Impacts

Greenpeace has led several expeditions to the Poles since 1997 to document the effects of global warming.

In the Antarctic, enormous ice shelves are breaking off as a result of warming temperatures. During its Antarctic expedition in 1997 the Greenpeace ship MV Arctic Sunrise circumnavigated areas that had previously been inaccessible due to ice. The warming temperatures pose grave threats to the continued existence of native species of plants and wildlife, such as penguins.

In the Arctic, ice thickness has declined by over 40 percent and an area larger than the Netherlands is disappearing every year. Scientists predict Arctic sea ice could melt entirely by the end of the century. This warming is affecting native peoples of Alaska whose lives are intricately connected to the natural environment. Furthermore, wildlife that depends upon the ice shelves to find food, such as polar bears and walrus, are diminishing.

In the Pacific, the most dramatic impact of global warming lies just below the water's surface. Coral reefs, critical to the well-being of the Pacific community of nations, are dying at an unprecedented rate due to rising ocean temperatures. Loss of these reefs will have far-reaching implications for tourism, coastlines, food supply and more.

Climate voices

Global warming is having devastating effects on people all over the world. Millions have been displaced from their homes as a result of severe disasters such as floods and fires, intensified by global warming. Others have suffered from financially crippling agricultural losses due to droughts and heat waves.

Patagonia

Jorge, 71, crossed the Patagonian icefields during the summer of 1955 as part an expedition sponsored by the London Royal Society. He returned to the glaciers with Greenpeace in 2004:

The transformation was so acute that Jorge didn't initially recognise the glacier and was shocked by the speed of the melt. When he visited the glacier at the age of 21, previously the ice had covered the area where the base camp was now situated.

"The scene has changed dramatically. It was completely different - parts have disappeared. The structure of the glacier has changed in a chaotic way. It's rough and it has retreated so much, I can hardly believe it. Where the glacier extended 50 years ago, washed and slippery rocks have now emerged."