Climate Change and Gardening

Climate Change is Real and is Affecting Maryland Now

There is no scientific controversy: 99% of scientists agree that our climate is changing and that global temperatures are increasing as levels of heat-trapping greenhouse gases rise in the atmosphere (CO₂, methane, nitrogen dioxide, water vapor).

Global measurements of temperaturesince weather records began in 1884 show a clear long-term trend toward warming. The animation below shows a clear trend in temperature, even though there can be substantial year-to-year and place-to-place variation in weather. 

ABOVE: Yearly observations of global temperatures since 1884. This animation shows the temperatures across the globe as differences from the average temperature between 1951-1980 (the baseline):  blue shows areas cooler than that baseline, while yellow-orange shows areas warmer than the baseline. Although there is considerable variation in temperature from place to place and year to year, the overall trend is clearly toward warming.