Climate change: A call to action for the United Nations.

Abstract

In recent decades, increased burning of fossil fuels for electricity, heating and transportation have led to increases in greenhouse gases (e.g., carbon dioxide (CO2 ), methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases) while deforestation and decreased biodiversity has reduced the Earth's ability to remove CO2 , the major greenhouse gas emission. Greenhouse gases trap the sun's energy leading to fundamental shifts in the physical and chemical nature of our planet. They also increase global temperatures both on land and in the oceans and increase acidification of the ocean. More than 90 percent of the warming that happened on Earth between 1971-2010 occurred in the oceans. In the 141 years that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has tracked global heat, the 10 warmest years on record have occurred since 2005.1.