which is right...?

Pollution, costs of living, and the threat of global warming IS rising.

OR

Pollution, costs of living, and the threat of global warming ARE rising.

The subject is plural (pollution, costs of living, and the threat...), so the verb needs to be plural, too. Which is plural? "Is" or "are"?

??

thanks

The correct sentence is: "Pollution, costs of living, and the threat of global warming ARE rising."

In this sentence, the subject consists of three different elements connected by the conjunction "and": pollution, costs of living, and the threat of global warming. Whenever a subject is composed of multiple elements joined by "and," it is considered plural, and therefore, the verb needs to be plural as well. In this case, the correct verb form is "are" to agree with the plural subject.