"Even the best democracies agree that when a major war approaches, democracy must be put on hold for the time being. I have a feeling that climate change may be an issue as severe as a war. It may be necessary to put democracy on hold for a while." - James Lovelock
(Hickman, 2010)
Climate change is a long-term change in the Earth’s climate, mostly due to the increase in the average atmospheric temperature (global warming). According to National Snow & Ice Data Center (2012), the most commonly used definition of climate change is a change in the statistical properties of the climate system when considered over long duration of time, regardless of cause. In addition to that, fluctuations over periods less than a few decades, such as El Niño, do not represent climate change. To make it simple, some short-term climate variation is normal, but longer-term trends now indicate a changing climate. A year or two of an extreme change in temperature or other condition does not mean a climate change trend is being followed but change in temperature or other condition in a long run does indicate that climate change is happening. However, the term is mostly used to refer specifically to climate change caused by human activity, instead of changes in climate that may have resulted as part of the Earth's natural processes. In this sense, especially in the context of environmental policy, the term climate change has become synonymous with anthropogenic global warming. (UNFCCC: COP 17, 2011)
Climate includes patterns of temperature, precipitation, humidity, wind and seasons. A lot of systems are tied to climate. Therefore, a change in climate will possibly affect many rel...
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National Aeronautics and Space Administration 2012, ‘Global Climate Change: A blanket around the Earth’, Earth Science Communications Team, California Institute of Technology, viewed 12 February, 2012, .
National Snow & Ice Data Center 2012, ‘Artic Climatology & Meteorology: Climate change’, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder, viewed 12 February, 2012, .
United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change 2011, ‘Conferences of Parties 17’, viewed 14 February, 2012, .
See reference
NASA – see National Aeronautics and Space Administration
UNFCCC – see United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change
The book by David Archer (2009) includes details that will make the readers understand the future of climate change as well as past events that have changed the present climate, as we know it. David Archer is a professor of geophysical sciences at the University of Chicago and has done many public presentations on the earth’s climate change before releasing his book, the long Thaw.
...i, X., . . . Johnson, C. A. (Eds.). (2001). Climate change 2001: The scientific basis : contribution of Working Group I to the third assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Houghton, J. T., et al. 2001. Climate change 2001: The scientific basis. Contribution of Working
It has been said so many times by so many different kinds of personalities, from academics to renowned politicians, that the world’s climate is changing and much of it has to do with what man has been doing for the last few decades. This has been further confirmed by the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) in their assessment published in spring of 2007. The Panel had concluded that much more adaptation is needed in order to alleviate the possible effects of future climate changes. Given the considerable progress made in man’s understanding of the physical climate system, it is unfortunate that the knowledge gained has not been put to much use in terms of decision-making, risk management, and stakeholder engagement (National Research Council (NRC) report on the U.S. Climate Change Science Program, September 2007).
Climate change is the change in the “average weather” in a specific location. This can include temperature, precipitation, wind, humidity, and the different seasons. Climate change is caused by the release of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse
Humburg, S. et al (1997) Common Questions about Climate Change. Washington DC: United Nations Environment Programme- World Meteorological Organization. Reprinted as Unit 5 in Slaght, J. Harben, P. & Pallant, A. (2006) English for Academic Study: Reading and Writing Source Book. Reading: Garnet Publishing Ltd.
Evidence of global climate change is in an abundance everywhere we look. The atmosphere’s level of carbon dioxide has increased dramatically to the point where it is causing the average temperature to rise because carbon dioxide holds in heat. The latest measurement,
Scientific knowledge required to show the effects and trends of climate seems to be well-developed and valid for use, but the social, economic and political aspects have always caused differences, which have delayed the efforts to solve these issues (Maslin, 2007). While the world is still struggling to find a better and effective way of dealing with these effects, there has been very little efforts made towards this on global scale, with each nation attempting to have its own way of dealing with these issues. Moreover, the controversies over the responsibilities per nation or region have been a drawback towards finding a solution to these problems (Brown & Leipold,
“Climate change: How do we know?” NASA. NASA n. d. n. pag. Web. 28 November
Climate change has become of the world’s major issue today. The earth’s climate is always changing in a very fast and also in different ways. Climate changes affect our lives psychologically, emotional and also physically. Climate change is defined as a long term change in the earth’s climate, especially a change due to the increase in the average atmospheric temperatures. Due to this change in temperature, a lot of changes has occurred in our environment, these changes include rising sea levels, flooding, melting of polar ice caps, hotter days, colder nights and heat waves. These climate changes plays an important role in shaping our natural ecosystem, our human economics and also the most important, it affects the human race. For
"Global Warming Impacts | UCSUSA." Union of Concerned Scientists. UCS, 5 Sept. 2013. Web. 23 May 2014.
Hardy, J. T. Climate Change: Causes, Effects, and Solutions. New York: J. Wiley, 2003. Print.
Climate change is the long-term shift in weather patterns in a specific region or globally. Climate change refers to changes in a regions overall weather patterns. These include temperature changes, precipitation and cloud cover (www.ecolife.com).
Climate change has been an extremely controversial topic in recent history and continues to create much debate today. Many questions concerning climate change’s origins and its potential affect on the globe are not fully understood and remain unanswered. What is climate change? Is climate change happening? Is it a natural cycle of the world or are there other catalysts involved such as human activity? What proof is there? What data correlations show climate change is accelerated by humans? How serious is climate change and how will it affect the future of our globe? What are we doing to address climate change? Should we really be concerned about climate change? Questions such as these have made climate change a very serious issue in today’s world and created the ideology of climatism. The issue of climate change has affected many different aspects of our lives and the world we live in. Policymaking, human activism, technologies, emission control, global warming, alternative energy sources and many other things have been greatly affected by the mania of climate change. This research report will present climate change in a light of common sense and rationality that will take a grounded discussion of the science behind climate change, global warming, human activity, and how the ideology of climatism has corrupted and driven the actions to combat climate change.
The earth is a complex system, which continues to evolve and change. Climate change and global warming are currently popular in the political agenda. But what does “climate” really mean? The difference between weather and climate can be conveyed in a single sentence: “Climate is what you expect; weather is what you get.” Based on research of the geologic record, we know that climate change has happened throughout Earth's history and at present, ever-increasing evidence points to the roles that humans play in altering Earth systems. The Earth and its atmosphere receive heat energy from the sun; the atmospheric heat budget of the Earth depends on the balance between incoming solar radiation and outgoing radiation from the planet; which has been constant over the last few thousand years. However present evidence seems to suggest that the recent increase in temperature has been brought about by pollution of the atmosphere, in particular the release of huge amounts of carbon dioxide, mostly through Anthropogenic Forcing (human activity) and other various internal and external factors. I...