Global warming

What causes global warming?

Certain gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, trap the sun's heat in Earth’s atmosphere. These greenhouse gases (GHGs) exist naturally in the atmosphere and help keep the Earth’s surface warm enough to sustain life. Without greenhouse gases, the average temperature on Earth would be zero degrees Fahrenheit, instead of today's roughly 58.3 degrees Fahrenheit.

Human activities, notably the burning of fossil fuels (i.e., coal, natural gas, and oil) to power vehicles, factories, and homes, release carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Other activities, including deforestation (cutting down trees) and raising livestock, also emit greenhouse gases.

What is climate change? Is it different from global warming?

What is climate change? Is it different from global warming?

The terms climate change and global warming are often used interchangeably, but climate change broadly refers to persistent changes in average weather (e.g., temperature, precipitation, humidity, wind, atmospheric pressure, ocean temperature, etc.) while global warming narrowly refers to a rise in the Earth’s average global temperature.

Climate change can refer to natural fluctuations in the Earth’s average temperature throughout geologic time, between cold periods (glacial periods, known as ice ages) and warm periods (interglacial periods).

The climate change we are currently experiencing, however, is caused by human activity . Scientists have concluded that, over the last 50 years, the Earth’s surface should have been cooling slightly based on natural factors, like solar intensity and volcano activity; instead, the increased burning of fossil fuels has led to global warming—and at a significantly faster rate than at any time over the last 800,000 years.

What is a climate change impact?

The rise in average global temperatures because of human activities has many impacts on the planet, including more intense and frequent droughts and storms, melting glaciers and ice sheets, rising sea levels, warming oceans, and ocean acidification (see question 8). People around the world are already feeling the impact of climate change on the environment. Changing weather patterns can ruin crops and cause serious water shortages. Rising sea levels are threatening low-lying islands and coastal cities. Tropical and insect-borne diseases are spreading as their hosts move into new habitats that were previously too cold for them to survive.

​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAa58N4Jlos