What Evidence Exists That Earth Is Warming And That Humans Are The Mai

Bonisiwe Shabane

-Nov 26, 2025, 1:41 PM

what evidence exists that earth is warming and that humans are the mai

We know the world is warming because people have been recording daily high and low temperatures at thousands of weather stations worldwide, over land and ocean, for many decades and, in some locations, for... When different teams of climate scientists in different agencies (e.g., NOAA and NASA) and in other countries (e.g., the U.K.’s Hadley Centre) average these data together, they all find essentially the same result: Earth’s... (bar chart) Yearly temperature compared to the twentieth-century average from 1850–2023. Red bars mean warmer-than-average years; blue bars mean colder-than-average years. (line graph) Atmospheric carbon dioxide amounts: 1850-1958 from IAC, 1959-2023 from NOAA Global Monitoring Lab. NOAA Climate.gov graph, adapted from original by Dr.

Howard Diamond (NOAA ARL). In addition to our surface station data, we have many different lines of evidence that Earth is warming (learn more). Birds are migrating earlier, and their migration patterns are changing. Lobsters and other marine species are moving north. Plants are blooming earlier in the spring. Mountain glaciers are melting worldwide, and snow cover is declining in the Northern Hemisphere (Learn more here and here).

Greenland’s ice sheet—which holds about 8 percent of Earth’s fresh water—is melting at an accelerating rate (learn more). Mean global sea level is rising (learn more). Arctic sea ice is declining rapidly in both thickness and extent (learn more). The Greenland Ice Sheet lost mass again in 2020, but not as much as it did 2019. Adapted from the 2020 Arctic Report Card, this graph tracks Greenland mass loss measured by NASA's GRACE satellite missions since 2002. The background photo shows a glacier calving front in western Greenland, captured from an airplane during a NASA Operation IceBridge field campaign.

Full story. We know this warming is largely caused by human activities because the key role that carbon dioxide plays in maintaining Earth’s natural greenhouse effect has been understood since the mid-1800s. Unless it is offset by some equally large cooling influence, more atmospheric carbon dioxide will lead to warmer surface temperatures. Since 1800, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased from about 280 parts per million to 410 ppm in 2019. We know from both its rapid increase and its isotopic “fingerprint” that the source of this new carbon dioxide is fossil fuels, and not natural sources like forest fires, volcanoes, or outgassing from the... There is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming at an unprecedented rate.

Human activity is the principal cause. Earth's climate has changed throughout history. Just in the last 800,000 years, there have been eight cycles of ice ages and warmer periods, with the end of the last ice age about 11,700 years ago marking the beginning of the... Most of these climate changes are attributed to very small variations in Earth’s orbit that change the amount of solar energy our planet receives. The current warming trend is different because it is clearly the result of human activities since the mid-1800s, and is proceeding at a rate not seen over many recent millennia.1 It is undeniable that... This extra energy has warmed the atmosphere, ocean, and land, and widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere, and biosphere have occurred.

Earth-orbiting satellites and new technologies have helped scientists see the big picture, collecting many different types of information about our planet and its climate all over the world. These data, collected over many years, reveal the signs and patterns of a changing climate. Scientists demonstrated the heat-trapping nature of carbon dioxide and other gases in the mid-19th century.2 Many of the science instruments NASA uses to study our climate focus on how these gases affect the movement... From the measured impacts of increases in these gases, there is no question that increased greenhouse gas levels warm Earth in response. This article was adapted from the NASA/JPL Global Climate Change website and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports. NASA’s Global Climate Change website provides the public with accurate and timely news and information about Earth’s changing climate along with current data and visualizations presented from the unique perspective of one of the...

The website is produced by a team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which Caltech manages for NASA. The following information is sourced from the Global Climate Change website. that 97 percent or more of climate scientists agree: human-caused climate change is real and ongoing. Multiple studies published in peer-reviewed scientific journals show that 97 percent or more of actively publishing climate scientists agree: Climate-warming trends over the past century are extremely likely due to human activities. Earth's climate has changed throughout history. In the past 650,000 years, there have been seven cycles of glacial advance and retreat, with the abrupt end of the last ice age about 11,700 years ago marking the beginning of the modern...

Most of these climate changes are attributed to very small variations in Earth's orbit that alter the amount of energy our planet receives from the sun. But the warming we've seen over the past few decades is too rapid to be linked to changes in Earth's orbit and too large to be caused by solar activity. Ice cores drawn from Greenland, Antarctica, and tropical mountain glaciers show that Earth's climate responds to changes in greenhouse gas levels. Ancient evidence can also be found in tree rings, ocean sediments, coral reefs, and layers of sedimentary rocks. This ancient, or paleoclimate, evidence reveals that current warming is occurring roughly 10 times faster than the average rate of ice-age-recovery warming. Carbon dioxide from human activity is increasing more than 250 times faster than it did from natural sources after the last ice age.

By Brett Anderson, AccuWeather senior meteorologist Published Feb 7, 2023 6:41 AM PST | Updated Feb 7, 2023 6:41 AM PST Human activity has produced excessive amounts of greenhouse gases that are trapping additional heat from the sun close to the surface. As of early 2023, the latest global concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide is now up to 420 ppm. As you can seen by the NASA chart below, the current level of atmospheric CO2 is easily the highest in at least 800,000 years. Also note the rate of increase since the middle of the 20th century is unprecedented during this period.

A Jan. 17 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) shows two distinctly different images of Earth. One, labeled "now," features blue oceans and green-toned continents. The other, labeled "4.5 billion years ago," has what appears to be ice sheet-covered continents and red and yellow oceans. "The environment of Earth has been continually changing for 4.5 BILLION YEARS!" reads some text surrounding the image. "The idea that 'Climate Change' is new or is caused by Humans is nonsense."

The post was shared more than 700 times in less than two weeks. More from the Fact-Check Team: How we pick and research claims | Email newsletter | Facebook page Earth's climate has changed throughout history for numerous reasons, but an abundance of evidence shows modern climate change is driven by human behavior. There is no evidence the post's depiction of ancient Earth is accurate. It starts with a whisper—rising seas nibbling away at coastlines, warmer winters replacing the cold snaps of old, forests catching fire in places that once stood serene and damp. Somewhere, a polar bear drifts on a dwindling ice floe.

Elsewhere, a farmer stares at the cracked, parched earth that once yielded life. And everywhere, people are asking: Is this real? Is it natural? Is it too late? Global warming. For decades, those two words have hovered in the background of public discourse, growing louder with each passing year.

Yet for every scientist shouting the alarm, there’s a social media post casting doubt. Climate change is real, they say. No, it’s a hoax. It’s human-caused. No, it’s natural. The confusion is not surprising.

When fear, politics, and profit collide, the truth often gets buried. But today, we dig it out. Not with shouting, but with clarity. Not with fear, but with facts. This is a journey through science and storytelling, separating myth from reality, to help you understand what global warming really is—and why the truth matters now more than ever. The story of global warming is ancient, stretching back far before the Industrial Revolution.

Our planet’s climate has never been static. It has swung from ice ages to tropical epochs over millions of years, driven by natural factors like volcanic activity, solar radiation, and changes in Earth’s orbit. But something different began in the late 18th century. Humanity discovered coal, then oil, then gas. We built engines, powered factories, lit up cities, and transformed the world. And in doing so, we began to alter the chemistry of our atmosphere in ways nature never had.

The most compelling evidence for global warming lies in the clear and unambiguous rise in Earth’s average temperatures. For over a century, scientists have meticulously gathered data, revealing a consistent upward trend in global temperatures. The past century alone has seen an increase of about 1.2 degrees Celsius, with the last few decades experiencing the most rapid changes. Research utilizing temperature records from land-based weather stations, ocean buoys, and satellite observations collectively paint a stark picture of our warming planet. It’s not just a minor fluctuation; the overwhelming consensus among climate scientists supports the assertion that human activities, particularly the burning of fossil fuels, are driving these changes. Another striking indicator of global warming is the accelerated melting of ice caps and glaciers around the world.

From the Arctic to the Antarctic, ice sheets are shrinking at an alarming rate, contributing to rising sea levels. For instance, satellite images from NASA illustrate dramatic declines in the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. Glaciers in mountain ranges, such as the Himalayas and the Andes, are also retreating, affecting local ecosystems and water supplies. As ice melts, it exposes darker ocean water or land, which absorbs more sunlight and heat, further exacerbating the warming effect. This feedback loop is a stark reminder of how interconnected our climate systems are and how fragile they can become under stress. The global rise in sea levels is another critical piece of evidence linked to climate change.

What Evidence Exists That Earth Is Warming And That Humans Are The Mai

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