The Earth's temperature has risen more than 1 degree Fahrenheit over the past 30 years, NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies says. Big questions include how much humans have contributed to the temperature increase, whether it will continue, and how dangerous it is for the planet.
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Every day, more than 70 species vanish from the planet, and the number of endangered animals and organisms grows each year. Poachers display some endangered species openly in markets in third-world countries and on the black market. In many developed nations, governments are looking for harmony between wildlife and an expanding human population
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More than 30 percent of the Earth is covered in forest, but in many parts of the world, woodlands are being cut down for their lumber and cleared to create new farmland and grazing pastures. The United States government says an area four times the size of Switzerland disappears each year. This means shrinking habitats for some animal species and outright extinction for others. But in some areas, forests are making a comeback.
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State of the world's forests
The earth's population has risen from 2.9 billion people to more than 6.6 billion over the past 50 years, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The number of people living on the planet will grow to more than 9 billion by 2050. This growth is putting tremendous pressure on the world's resources, especially in developing nations such as India and China, the two most populous countries in the world. full story
U.S. Census Bureau: World population United Nations Population Fund