Global Impacts

Global warming is accelerating with more frequent extreme weather events around the globe.

The Arctic summer sea ice will likely melt entirely by 2014. It will be gone – just like that – and decades earlier than predicted. Extreme weather events are increasing, making the daily news. Cyclones and flooding from storm surges are more regular, destroying coastal communities around the world.

In Antarctica, an ice bridge suddenly collapses. Scientists claim the surprising event as evidence of rapid warming.

And that's just today. If the world warms beyond 2 degrees Celsius, the costs to humanity will be so extreme that we may see the end of industrial civilisation. If we don’t stop our damaging ways, warming beyond 2 degrees is inevitable. The need for action is extremely urgent.

To control climate change, we must change. Watch the Final Warning video (2:04 mins)

Read the Final Warning report [PDF 2mb].

In 2007, a Greenpeace team documented glacial retreat on the world's highest peak, Mount Everest (Qomolangma) – stark evidence of climate change. They gathered visual evidence of the retreat of the Rongbuk Glacier, Everest’s main glacier, 5800 metres above sea level.

Watch the slideshow, Melting Himalayan Glaciers:

 

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Our climate is on thin ice and, in Antarctica, the impacts are hitting hard.

Our climate is on thin ice and, in Antarctica, the impacts are hitting hard. Scientists are shocked at the speed of ice sheet collapse in the world's most pristine environment.
© Greenpeace/Beltra


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