Summary: According to The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – a Nobel Prize winning group established by the United Nations -, global warming in the 21st century is likely to cause more environmental damage than predicted and will continue if swift action is not taken. Due to the human-caused climate change, temperatures are rising and could cause tropical forests and the Arctic tundra to release billions of tons of greenhouses gases, which as a result, would raise global temperatures even more.Recent climate studies show that the severity of global warming was underestimated and that greenhouse gas emissions increased rapidly particularly in developing countries which experienced a large surge in electric power generation mostly based on coal.
A particular concern is the potential of increased atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations due to wildfires in tropical forests and deforestation. Another concern is the way global warming has altered wind patterns in the Southern Ocean, which deceases its capacity to absorb excess atmostpheric CO2. Lastly, thawing of the permafrost in the Arctic tundra could release massive amounts of CO2 and methane gas into the atmosphere due to the decaying organic matter that will be uncovered. The resulting amount of CO2 release is projected to be in the billions of tons.
Aggressive action to deal with climate change must be taken in order to provide a sustainable world for future generations. Very little time is left until the rise in carbon dioxide is irreversible.

ScienceDaily (Feb. 15, 2009)