Global warming is the gradual increase in the average temperature of the earth's lower atmosphere caused by increased greenhouse gases from industrialization and a rise in factories, vehicles, and deforestation. Consequences of global warming include the extinction of species, climate change, more frequent storms, rising sea levels from melting polar ice submerging low-lying areas, water scarcity, droughts, famines, epidemics, and damage to agriculture. An international agreement formed in Kyoto aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from industrialized countries to help stop global warming.