Humans and wild animals face new challenges for survival because of climate change. More frequent and intense drought, storms, heat waves, rising sea levels, melting glaciers and warming oceans can directly harm animals, destroy the places they live, and wreak havoc on people’s livelihoods and communities.

The main causes of climate change are:

• Humanity’s increased use of fossil fuels – such as coal, oil and gas to generate electricity, run cars and other forms of transport, and power manufacturing and industry.
• Deforestation – because living trees absorb and store carbon dioxide.

5 Causes of Global Warming

• Greenhouse Gases Are the Main Reasons for Global Warming.
• Cause #1: Variations in the Sun’s Intensity.
• Cause #2: Industrial Activity.
• Cause #3: Agricultural Activity.
• Cause #4: Deforestation.
• Cause #5: Earth’s Own Feedback Loop.

All populations will be affected by climate change, but some are more vulnerable than others. People living in small island developing states and other coastal regions, megacities, and mountainous and polar regions are particularly vulnerable.

The primary cause of climate change is the burning of fossil fuels, such as oil and coal, which emits greenhouse gases into the atmosphere—primarily carbon dioxide. Other human activities, such as agriculture and deforestation, also contribute to the proliferation of greenhouse gases that cause climate change.

It has recently been rising at a higher rate partly due to the increased melting of the ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica. A small drop in global mean sea level in the summer of 2020 was likely associated with developing La Niña conditions. Overall, global mean sea level continued to increase in 2020.

Earth’s climate has changed throughout history. There is no question that increased levels of greenhouse gases must cause Earth to warm in response. Ice cores drawn from Greenland, Antarctica, and tropical mountain glaciers show that Earth’s climate responds to changes in greenhouse gas levels.

Global temperature rise The planet was warmer by 1.2 degrees Celsius from January to October in 2020 than the pre-industrial average measured between 1850 and 1900, according to the Nature report. This is the second-warmest recorded when compared to similar periods in historical data.

Globally, 2020 was the hottest year on record, effectively tying 2016, the previous record. Overall, Earth’s average temperature has risen more than 2 degrees Fahrenheit since the 1880s. Temperatures are increasing due to human activities, specifically emissions of greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide and methane.

2020 edged out 2016 by a very small amount, within the margin of error of the analysis, making the years effectively tied for the warmest year on record. “The last seven years have been the warmest seven years on record, typifying the ongoing and dramatic warming trend,” said GISS Director Gavin Schmidt.

“This and the different albedo of glacial ice compared to ice-free earth lead to considerable changes in the surface temperature and the air circulation in the atmosphere.” Moreover, large-scale glaciation also alters the sea level and therefore the ocean currents, which also affects the climate.

Researchers used data on Earth’s orbit to find the historical warm interglacial period that looks most like the current one and from this have predicted that the next ice age would usually begin within 1,500 years.

But there were also unusual mammals, most of them very large, that are now extinct.

• LARGE: Horses. Ground Sloths. Bison. Mammoth. Mastodon. Camels. Musk Ox. Saber-tooth cats. Short-faced bear. Moose.
• MEDIUM: Pronghorn. Deer. Dire wolves. Peccary. Foxes. Tapirs.
• SMALL: Voles. Ground squirrels. Deer mice. Gophers. Pack rats. Badgers. Moles.