The major effect which could be felt by all of us is due to global warming is the un-bearable heat.

The earth has heated up extremely to a high temperature that in future no life can survive. It has changed the life style of the people considerably. We can visibly see a lot of polluted air in our own Chennai city sometimes making breathless! We also need to know few serious effects of global warming.

*Human activities have led to large increases in heat-trapping gases over the past century. The global warming of the past 50 years is due primarily to this human-induced increase. Global average temperature and sea level have increased, and precipitation patterns have changed.

*Many types of extreme weather events, such as heat waves and regional droughts, have become more frequent and intense during the past 40 to 50 years. The destructive energy of Atlantic hurricanes has increased... In the eastern Pacific, the strongest hurricanes have become stronger since the 1980s, even while the total number of storms has decreased.

*Sea level has risen along most of the U.S. coast over the last 50 years, and will rise more in the future. Arctic sea ice is declining rapidly and this is very likely to continue. Global temperatures are projected to continue to rise over this century.

*As global warming marches on and its effects unfold, the shrinkage of the Arctic ice cover that has been observed by the beginning of the 21st century may possibly be called a “poster case” for global warming.

*In the past few decades the Arctic average temperature increased at twice the rate as the rest of the world.

*Declining snow cover; widespread melting of glaciers and sea ice.

*Removal of the highly reflective Arctic ice cover reduces the albedo of the Earth – the ability of the planet to reflect a certain quantity of solar energy back to space. This leads to the Earth absorbing more sunlight and further contributes to climate warming.

*Reduction in sea ice will have a devastating effect on polar bears, ice-dependent seals and local people who use these animals as a food source

*Global warming is expected to increase forest fires and destruction of trees by insects. This will lead to the loss of valuable biodiversity-rich old-growth forests.

*Many coastal communities face exposure to storms because rising sea level and a

reduction in sea ice will allow high waves and storm surges to reach the shore; these storms in their turn will lead to coastal erosion.