The Earth, the botanical big blue ever changing marble, is changing in a potentially irreversible way. Global warming is plaguing our world with temperature fluctuations that create chain events, but before we can understand what these events are, we need to understand the cause itself. Global warming can be referred to as any warming of near-surface air during the past two centuries which can be traced to anthropogenic causes. Trace gases (greenhouse gases) according to Merriam Webster are gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide that absorb earth’s infrared radiation and traps heat in the earth’s atmosphere, because of this amounts of the gas does not reach space, instead it is emitted equally in all directions, this is the greenhouse effect. It is because of human activity that the earth's climate has changed. Humans released these gases into the atmosphere in large amounts through factories, automobiles, and virtually anything with an engine. Global warming has set earth on a crash course, its effects are predictable but hard to counter. Being such a controversial topic global warming has been effecting and impacting every part of the world such as developed countries like the United States, China and India since the late 1900's. It is becoming the world’s most pressing issue effecting the water cycle, climate, and land. Possible solutions are available, it’s an easy problem on paper however it is a difficult one to act out.

Global warming affects several parts of earth one specific part is the water. The effects of global warming can be catastrophic. A change in our water cycle, melting ice caps, creating a rise in sea level, changing storm tracks, and submerging coastal regions causing coastal cities to be destroyed, would all be devastating to the world. If the sea level were to rise just one metre, it would inundate the coast of Bangladesh. It affects the water cycle by melting ice caps and snow in Greenland and Antarctica. According to Britannica Encyclopedia, this will lead to a rise in sea level near 0.7 meters in the next century. If the western glaciers in the Antarctic were to melt sea levels would rise 5-6 metres over a few centuries. Complete melting of Arctic sea ice is also possible, this will lead to a northward shift of storm tracks and reduced precipitation in the northern hemisphere causing droughts throughout the area. The reduction of ice on earth would lead to increased evaporation of water, and cause increased cloudiness. The clouds would reflect solar radiation that the earth emits and send it back down warming the globe. A meter rise in sea level will submerge coastal regions, beaches, and islands, destroying homes and towns along the coasts. Agricultural land will also be displaced. If all glacial ice were to melt, sea levels would rise approximately 56 metres. It is not likely to happen but even a small sea level rise would be devastating. Consequences would have a great impact on human populations. Farmlands, and wetlands would be destroyed or modified if the water cycle were to change. Costs would be in the billions.

Global warming is a cause of many effects on temperature and climate. It causes drought and temperature increase. According to ABC-CLIO, in June 2006 45% of contiguous United States was in moderate to extreme drought. In one month, that number rose to 51%. Stated by The Guardian, this affects the lives of millions in every corner of the globe. Developing areas such as India experienced strong cyclones and heavy rain. Areas around the East China Sea will experience extreme rainfall and monsoons due to warming oceans caused by temperature change. Wildfires come from droughts in the western United States, which makes it easier for forest fires to start. According to ABC-CLIO, some climate models predict an increasing areas of drought by almost 200% during the 21 century. Warmer temperatures and changing atmospheric circulation patterns provoking drought in the western United States have dramatically increased both the number of large forest wildfires and the length of the season during which they occur during the past 35 years. Forests will suffer mass fires and be costly in fire fighting, loss of lives, and property. An increase in summer and spring temperatures by 0.9 degrees celsius which increased rates at which snow in the mountains melted by one to four weeks. This also contributes to the increased number of forest fires and increasing how long they last. The longer these forest fires last the more carbon dioxide they release into the atmosphere increasing the speed of global warming and its effects.

Many governments around the world are trying to cut greenhouse gases and reduce the effects of global warming. Stephen Pacala and Robert Socolow are researchers at Princeton University have suggested "Stabilization Wedges" or reducing GHG (greenhouse gases) emissions from many sources with the technology available in the next decade. According to National Geographic, they could possibly hold emissions for 50 years at its current level, and stabilize emissions at around 500 Parts per million (How many particles of GHGs there are out of a million normal particles) Effects that global warming causes and shows that it has, and will continue to get worse as time goes on unless something is done about it. The effects are easy to predict as there are patterns that show exactly what is happening. Scientists have predicted that even if humans stopped emitting greenhouse gases the earth would still warm by itself by as little as 2.5 degrees fahrenheit or as much as 10 degrees fahrenheit. The common goal is to reduce greenhouse gases to 450-550 ppm. This would mean more solar and wind power, renewable resources, biofuels, natural gas, and nuclear power in use. Planet earth continues to lose some 25 million acres to deforestation each year—a very large amount of forest land, the loss of which results in a major contribution to global warming due to carbon emissions, not to mention the loss of biodiversity. It’s a vicious cycle, global warming causes forest fires -> forest fires release more carbon into the atmosphere to speed up global warming -> process repeats. Solutions to this would include decreasing deforestation in tropical areas such as the Amazon, However according to UCSUSA beyond this point it is out of human control, the preceding issues that lead to this point must be solved in order to stop carbon emissions.

Global Warming is tricky, it causes devastating effects on the climate and water cycle at a very slow pace, it is sped up by human activity and will continue to progress unless something is done about it. Especially in developing countries such as China where there is a lot of industry and greenhouse gases being produced. Forests will become carbon dioxide generators due to wildfires caused by droughts. Increased temperatures during the summer and spring will cause snow to melt several weeks early. All of these points add the why global warming is one of the, if not the most pressing matter to not just one nation but the entire world. The effects impact all parts of the world especially the effects on developed countries such as the United States, and the developing countries such as China and India since the late 1900's. It is becoming the world’s most pressing issue with various solutions available. Global Warming causes temperature change, drought, increase in sea level which submerges coastal regions. It also has many solutions, the cutting of greenhouse gases which is a major contributing factor in the process of speeding up global warming. Global warming is ugly. It will destroy the atmosphere and the earth, fortunately there are measures we can take to delay and possibly reverse the effects of global warming. It requires global collaboration, and participation. Industrial nations are pumping millions of tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, efforts to reduce the amount of gas produced will reduce the effects of global warming. Still far from reversing it, but its a step in the right direction.