Climate change

For current global climate change, see Global warming.

Variations in CO₂, temperature and dust from the Vostok ice core over the last 400,000 years

Climate change means the difference in the Earth's global climate or in regional climates over time.

It describes changes in the state of the atmosphere over time scales ranging from decades to millions of years. These changes can be caused by processes inside the Earth, forces from outside (e.g. variations in sunlight intensity) or, more recently, human activities. Ice ages are prominent examples.

Climate change is any significant long-term change in the expected patterns of average weather of a region (or the whole Earth) over a significant period of time. Climate change is about abnormal variations to the climate, and the effects of these variations on other parts of the Earth. Examples include melting of the ice caps at the South Pole and North Pole. These changes may take tens, hundreds or perhaps millions of years.

In recent usage, especially in the context of environmental policy, climate change usually refers to changes in modern climate (see global warming).

Notable books

• The Clean Tech Revolution
• Clean Tech Nation: How the U.S. Can Lead in the New Global Economy (2012) by Ron Pernick and Clint Wilder
• Climate Change and Global Energy Security
• Deploying Renewables 2011 (2011) by the International Energy Agency
• Greenhouse Solutions with Sustainable Energy
• Non-Nuclear Futures: The Case for an Ethical Energy Strategy
• Reinventing Fire: Bold Business Solutions for the New Energy Era (2011) by Amory Lovins
• Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation (2011) by the IPCC
• Small is Profitable: The Hidden Economic Benefits of Making Electrical Resources the Right Size
• Solar Energy Perspectives (2011) by the International Energy Agency
• Surviving the Century: Facing Climate Chaos and Other Global Challenges
• Ten Technologies to Fix Energy and Climate
• The Energy Imperative: 100 Percent Renewable Now
• The Fourth Revolution: Energy
• What Will Work: Fighting Climate Change with Renewable Energy, Not Nuclear Power

Other pages

• James Hansen
• Storms of My Grandchildren
• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

References

• Emanuel, K. A. (2005) Increasing destructiveness of tropical cyclones over the past 30 years., Nature, 436; 686-688
• IPCC. (2007) Climate change 2007: the physical science basis (summary for policy makers), IPCC.
• Jones, C. Climate Change: Facts and Impacts [online]. Available from: What effects are we seeing now and what is still to come?
• Miller, C. and Edwards, P. N. (ed.)(2001) Changing the Atmosphere: Expert Knowledge and Environmental Governance, MIT Press
• Ruddiman, W. F. (2003) The anthropogenic greenhouse era began thousands of years ago, Climate Change 61 (3): 261-293
• Ruddiman, W. F. (2005) Plows, Plagues and Petroleum: How Humans Took Control of Climate, Princeton University Press
• Ruddiman, W. F., Vavrus, S. J. and Kutzbach, J. E. (2005) A test of the overdue-glaciation hypothesis, Quaternary Science Review, 24:11
• Schmidt, G. A., Shindel, D. T. and Harder, S. (2004) A note of the relationship between ice core methane concentrations and insolation GRL v31 L23206

Other websites

• The Climate Change Guide easy-to-understand information on Climate Change

Public administrations and organizations

• US EPA climate change and global warming website
• The UN Climate Change Secretariat
• United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP): Climate Change Page
• Introduction to climate change: Lecture notes for meteorologists
• European Union page about Climate Change.

Other links

• Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports regarding Climate change
• The Pew Center on Global Climate Change
• Climate Change - An Information Statement of the American Meteorological Society, updated Feb. 2007.
• Summary of the Impacts of Climate Change from The Nature Conservancy
• Climate change and global warming - World Wide Fund for Nature.
• Global Change - globalchange.org
• Impacts of a Warming Arctic: Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (2004) by the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment
• How To Help Prevent Global Warming Articles And Newsletter
• UN scientist backs '350' target for CO2 reduction
• Climate change dates back to dawn of first farmers March 3, 2013 USA Today

BBC articles

• Nov 2006: Carbon emissions show sharp rise
• Oct 2006: Guide to Climate Change
• Nov 2005: 'Gas muzzlers' challenge Bush
• Oct 2005: Earth - melting in the heat?
• Oct 2005: Europe study shows climate risks
• Feb 2005: Greenhouse gases 'do warm oceans'
• Ongoing: BBC Climate Change Experiment