The State of the Earth

Here’s the truth: Life on earth is changing before our very eyes and we need to do something about it.

Some Alarming Facts and Statistics You Should Know….

• Humans have caused all or most of the current planetary warming. This statement comes from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, based on the work of some 2,500 scientists in more than 130 countries, and overseen by the UN and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

• Global warming threatens to extinguish hundreds of millions of human lives and nearly a third of the planet's wildlife.

• Between 1970 and 2004, global greenhouse gas emissions have increased by 70%.

• With the destruction of the tropical rainforests, over half the plant and animal species on earth, as well as numerous indigenous cultures will disappear forever. Many scientists predicts that by 2060 there will be no rainforests remaining—almost half are now gone.

• The rate of wildlife extinction now is 1,000 times higher than the normal rate of the past.

• Glaciers in Greenland are melting twice as fast as they were five years ago.

• Though Americans make up just 4 percent of the world's population, we produce 25 percent of the carbon dioxide pollution from fossil-fuel burning.

• At least 36 states in the US will face water shortages within the next five years

• Greenhouse gasses are probably the main cause of ocean temperature increases in hurricane formation areas.
  

• There's been a 100% increase in the intensity and duration of hurricanes and tropical storms since the 1970s, most likely due to the increased amount of CO2 emissions to our atmosphere.
• Just in 2005, 1836 people lost their lives from Hurricane Katrina (705 people are still considered ‘missing’) and it cost the US over $89.6 in damage, the costliest storm in US history
  

• The rate of ice melting doubled in less than a decade (between 1996 and 2005).

• Montana’s Glacier National Park will have no glaciers left by the year 2030— it now has only 27 glaciers, versus 150 in 1910.

• Glaciers in the Alps will melt away by 2050. And 2050 is a conservative estimate—if they keep melting at the current rate, most glaciers could vanish by 2037.

Do you see why we need to do something now? But there is hope.....we can begin to reverse the destruction we have caused the earth by altering our actions.

The window is closing and the next 10 years may be the most important.