The Earth has reached its warmest in the last 120,000 years. In fact, the last eighteen years can be considered the warmest the Earth has been. The increase in production of a potent greenhouse gas like the carbon dioxide concentration has been at its highest in the last fifteen million years.
The consequences that may come with such an increase in carbon dioxide emissions may not be noticeable, but it is definitely something that's easy to feel. In truth, most people think that they are not affected by this climate change because it does not hit them directly. The disappearances of ice in the Arctic region or the flood-ravaged cities in third-world countries may not have its direct effect on people in the US, but it definitely does not come with aftershocks that could shake the world and its economy.
But how does climate change affect the rest of the world? Here's a sneak peek of three of the most dangerous ways climate change has affected the earth:
US Carbon Emission increased by more than 3%.
The Rhodium Group analyzed the trends in the global economy and the Environment released a report in early 2019 that the carbon dioxide emission in the US has increased by as much as 3.4% compared to the year before. It is recorded to be the second largest increase in the last twenty years.
"It's trending but it is going up in the wrong direction -- it's not helping the world," Robert McGrath said. He works as the director of the Research on Renewable and Sustainable Energy from the University of Colorado.
Antarctica's ice giants are melting.
Antarctica -- the home to the Earth's greatest Ice Sheets -- are now losing the ice. The great mass of ice that was once known as immune to the heat and melting are losing its chances of ever surviving in the long run.
"People are beginning to see the effects of how the melting of ice in the east Antarctic," said Josh Willis, an oceanographer from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Their team visits the glaciers and witness the melting happen.
Extreme weather is making climate change real for people.
The results of the studies on climate change have become increasingly convincing for more Americans. The exceptionally warm temperatures causing the drought and the storm is convincing them that the problem is for real.
The University of Chicago recently conducted a survey in November 2018 that nearly half of the American population is looking at understanding what it means when researchers say that the Earth is suffering from climate change. "It has become more convincing today than it was five years," according to the Associated Press -- NORC Center for Public Affairs.
With all the extreme conditions that the Earth is suffering from, how can one tell they're an unhealthy lifestyle or the gas emissions of their car isn't contributing to the earth's, slow painful death?
