How the climate has changed since the first day of Earth

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The Earth Day movement helped raise awareness of human-induced climate change leading to a series of regulatory measures. Unfortunately five and a half decades later the Earth continues to warm at an alarming rate, and the impacts of warming are increasing with each passing decade.

Climatologists around the world have long recognized that rising levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases trapped in the atmosphere are directly contributing to global warming. There is a strong and well-established link between rising global temperatures and extreme heat events due to human-induced climate change.

Since the first Earth Day in 1970, the annual average concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased by more than 30 percent. According to NOAA, it is currently increasing at the fastest rate in history.

All fifty states in the US have experienced warming, with Alaska, Delaware, Massachusetts and New Jersey warming the fastest by far. The Arctic is warming much faster than the global average. The fastest-warming cities are Reno and Las Vegas in Nevada, El Paso and Tyler in Texas, and Burlington in Vermont.

Rising global temperatures are also causing sea levels to rise which has been accelerating dramatically in recent years as glaciers and ice sheets melt. Since 1970, sea levels in the United States have risen an average of 15 centimeters. Some coasts, states, and cities have seen even greater increases. Sea level rise varies regionally due to shifts in land elevation and ocean height. The Northeast Coast of the United States has seen an average rise of 22.8 centimeters since 1970, and Florida has seen an average rise of 17.8 centimeters.

Source:ABC7