What is Climate Change?

‘Climate change’ describes how our planet’s average temperature, rainfall, wind and other weather conditions have changed over a long period of time.

Climate change can be caused by natural events such as a volcanic eruption or human activity such as burning fossil fuels and deforestation.

The Earth’s climate has changed many times over thousands of years. However, over the last 50 years we – humans – have caused the planet to warm much more quickly by our everyday activities releasing too much carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere.

How is our climate changing?

The Earth is getting warmer – both on land and in the oceans. Between the years 1880 and 2012 the average world temperature rose by 0.85°C. This might not sound a lot but even a small increase in temperature can have a huge impact on the planet and upset the delicate balance of our climate system.

We are seeing changes to how heat is moved around the world by the oceans and air and rising sea levels.

If we continue to add greenhouse gases to the atmosphere at this rate, it is thought that temperatures will continue to increase by between 1.4 and 5.8°C during this century!

How is climate change affecting the animals of the Arctic?

How is climate change affecting the people of the Arctic?

Is climate change really happening?

Many scientists and governments believe that climate change is real. But not everyone agrees.

Some of the arguments against climate change are:

• The rise in the earth’s temperature is temporary – it has always gone up and down.
• Ice and snow melt, rising sea levels and more severe weather such as tornadoes and hurricanes have got worse then better. There is no set trend.
• Climate change has always happened – including long before humans made greenhouse gases.