The early effects of global warming, like the rapid retreat of glaciers across the world, are already with us.
This U.N. report, written back in 2001, gives a layman's guide to what's happening, what is likely to happen, and how we can respond.
The potential effects can be summarised as: sea level rise; loss of huge areas of land due to flooding and desert encroachment; others areas being effectively lost due to drought; shifting rainfall patterns; loss of plant and animal species; less water and food to go round the increasing world population; mass migration of people to more habitable areas; wars over water and land; a greater frequency of catastrophic weather events (like flooding, drought, and hurricanes).... There are more, but I think you get the idea.
Not all these effects are inevitable, and those that are need not be severe, but we as a species DO have to get moving on this. The lives of millions of people depend on it.
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