Human kind has entered a brand new relationship with the earth. The constant and increasing pressures we are exerting threaten our planets ability to sustain life itself. Change-in the way we think, and in the way we live-is needed now. Global warming is the most urgent environmental problem the world will face in the next decade and the next century. Few, if any, trends are more important to our future than climate change caused by human activities. Scientist around the world is warning us that global warming poses a major threat to our future quality of life.
             Right now, the rate of global warming may be 100 times faster than it has ever been. Very soon the earth may become hotter then at any time in human history. In the last decades the problems of atmospheric change have been gravely advanced by pollution resulting from human activities. These environmental changes pose a real threat to the lives of people and wild life. It is vital to all of us that we fully understand the complex relationship between the atmosphere and the earth.
             The earth is getting warmer. The changes are small, so far, but they are expected to grow and speed up. Within the next 50 to 100 years, the earth will continue to heat up hotter than it has been in the past million years. As oceans warm and glaciers melt, land and cities along coasts may be flooded. Heat and drought may cause forests to die and food crops to fail. Global warming will effect weather everywhere, plants and animals everywhere and people everywhere. Humans are warming the earth's atmosphere by burning fuels, cutting down forests, and by taking part in other activities that release certain heat- trapping gasses into the air. Humans all over the world need to get together and solve these problems.
             In the southern hemisphere, the warming is the greatest over Australia, southern South Africa, the southern tip of South America, and the area of Antarctica near Australia.
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