Is human activity warming the Earth or do recent signs of climate change signal natural variations? In this feature article, scientists discuss the vexing ambiguities of our planet's complex and unwieldy climate.
This report provides the latest information on the scientific understanding of climate change,
Great website showing graphs of global trends in carbon emissions
The article discusses seven reasons why things look daunting for the future of planet Earth. According to the author, a 2007 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) painted a bleak picture for Earth's future, adding that evidence being gathered for a IPCC report due in 2014 does not look bode any better. Topics include faster-than-predicted melting of the Arctic ice sheet, increasingly more extreme weather, faster-than-expected sea level rise, and the continuation of a rise in greenhouse gases (GHGs), such as carbon dioxide (CO2) despite emission reductions.