Environmental Movement

         The environment has already been affected by global climate change. Glaciers have receded, ice on rivers and lakes have split up earlier, plant and animal ranges have altered, and trees have begun to bloom earlier. Sea ice melting, rapid sea level rise, and longer, more intense heat waves are all effects that experts anticipated would occur as a result of global climate change. The global climate is expected to change further over the next century and beyond. The enormity of global warming beyond the next several decades is primarily determined by the amount of heat-trapping pollutants produced worldwide, as well as the sensitivity of the Earth's climate to those emissions.

         Summer temperatures are expected to continue to rise, and much of the western and central United States will experience a decline in soil moisture, which will intensify heat waves. What were once-in-a-decade intense heat days are expected to occur every two or three years across much of the country by the end of this century. Droughts in the west and heat waves are expected to worsen, while cold waves are expected to become less severe.

         Since the early 1980s, the intensity, frequency, and length of storms in the North Atlantic, as well as the frequency of the strongest hurricanes, have all increased. Human and natural sources' proportional contributions to these increases are still unknown. As the climate continues to warm, hurricane-related storm strength and rainfall rates are expected to rise.

         Since reliable record keeping began in 1880, the global sea level has risen by around 8 inches. By 2100, it is expected to rise another 1 to 8 feet. This is due to the addition of water from melting land ice and the expansion of warm seawater.