According to www.ecobridge.com, North America's largest glacier has lost seven miles of its length. They predict that if global warming continues all the glaciers in Glacier National Park will be gone in 2030. The NRDC predicts that sea level will rise between 19 and 37 inches by 2100 in addition to the four to eight inches it has risen in the last century (nrdc). Along with glaciers melting and sea levels rising, some species won't be able to adapt to the change in global temperature. NRDC predicts that ecosystems could disappear either due to the temperatures or the rise in sea level. Also, penguin populations have shrunk by 33 percent in the past 25 years due to "declines in winter sea-ice habitat"(nrdc). These facts show how global warming is harming our planet. .
The greenhouse gas emissions rate for the United States in the year 2000 was 14.2 percent above 1990 emissions. The increase in emissions from 1999 to 2000 was 2.5 percent, whereas the average for that year was 1.3 percent (www.yosemite.epa.gov). The rates have been increasing every year. If the U.S. emissions rate doesn't decrease, global warming will only get worse. Not only will it hurt our planet, it will also hurt the humans on the planet. Air pollution, emissions, causes disintegration of the earth's atmosphere. The ozonosphere is a region in the upper atmosphere between 10 and 20 miles altitude. It contains a relatively high concentration of ozone that absorbs solar ultraviolet radiation (Webster's dictionary) In essence; the ozone layer is a screen, or filter, that protects the earth from this radiation. Air pollution has a negative effect on this filter. The poisonous gases released in the emission of burning fossil fuels, cars, and factories "eat" away at this filter. In laymen's terms, the more holes you have in your screen, the more mosquitoes will get in your house; the more holes in the ozone layer, the more ultra violent rays will get into the earth's atmosphere.
