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Welcome!
Your search for information "Would a temperature
rise of a few degrees really change the global
climate?" is successful!
 Even
a modest rise of 2°- 3°F
(1.1°-1.7°C) will have dramatic effects
on the earth and our life.
In the last 10,000
years the earth's average temperature has not
varied by more than 1.8°F
(1.0°C).
Temperatures only
5° - 9°F cooler than those today
prevailed at the end of the last Ice Age, in which
the northeast United States was covered by more
than 3,000 feet of ice.
Scientists predict that
continued global warming in the range of
2.5°-10.4°F over the next 100 years, as
projected in the IPCC's Third Assessment Report, is
likely to result in:
* a rise in sea level
of between 3.5 and 34.6 in. (9-88 cm) leading to
more coastal erosion, flooding during storms, and
permanent inundation
* severe stress on
forests, wetlands, alpine regions and other natural
ecosystems
* greater threats to
human health as mosquitoes and other disease
carrying insects and rodents spread diseases over
larger geographical regions
* disruption of
agriculture in some parts of the world due to
increased temperature, lack of fresh/rain water and
a sea-level increase in low-lying
areas.
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