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Major
Findings about Climate Change
- Reconstructions of the past 1,000
years of climate data indicate that the warming which
has occurred over the past 100 years was unlikely
to be entirely natural in origin.
- Most scientific studies estimate that the rate of
global warming over the past 50 years coincides with
increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases.
A report issued in 2001 by the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change (IPCC) stated that it is "virtually
certain" that emissions of carbon dioxide due to
fossil fuel burning are the main cause of increasing
atmospheric carbon dioxide during the 21st century.
The graph below shows temperature records and atmospheric
carbon dioxide concentrations over the past 1,000 years.
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