Since it is warmer nowadays, animals and plants are moving towards the poles in search of cooler habitats. Since the 1980's British observers spotted tropical fish previously unknown in the North Atlantic. In 2001, a fisherman caught a barracuda off the coast of Cornwall, England, far north of its normal range.As global warming changes the face of habitats around the world, scientists are asking if humans can help save species from extinction by moving them to cooler climates. Although animal resettlements and transports may be already at our grasp, new alternative methods are still yet to be found.

In the past, temperatures moved up or down gradually. But since 1976, temperatures have likely risen more quickly during any century in the last 1000 years. Although it may bring increased yields for northern countries such as Russia, many species of animals won't likely adapt to these conditions.

Malaria carrying mosquitoes are moving northwards to higher elevations northward.

The pine beetle which thrives during warmer winters, has already destroyed approximately 13 million hectares of Canadian forests worth an estimated $6 billion.

Urgency and action are dire needs as glaciers are melting and the earth's humidity is constantly increasing. In 2005, the Zurich-based World Glacier monitoring service stated that European glaciers had lost half of their volume since 1850. In March 2007, Russian researchers reported unstable permafrost in the Baikal area, Mongolia and China. And in October this year, British researchers showed that warmer temperatures were responsible for a 2.2 percent increase in the earth's humidity over the last 30 years.

The IPCC concluded that human activity is very likely responsible, by increasing the concentration of greenhouse gases and the greenhouse effect. Over 25 scientific societies, including the national academies of science of the G8 nations, endorsed the conclusion.

The main greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), and water vapor. Except CFCs, common for its commercial purposes, the gases are found in nature. The burning of fossil fuels, trees and agricultural wastes adds to the carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, as do coal mines, oil refineries and even landfills. The increase in these gases affect water vapor indirectly resulting to and increased amounts of vapor as well.

These greenhouse gases cause the earth's atmosphere to trap heat energy at the earth's surface which is coined as the greenhouse effect. With the increase of these gases, the planet may be heated up too much and that means big trouble for all its inhabitants.

"Carbon dioxide has increased at an alarming 35 percent since the beginning of the industrial era. Methane has more than doubled. Nitrous oxide has gone up 17 percent" says Gavin Schmidt, a climatologist with NASA's Goddard Institute of Space Studies in New York. While we has stabilized our CFCs and methane emissions, we have not done the same with carbon dioxide so far. The carbon dioxide in the atmosphere continues to rise about 0.4 percent per year because about 85 percent of our energy requirements involve fossil fuel and that proves to be more than a mere concern for scientist nowadays.
Carbon dioxide does not dissipate by itself, yet natural systems are able to absorb about a half of our 23.5 gigatonne (A gigatonne is a trillion kilograms) annual emission. That leaves about 11.75 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide every year at an increasing rate more to solve.

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