The hottest 6 years on record were the past 5 years (2001-5) and 1998.  Over the period 1955-1998, ocean temperatures have risen by an average .067°F in the uppermost 9,800 feet of water.  Unprecedented melting has taken place in the Larsen ice shelf in Antarctica, the Greenland ice sheet, inland glaciers, and in Arctic sea ice in the past 25 years.  All of these changes are evidence of a warming trend caused primarily by human activity in the forms of burning of fossil fuels and deforestation.  The burning of fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide into the air which accumulates in the atmosphere and traps heat.  Deforestation removes a natural carbon ‘sink,’ as trees absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in their respiration process.  Besides causing extensive melting, the increase in global temperature is predicted to increase the severity of storms, alter agricultural patterns, increase the range and incidence of infectious disease, and cause more heat-related human deaths. 

Click on the links below to learn more about the impacts of rising temperatures.

Europe heatwave link http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn4259
Another Europe heatwave article http://www.allianz.com/azcom/dp/cda/0,,1194684-44,00.html
Heatwaves http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn4223
agriculture and drought http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn4072
disease http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn2438
hottest years on record http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science/recordtemp2005.html