Global warming is occurring at an alarming rate. The average global temperature has increased at the fastest rate in recorded history over the past 50 years. Since 2000, 15 of the hottest years in NASA’s 134-year record have transpired. Scientists say that we are on our way to increasing average temperatures by 10 degrees Fahrenheit in the next century.

So what’s causing this? Carbon dioxide and other pollutants are collecting in the atmosphere, prohibiting sunlight and solar radiation from escaping. The pollutants trap the heat in and cause the Earth to gradually become hotter. This is called the greenhouse effect. Coal-burning power plants are the biggest polluters. The second largest source of carbon pollution is transportation, which generates about 1.7 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year. These polluters aren’t natural – they are man-made.

It is obvious that humans are responsible for this. We directly cause the two top reasons for an extreme increase in carbon dioxide. According to the Nation Climate Assessment, human influences are the number one reason of global warming.

Although global warming is a part of Earth’s natural cycle, humans are only increasing the speed of the pattern. No other species has ever used the amount of resources that humans do and no other species has caused the amount of destruction that we have. The issue of global warming has become a popular topic which has caused many organizations to form who claim to want to make Earth a better place. But, no matter what we do now, we can’t erase the mistakes of the past.

The slightly higher temperatures may not seem too drastic now, but they are causing storms to worsen, heat waves to become more intense, floods to cause more destruction, and droughts to last longer and become more severe. A warmer climate creates an atmosphere that can collect, retain, and drop more water, changing weather patterns in such a way that can make dry areas drier, and wet areas wetter. Right now this is one of the world’s most serious concerns, but it is only a hole that humans have dug for themselves.