrophic consequences for the climate and the environment. For example, large scale melting of land-based ice and the expansion of the oceans as water warms could cause sea levels to rise drastically. Low lying lands island could disappear if this thing happens.
At the same time, rising temperatures could intensify storms, floods, and droughts. It could also risk the thousands of species of animals, including polar bears, whose hunting grounds are largely on the ice.
Rising temperature may also foster the spread of disease like fungi and etc. The danger posed by climate change is really quite alarming and maybe over the next decade’s climate change could cause irremediable harm to the habitats upon which human societies depend for survival.
What are we to make of these predictions? Is life on earth really at a crossroads? Skeptics of global warming say that such dire predictions are groundless. Others are not sure. So, what is the truth? Is earth’s future and ours in peril?