What is Climate Change?
Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. Since the 1800s, human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation and agriculture have been the primary drivers of climate change, releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. These gases function like a blanket around the Earth, trapping the sun’s heat and warming the planet. The decade from 2010-2019 was the warmest on record, and 2023 was the hottest year on record, only to be surpassed by 2024.
Rising temperatures have a cascading effect on other Earth systems, leading to a range of serious consequences, including intense droughts, water scarcity, severe wildfires, rising sea levels, flooding, melting polar ice, catastrophic storms, and declining biodiversity. Despite these alarming effects, human-generated greenhouse gas emissions — the primary cause of climate change — show no signs of decreasing.
