The Global Warming: Early Warning Signs Map is a poster-sized (2' X 3') map of the world, which illustrates global climate change indicators or "hot spots" such as sea-level rise, melting glaciers, heat waves, floods, and shifting plant and animal ranges. Each of the 156 indicators represents climate events or processes that are either consistent with the type of impacts scientists expect from global warming or are trends (environmental indicators) that reflect the global increase in temperatures already documented. The "hot spots," depicted with eye-catching icons, are described at the bottom of the map.

		in this section  MAP MATERIALS  Impacts Map Home Page  Climate Map Curriculum Guide  PowerPoint Slide of the Map  fingerprints  Heat Waves  Sea-Level Rise  Glaciers Melting  Arctic & Antarctic Warming  harbingers  Spreading Disease  Earlier Spring Arrival  Plant & Animal Range Shifts  Coral Reef Bleaching  Downpours  Droughts and Fires

• Fingerprints of global warming are indicators of the global, long-term warming trend observed in the historical record. They include heat waves, sea-level rise, melting glaciers and warming of the Poles.
  
• Harbingers are events that foreshadow the impacts likely to become more frequent and widespread with continued warming. They include spreading disease, earlier spring arrival, plant and animal range shifts, coral reef bleaching, downpours, and droughts and fires.

This map is a visually stunning piece that helps to convey a scientifically credible message that impacts from climate change are indeed a reality. It was produced by UCS in November 1999 in collaboration with six other environmental groups -- Environmental Defense (ED), Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), Sierra Club, World Resources Institute (WRI) and World Wildlife Fund (WWF). UCS undertook a revision to the map in 2003, adding nearly 60 new points, which brought the total to 156 points.

Many SSI scientists have found the map to be a useful teaching and outreach tool. Some examples of use of the map by SSI members include: as a tool for demonstrating what is known about climate change signatures already present; for illustrating up-to-date examples of the long term effects of global warming; as a focal point for discussion of global climate change in the classroom; and as a general education tool for newspaper reporters, school children, and religious groups. If you would like to recieve a copy of the map, please contact Jason Mathers at ssi@ucsusa.org.