Earth’s climate isn’t just changing – it’s going haywire. Temperatures have shot up 2°F since the 1800s, with 2024 breaking all heat records. CO2 levels are the highest they’ve been in two million years, rising 250 times faster than after the Ice Age. Oceans are absorbing 90% of excess heat while Greenland loses 279 billion tons of ice annually. The numbers are staggering, and these are just the tip of the melting iceberg.
While scientists have been sounding the alarm for decades, the evidence of climate change has become impossible to ignore. The Earth’s temperature has shot up by 2°F since the late 19th century, and 2024 just claimed the dubious honor of being the hottest year on record. That’s a whopping 2.3°F above the 20th century average.
If you thought that was bad, January 2025 said “hold my beer” and pushed temperatures to 1.75°C above pre-industrial levels. Tropical forests could provide up to one-third of mitigation needed to address climate change. Despite La Niña’s typical cooling influence, eighteen out of the last nineteen months have seen temperatures exceed 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
Here’s something mind-blowing: CO2 levels are now higher than they’ve been in two million years. Two. Million. Years. We’ve managed to increase CO2 by 50% in less than 200 years – that’s 250 times faster than what happened after the last Ice Age. Methane’s up 150% since pre-industrial times, because apparently, we’re overachievers when it comes to greenhouse gases.
Think about it: we’ve cranked up Earth’s CO2 levels faster in two centuries than nature did in two million years.
The oceans are taking one for the team, absorbing 90% of excess heat from global warming. They’re literally becoming more acidic from all the CO2 they’re soaking up. The transition to renewable energy sources could significantly reduce these harmful emissions.
Meanwhile, ice is vanishing faster than a snowman in summer. Greenland’s losing 279 billion tons of ice annually, and Antarctica’s shedding 148 billion tons. Glaciers worldwide are retreating like they’ve got somewhere better to be.
Sea levels have risen 8 inches in the last century, and they’re picking up speed. Extreme weather is having a field day – heatwaves are more frequent, tropical cyclones are intensifying faster, and wildfires are burning larger areas. It’s like Mother Nature’s responding to our carbon emissions with a greatest hits album of disasters.
The impact? A staggering 3.6 billion people live in highly vulnerable areas. Climate change is threatening food security, ecosystems are at risk of collapse, and the economic hit could reach 14% of global GDP by 2050.
That’s not just a problem for polar bears anymore – it’s affecting everything from our food supply to our health, with increasing heat-related deaths and disease spread.
