Climate Change: Who's to Blame?

The earth is constantly undergoing changes. This ranges from tectonic activity to atmospheric and climate changes. The most recent change that we have noticed, is the increase in temperature. Some believe that this increase is the result of human activity. However, this is not the case. The increased temperatures are within the normal tolerances from the past few thousand years (Robinson, Robinson, & Soon, 2008). This and other changes to the atmosphere have been going on for millions of years. Global warming is not our fault because it is a natural occurring phenomenon.

First, an overwhelming scientific consensus agrees that human activity is primarily responsible for Global Climate Change. A study in 2010 showed that 97-98% of researchers agree that human activity is the primary cause for climate change around the world. This study also found that the expertise of researchers unconvinced was “substantially below” the researchers that were. The 2013 Cook review showed that out of the 11.944 studies, less than 1% completely rejected the possibility of humans causing this. A different review of 13, 950 studies of climate change found only 24 that rejected humans causing climate change. Let’s just go with majority rules. A different study held by Bray and Von Storch, two German scientists, showed that 83.5% of scientists studying climate believe that humans are causing the recent amounts of climate change. Also, a study in 2011 showed that 84% of scientists studying earth, space, the atmosphere, oceans and hydrology believe that human caused climate change is

So, what is climate change? Well, climate is defined as the average weather for a region, such as, temperature, precipitation, humidity, wind and seasons. Climates shape ecosystems, and the life in these ecosystems that depends on them. So climate change is when the climate we have come to expect is no longer that climate. The climates around the world are quickly changing and it is creating harmful effects for many things around the world (What Is Climate Change?). See, often times people get global warming and climate change confused, but they are not the same and cannot be used interchangeably. When we talk about global warming, it only means the Earth’s increasing surface temperature. On the other hand, climate change refers to the warming and things like melting glaciers, hurricanes, drought, forest fires, coral bleaching, etc.. In other words, global warming is only one part of the more dire issue of human induced climate change (What's the difference).

Climate change is the altering of ordinary weather patterns around the globe because of excessive greenhouse gas emissions, particularly carbon dioxide

Climate change is defined as a change within climate patterns that is largely due to increasing levels of carbon emissions in our atmosphere. These emissions create a blanket like layer around the earth that creates a heat reflective surface. As the sun’s rays hit earth, normally it would be bounced back into space but the earth would still retain some heat from the rays that it was hit with. The emissions blanket creates a barrier that traps more rays within the atmosphere of the earth as heat rays have a harder time going through the blanket into space. This keeps the rays stuck in earth which creates the greenhouse effect that leads to the earth slowly heating up. This heat increase is very dangerous to the many species that live within

Climate change can be defined as a significant change in the “average weather” of any given region sustained in the long-term and can be caused by Earth 's dynamic processes, external forces including variations in sunlight intensity, and also by human activities (USEPA, 2014).

We all see the weather change from day to day and it is just a normal occurrence. Seasons change from warm to cold and we all just go about our business. But what most people don’t see change is the climate. Climate changes over a long period of time and it has shown a warming trend in the past few decades. Many people attribute this warming trend to the alarming rate that humans are burning fossil fuels and pumping Co2 into the atmosphere, however some people think that climate change is merely a myth or that global temperatures have always risen and fallen during Earth’s lifetime.

Climate is the average of the weather of a region, and the climate of the Earth is the climate average of all the regions. Based on that, climate change is a change in the average climate of the Earth. According to the NASA, “Some causes of climate change are natural. These include changes in Earth's orbit and in the amount of energy coming from the sun. Ocean changes and volcanic eruptions are also natural causes of climate change”

To understand climate change, one must understand what a climate is. A climate can be defined as “the usual weather of a [particular] place…[to] include patterns of temperature, precipitation, humidity, wind, and seasons” (State of Washington, n.d.), just to name a few. Climate differs from weather as a climate is comprised of the usual conditions of a given place (i.e. is it consistently humid, dry, wet, cool, etc.), while weather is the conditions present at a given place at any one time (i.e. it is raining, snowing, sunny, etc.). Climates are unique to individual places and generally stay the same over time, while weather can change by the day.

Climate change is a change/interruption in our normal weather patterns. It is when it is warm, even though it is winter. Or cold, even though it’s summer. It can also be called “The greenhouse effect.” gases Like CO2 are a big factor of why climate change is a problem. CO2 helps keep heat stuck to the earth, meaning even more hot days,which is a good thing in some places but a very bad thing for others.This is proven by many charts online showing the changes in weather throughout the years.

Climate Change is the significant change in the climate and distribution of weather patterns on Earth ranging from the last decade to millennia earlier.

Climate change can be defined as a long-term change in weather environments that include wind, precipitation, and temperature. The direct result of climate change can lead to a change in weather patterns that can last for extended periods of time (Climate Change Summary). Climate change may also be referred to as a change in average weather conditions, which could lead to an increase or decrease in extreme weather events. Recently climate change has been recognized as a problem around the world, while other groups believe climate change is made up of fictional data. Climate change is an ongoing problem in the scientific community, but society has not fully accepted the principles of climate change.

Climate change is defined by Dictionary.com as “A long-term change in the earth’s climate, especially a change due to an increase in the average atmospheric temperature” (“The Definition of Climate Change”). Climate change can be separated into four categories which are: evidences, causes, effects, and solutions. These categories help to find out what climate change is and how we can stop it.

Over the years there has been a lot of controversy on if climate change is an issue that needs to be discussed and solved. There is a constant debate among scientist on if human actions are contributing the changing of earth’s climates. Climate change is defined as the change in average weather patterns for a specific region or Earth as a whole. This could include the change in an average temperature for a city or the amount a rainfall it receives (Dunbar, 2015). The main difference between weather and climate is the period of time specific patterns are recorded. Weather patterns are looked at over a much shorter period of time, meaning that these patterns are going to be more sporadic and change more frequently. Climate on the other had is recorded over a much longer period of time and usually show less drastic changes in patterns when compared to weather. Some people may argue that climate change is not an issue because Earth’s temperature is always changing do to natural effects. What people don’t realize is that human activity has effected the rate that earth’s temperature is changing, and just the smallest changes can lead to drastic consequences (Dunbar, 2015).

Climate change could be described as any process that causes adjustment to climate system be it a volcanic eruption to a change in the solar activity. Today, however, the phrase is most often used as climate change caused by humans. Climate change is also used commonly with another phrase – "global warming" – reflecting scientific observations of strong warming trends over the past century or so. Indicators like rising sea levels, retreating snow cover and glaciers, longer growing seasons and shifting wildlife has alarmed scientific community unanimously agreeing that the earth has warmed in the last century. Experts however are of the opinion that climate change is a more accurate phrase than global warming as the latter is just one component affecting the larger climate systems of the earth.