17 Shocking Photos That Show How Global Warming Is Everywhere

Concerns over global climate change have never been higher — and with good reason. For decades, scientists have been watching warming-related trends.

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Increases in fires, floods, droughts, severe storms, and sea levels are just some of the consequences that researchers have observed as companions to the planet's rising temperatures.

Earlier this month, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released the final installment in its Fifth Assessment Report on Climate Change, which synthesizes and summarizes the best and most current climate science. Its projections for a future wrought with extreme weather events, famines, and extinctions is a grim look at what's ahead if humans don't implementing better climate policies immediately — but the report also acknowledges that many of these consequences are already occurring.

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Melting ice on Argentina's Perito Moreno glacier REUTERS/Marcos Brindicci

We've put together a set of photos that show stark examples of climate effects occurring all over the planet. No individual event can be taken for proof of climate change — but collectively, along with the millions of other climate-related events scientists have kept track of over the years, they illustrate a frightening pattern and point to an even more concerning future.

WARNING: This post contains a picture of polar bear cannibalism. Leslie Baehr contributed to this post. 

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For many people, the first thing that springs to mind when they hear the phrase "global warming" is melting polar ice, like the melted snow forming this turquoise lake on Antarctica's Budd Coast.

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REUTERS/Torsten Blackwood/Pool

 

Glaciers around the world are losing ice at unprecedented rates thanks to rising global temperatures. Here, the Perito Moreno glacier in Argentina experiences an unexpected rupture.

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REUTERS/Andres Forza

 

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Melting ice is a major problem because of its contribution to sea level rise, but it also affects wildlife in all kinds of ways. Polar bears are the poster child for changing conditions in the Arctic. As their frozen hunting grounds melt away, some polar bears — like this one — are turning to cannibalism and eating their own cubs.

male polar bear carries the head of a polar bear cub it killed and cannibalized
Lain Williams

 

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The US has seen its fair share of wildfires in recent years, and projections call for worse outbreaks in the future. Here, a couple of isolated houses sit undamaged in the aftermath of the 2013 Black Forest Fire in Colorado, which destroyed hundreds of homes.

Black Forest, CO June 2013
Rick Wilking

 

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Flood rates are also expected to increase, as sea levels rise and severe storms become more common. The 2013 South Platte River flood in Colorado left these vehicles submerged as it surged through the farming communities along the river's banks.

Greenly, CO Sept 2013
John Wark

 

And flooding isn't limited to the US, either. Here, a child sleeps in the middle of a flooded street in China's Chongqing municipality during a 2010 outbreak of torrential rain, which killed dozens of people.

in Chongqing municipality July 20, 2010.
Stringer Shanghai

 

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In 2012, floods ravaged parts of the Brazilian Amazon, while — in a twist of fate — droughts devastated the northeastern part of the country. Here, a woman scoops water from a nearly dried-up well in the country's Bahia state.

Bomfim de Feira in Bahia state, northeast Brazil May 2, 2012
Ricardo Moraes
 

Rising temperatures are expected to wreak havoc on water supplies all around the world. This crab carcass is sitting on a dried-up reservoir near Seoul, South Korea, in the midst of a severe 2012 drought, exacerbated by uncharacteristically warm temperatures.

prolonged drought in Siheung, south of Seoul June 22, 2012
Lee Jae Won

 

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The dried-up crab and starving polar bear aren't the only ones suffering. In 2012, thousands of dead fish were found floating in Nageen Lake in Srinagar, India — killed by oxygen depletion and fluctuating water temperatures. Rising water temperatures can be a big threat to sensitive aquatic organisms.

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REUTERS/Fayaz Kabli

 

One way climate change is choking aquatic ecosystems is through algae blooms, brought on by warming waters. Algae blooms produce toxins deadly to other organisms in the water. The striking colors in this image of the Chaohu Lake in China are caused by algae.

Chaohu Lake in Hefei, Anhui province, June 19, 2009.
Jianan

 

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Despite the already widespread consequences of climate change, nations around the world continue to pour carbon and other greenhouse gases — the biggest drivers of climate change — into the atmosphere. Poland's Belchatow Power Station, pictured here, is the European Union's coal-fired power station with the most pollution, belching 37 million metric tons of CO2 in 2013.

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Peter Andrews
 

China, whose Xiangfan coal-burning power station is pictured here, recently struck a deal with US to cap its emissions by 2030, while the US will cut emissions in exchange. But more is needed from other countries to avoid the worst effects of climate change.

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Stringer Shanghaicd

 

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Carbon-spewing power plants are one big factor in global emissions, but deforestation, which is seen here in Indonesia's West Kalimantan province, isn't helping either. Trees are valuable carbon reservoirs, storing carbon that would otherwise go into the atmosphere. And burning trees releases that stored carbon into the air.

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REUTERS/Crack Palinggi

 

The cattle industry has also been criticized because cows belch large amounts of methane — a gas that traps about 20 times more heat as CO2 — into the atmosphere. In 2012, cows were the biggest source of methane emissions in the US.

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REUTERS/Marcos Brindicci

 

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But even in the face of overwhelming evidence for human-caused climate change, climate skepticism still runs rampant. This graffiti, on a wall by London's Regent's Canal, is believed to be an ironic work of art by acclaimed street artist Banksy. But it's a relevant commentary, as climate change continues to be debated around the world, including in the US — a definite barrier to the kinds of climate policies necessary to prevent the worst effects of global warming.

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Luke MacGregor

 

Now see how climate change will specifically affect one of America's greatest cities.

person crosses street during nyc polar vortex
Getty Images/John Moore

New York Is Facing Its Biggest Threat Ever, And People Are Still In Denial >

Climate Change Photography
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