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Article: Global warming. (Legislative Update).
- Article from:
- Endangered Species Update
- Article date:
- March 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Global warming and its effects on endangered species
Greenhouse gases (GHGs), such as carbon dioxide and nitrous oxides, occur naturally in our atmosphere to trap some of the sun's heat and warm our earth, keeping it at the hospitable average 60[degrees]F we are accustomed to. Without these gases, life as we know it could not exist; the temperatures would be far below freezing. However, the other extreme can happen as well. If there are too many GHGs in the atmosphere, the earth gets hotter, adversely affecting many species (EPA 2001).
Since the turn of the century, global mean temperatures have risen about 1 [degrees] F. Since the beginning of the ...