Ann, that's a great graph you've posted showing the population increase. Can you find one showing the global temperature patterns over the same time span to compare global temperature to population?
Well, I found some Wikipedia graphs.
Here is one showing average annual global temperature from 1880 to, I think, 2007. The last few years have been slightly colder than the years around the turn of the millennium, but if you are to believe this graph, temperatures are still very high. Note, too, that this period, 1880-2000, is the time when the human population really exploded.
Here is another graph showing what parts of the world are hardest hit by global warming. You can see that parts of Antarctica are heating up very badly. No wonder ice shelves are disappearing. Scandinavia is getting a lot warmer too, but because of our cool climate most people here are not complaining. But many of our trees, used to colder temperatures, are dying.
Here is a graph showing the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere between 1960 and, I think, 2008.
This graph shows the solar activity between 1975 and 2005. You can see that the Sun is getting less active.
This graph shows the reconstructed temperature on the Earth between the years 0 and 2000 AD. As you can see, it was generally warm during the Middle Ages and cold during the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.
What about the climate on the Earth during the next one hundred years?
Here are a few predictions. Will they come true? No one knows. But perhaps we shouldn't say that just because we don't
know if these predictions will come true, we don't need to worry about them.
Ann
