Our climate is absorbing a lot of heat. When scientists add up all of the heat warming the oceans, land, and atmosphere and melting the ice, they find our climate is accumulating 4 Hiroshima atomic bombs worth of heat every second. This warming is due to more heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

The burning of fossil fuels means we are emitting billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide every year. This is the main contributor to global warming. Several Skeptical Science contributors worked together to publish a scientific paper which combined the land, air, ice, and ocean warming data.

It found that for recent decades the earth has been heating at a rate of 250 trillion Joules per second. Most of it (about 90%) has gone into heating the oceans. Without greenhouse gases, the temperature at the surface of the earth would be a mere -15°C (5°F).

Life on earth is made possible by greenhouse gases. Climate changes are visible all around us. Spring comes earlier.

Tree lines and species are migrating poleward and upward. Glaciers and Arctic ice are retreating at an alarming rate. Sea levels are rising.