“The year is 2058.  No one listened before.  Earth has finally died at our hands.”

This sounds like a good old clichéd start to a story, until you realize that this could become your reality.  Global warming is very real and has become an imminent threat.  As put by Al Gore, “the reality we now face implores us to act”.  But action can only come after acknowledgement of the problem, and people still have not acknowledged global warming as reality.  Much evidence has been provided to prove the existence of global warming including increased sea levels and the shrinking of the ice sheets- Antarctica lost 152 cubic kilometers of ice between 2002 and 2005 alone.  While a majority of people do acknowledge global warming, it is necessary for everyone to play their part in conquering it.

The argument against global warming is that the Earth has gone through periods of climate change throughout its history.  There have been eras of heating and eras of cooling- the last ice age ended only 11, 500 years ago.  However, the problem with this argument is that the rate at which climate change is occurring today does not coincide with the rate at which it occurred throughout the periods of climate change in history.  Also, unlike the other periods of climate change, current global warming is contributed to and largely induced by human activities, not natural causes.

Carbon dioxide is arguably the greatest contributor to global warming.  It is a gas that circulates around the Earth and is a part of natural planetary cycles.  Thus, the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide fluctuates from time to time.  However, today’s atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have skyrocketed past a line that hasn’t been crossed for centuries.  What is the cause of this sudden increase in the gas?  Human activities.  This proves that climate has been set into motion by humans and not natural causes, thus proving the existence of global warming.

Further evidence of global warming has been recorded.  According to NASA, the average surface temperature of the Earth has risen 1.1 degrees Celsius since the late 19th century.  As the name implies, global warming is the heating of the Earth at a rapid rate; thus, the increase in average surface temperature over a short period of time proves the reality of global warming.  This may not seem significant because 1.1 is such a small number.  However, considering that the Ice Age was only 4 degrees colder than today’s climate, this change in temperature becomes a lot more significant.

The reality of all evidence found regarding climate change is that global warming is real.  The rate of climate change, skyrocketing carbon dioxide levels, and increased surface temperature are all irrefutable evidence of global warming.  To prevent irreversible disasters that global warming will ensue, action needs to be taken today to reverse global warming.  But in order for this to happen, first, we all need to acknowledge the reality of global warming.