Our Global Fossil Fuel System is Fragile
March 6, 2026
A snapshot of our science
While the majority of Americans across party lines recognize climate change is happening, many do not understand how it will impact them directly and why there is urgency to address it. To help all of us understand why this is such an important issue, our nonpartisan program provides scientifically grounded answers to the questions many of us have about climate change. Here’s a preview of the science section of our Climate Primer and those questions!
How do we know climate change is real?
Indicators: Glaciers Melting and Retreating
These two pictures are of the Muir Glacier in Alaska, taken from the exact same place, same time of year—but about 60 years apart. The Muir glacier moved back about 7 miles and its thickness decreased by about ½ a mile.
Unlocking the Past
Using the discipline of paleo-climatology, scientists can pull up ice cores that are more than 800,000 years old. In those ice cores are little air pockets trapped by frozen snow. Scientists can analyze them for carbon levels, which also gives them a sense of temperature. We are in uncharted terriroty, at the hightest levels of carbon dioxide in our air in 800,000 years.
Indicators: Rising Seas
Global sea levels have risen by 8-9 inches since the 1880s. Satellite measurements show that most of that increase has come since the 1990s.
How do we know climate change is caused by humans?
Scientists studying atmospheric chemistry can identify carbon from different sources, including plants – the basis of fossil fuels. As carbon dioxide concentrations in our atmoshere have increased sine the industrial period, the amount of carbon from plants has climbed disproportionately. Only the burning of fossil fuels accounts for this shift.
What is the scientific consensus?
Trusted experts
What are the dangers?
The 3 things Americans say are most important when they vote are: jobs and the economy, health and personal security, and geopolitical stability as experienced by refugee crisis, civil chaos, and terrorism. See the effects climate change.
-NASA
-NASA
-EPA
Is there hope?
Yes! Here are a few reasons why:
The economic equation has changed. The difficulty and cost of transitioning to cleaner technologies have come down from what they were 10 years ago, so we can look at the economic equation very differently. Studies show the U.S. could reach net-zero by 2050 with no significant increase in costs.
Financial institutions and businesses are demanding and driving climate action. The Federal Reserve called climate change a threat to the stability of our financial system. Leading investor Larry Fink said, “climate risk is investment risk” and is pressuring companies to take climate action.
There is great power in nature to regenerate. Large-scale protection, restoration, and better land-management practices can help stabilize climate change, pulling almost a third of excess carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.
Other countries are leading. 145 countries have set or are considering net-zero targets, covering almost 90% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.
New technology is on the horizon. New technologies that reduce, capture, or repurpose greenhouse gas emissions or replace fossil fuel energy will cause a greater tech revolution than telecom in the 90s.
The U.S. is less divided on this issue than we think. Americans as a whole are no longer divided on this issue, with policymakers from both sides of the aisle finding the political will to find common ground.
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