Beat the Heat!

Another environmental event has geared up this June. The Environment Month celebration kicked off on June 5. This year's theme is focused on the mounting environmental challenge of the changing climate and global warming.

From the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2001, this map illustrates the consequences of global warming.

FINGERPRINTS: Direct manifestations of a widespread and long-term trend toward warmer global temperatures

• Heat waves and periods of unusually warm weather
• Ocean warming, sea-level rise and coastal flooding
• Glaciers melting
• Arctic and Antarctic warming

HARBINGERS: Events that foreshadow the types of impacts likely to become more frequent and widespread with continued warming.

• Spreading disease
• Earlier spring arrival
• Plant and animal range shifts and population changes
• Coral reef bleaching
• Downpours, heavy snowfalls, and flooding
• Droughts and fires