The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) points out in its 5thevaluation report that systematic global warming is beyond doubt. There have been a lot of unprecedented changes since 1950. From 1880 to 2012, the temperature of sea and land surface has increased by 0.85 degrees centigrade. Compared to the period from 1850 to 1900, annual average temperature from 2003 to 2012 has increased by 0.78 degrees centigrade. Scientists believe that the past 30 years might be the hottest 30 years in the past 800 to 1400 years.
From 1901 to 2010, the average sea level has increased by 19cm. In the past 10 years, glaciers have been melting much faster than in the 1990s. Since 1950, the sea level has been increasing much faster than in the past 2000 years.
Fewer glaciers and higher sea level may all seems irrelevant to people’s daily life, but in fact, they bring about huge damage to human society. Statistics show that since 1950, there has been more and more extreme weather, including, pouring rain, heat waves, floods, and drought. These have caused great damage to humanity.
