Effects of global warming coming on sooner than expected

It may in fact be the most pressing issue that is facing mankind in the near future. How to deal with the issue of global warming and the threat that it may well wipe out life on this planet if it is not soon addressed. Many scientists are warning that the effects of global warming are coming on at a rate that is faster than initially predicted.
The way global warming occurs is subtle at first. The Earth gets its heat from the sun. The sun is the only heat source in our galaxy. It is believed that the suface temperature of the sun is about 11,000 degrees. When those rays hit the Earth they cause the temperature on the planet to increase. This heat in the past would normally bounce off of the surface of the earth and then escape back out into space. This is how it worked for the first few millions of years that the earth has existed. But lately somethings have changed. In the last 200 years or so there has been an industrial revolution on the earth. Mankind has built many machines that never existed before like cars and planes and factories that make all kinds of things that consumers in a modern economy demand. These factories and machines all spew out pollutants into the atmosphere when they are being used. This pollution or smog makes the atmosphere thicker and it prevents the suns heat from escaping out into space and causes the temperture on the planet to rise over time. If the planets temperature rises enough it may melt the polar ice caps in the north and south poles. If those ice caps melt the water levels in the oceans will rise greatly and the flooding that would result would be biblical in terms of the level of devastation.
In 2006 satelite images of the north pole were taken and they were compared to images of the pole taken in 1979. The images indicate that the ice caps at the north pole have shrunk by about 25% in that time. If this rate of loss in maintained or increased it is predicted that the earth may begin to suffer serious climate changes as early as 2030.
Right now The United States is the world's lagest pollutor of the atmosphere. It is estimated that in about three years China, With its economy growing at a rate of over 10% a year, will overtake the U.S. and become the worlds newest and greatest pollution emitter in the world. With a population that is almost 5 times larger than that of the U.S. it is likely that China will not only surpass America's pollution emissions but exponentially increase the levels of corbons in the earths atmosphere and do so in record time.