Climate is the long-term average of weather, typically over a 30-year interval. Climate varies from place to place. As latitude increases, climates generally become cooler. Climates also vary with elevation, landforms, and proximity to water bodies.
The study of climate is climatology. Climatologists use many tools to study past climate including weather records, tree rings, ice cores, and sediment layers in ocean floors and lake beds. They also use computer models to simulate present and future climates. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assesses the latest scientific findings on climate change and its causes, effects, risks, and possible responses options.
Most climatologists agree that Earth’s climate is currently undergoing a rapid warming trend due largely to human activity such as burning fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas), deforestation (cutting down trees), and agriculture (livestock farming and growing crops). These activities release what are called greenhouse gases into the atmosphere where they trap heat from the sun’s rays causing Earth’s average temperature to rise. Climate change refers to any significant long-term alteration in temperature or typical weather patterns in a place. It can happen naturally or be caused by human activity.
There is strong evidence that human-induced climate change is already happening all over the world: glaciers are melting; sea ice is shrinking; snow cover is diminishing; permafrost thawing; sea level rising; ocean acidifying; precipitation patterns changing; droughts increasing; floods becoming more frequent…and the list goes on (see below for more detailed information). With emissions of greenhouse gases continuing to rise at an alarming rate – largely due to burning fossil fuels – it’s clear that we must take urgent action to avoid even more dangerous levels of global warming which could lead to irreversible impacts like widespread species extinctions and large-scale displacement of people due to extreme weather events and rising seas levels. To prevent this catastrophe we need deep cuts in emissions as well as large-scale investments in renewable energy sources like solar power and wind farms so that we can phase out our reliance on polluting fossil fuels once and for all.”