Is Global Warming Real?

Retreating glaciers, rising sea levels, extinction of species, extreme weather conditions ... evidence of global warming exists in plenty. However, not all the people out there are convinced that these trends are any indicators of this environmental issue.

Amidst all this confusion, the layman is left wondering whether the phenomenon is really happening, or is it just another hoax triggered for the personal gains of a few people sitting at the crux.

When researchers talk about rising temperature, they talk about average global temperature, not of a region or country. Temperatures have warmed roughly 1.33°F (0.74ºC) over the last century, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In some regions, the temperature rise is less than the global average, while in some, it is even more.

The fact that 8 years (2001 - 2008) of the 21st century feature in the list of 20 warmest years since 1901, is a clear indicator that the Earth is getting warmer. These studies about the rising temperature trends are not just restricted to written records.

Some scientific methods, like measuring temperature of air bubbles caught in polar ice sheets and studying the rings of trees living for thousand years, also help to study climate change. As far as future predictions are concerned, scientists are left with no option but to depend on the probability and computerized models, which skeptics disapprove.

Scientists highlight the minor alterations the planet has witnessed over the last decade or two, which will worsen with time. These include extreme temperatures (scorching summers, chilled winters), unnatural precipitation pattern causing floods and droughts, melting glaciers and polar ice caps, rising sea levels that may submerge low-lying areas, etc.

All these examples have failed to impress the skeptics, who believe that the data used to predict the warming trend is insufficient and hence, untrustworthy.

They further add that the scientists who are raising alarm are interpreting the data incorrectly and coming up with false conclusions. In their arguments against this phenomenon, they state that the changes observed over the last few years are part of natural climate shift, and all the lifeforms on the planet will adapt to these changes with time.

Although ignorance about global warming has made this concept even more difficult to resolve, it would be foolish to throw caution to the winds and continue fueling the disaster. It's needless to come up with foolish arguments like 'our generation will not face these problems'.

It's the time to open our eyes and do a reality check so as to figure out whether we are really heading for disaster. If yes, which seems to be the case, we need to come up with some concrete solutions and implement them at the earliest.

One ought to understand that the effects of global warming on the Earth are not going to crop up overnight; they will start surfacing gradually over the years and various lifeforms will find it difficult to adjust to the changing environment.

Some of these effects have already started to surface, but we have been deliberately turning a blind eye to them. If we continue to do so, very soon we will realize that the time to 'act' is long gone.