Climate Change Facts According to the EPA’s Endangerment Finding
Human Activity Has Increased Greenhouse Gases in the Atmosphere
• Heat-trapping greenhouse gases are now at record-high levels in the atmosphere compared to the recent and distant past.
• These high atmospheric levels are the clear result of human activity.
• Average global carbon dioxide concentrations have increased about 38 percent from pre-industrial levels to 2009, and almost all of this is due to human emissions.
• Atmospheric concentrations of the two most important, directly emitted, long-lived greenhouse gases—carbon dioxide and methane—are well above the natural range over at least the last 650,000 years.
• Projected atmospheric concentrations of the six greenhouse gases show an increase under all scenarios by 2030 compared to 2000.
The Climate is Warming
• Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as evidenced by increases in:
o Global average air and ocean temperatures
o Widespread melting of snow and ice
o Rising global average sea level
• Global surface temperatures have risen by 1.3 degrees Fahrenheit over the last 100 years.
• Eight of the 10 warmest years on record have occurred since 2001.
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