Over the last decade, climate change has accelerated the melting of Antarctic ice sheets and Arctic glaciers faster than predicted. The Arctic ice cap reached a record low in 2007 and climate models predict the region could be ice-free in summer within the next decade. An ice-free Arctic could impact weather patterns in the Northern Hemisphere and threaten polar bears that rely on sea ice. Climate change is also exacerbated droughts and causing vegetation shifts, affecting plant competition and wildlife. Melting ice, drought, and earlier springs are signs that global warming is already affecting the planet.

1. Climate change IN LAST DECADE…

2. 2000 One of the most remarkable, and alarming, environmental changes to occur over the last decade is the melting of Antartic ice sheets and the recession of Artic glaciers at speeds much faster than climate change models had predicted, according to environment experts

3. 2001 In addition, the Arctic ice cap reached an all-time low in the summer of 2007. Some climate scientists now predict the region will be ice free during de summer withinthe next decade.

4. 2002 Studies suggest an ice-free Arctic could result not only in a stormier North Pole region, but could also affect waether patterns throughout the entire Northem Hemisfere.

5. 2003 The loss of ice would also be a death knell for polar bears, which rely on ice to hunt and raise their young. But it would also be a boon forbusiness, including shipping and resourceextraction. Climate change has made itself apparent in other powerful ways over the past decade.

6. 2004 and 2005 In southeastern Australia, a ten-year drought now causes the Murray River to trickle into the sand before it reaches the sea. For the last several decades, ecologist John Harte, has watched global warming shift vegetation in the Rocky Mountains from a palette of wildflowers to sagebrush, the latter of which is hardier.

7. 2006 and 2007 As snowmelt trends toward coming earlier and earlier, it has big effects on the competition among plants, said Harte, of the University of California, Berkeley.

8. 2008 and 2009 Melting ice, droughts, earlier springs, as well as disappearing polar bears and frog estinctiongs are among the signs that global warming is already having an effect on the planet, experts say

9. 2010 In recent years, these signs have begun to resonate with people around the world, said Joshua Reichert, the managing director of the Pew Environment Group, a Washington, D.C.-based international environmental nonprofit.

10. THE END THE END