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. Climate change is now a major concern especially in colder countries. Climate change can be warmer or colder. This includes global warming and global cooling.

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 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 Mars. Examples include the melting of ice caps at the South Pole and North Pole. These changes may take tens, hundreds or perhaps millions of years.

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

Some people have suggested trying to keep Earth’s temperature increase below 2 °C (3.6 °F). On February 7, 2018, The Washington Post reported on a study by scientists in Germany. The study said that if the world built all of the coal plants that were currently planned, carbon dioxide levels would rise so much that the world would not be able to keep the temperature increase below this limit .

Related pages

• Deforestation
• Earth Hour
• Ecology
• Natural disaster
• United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

Further reading

• Edwards, Paul Geoffrey; Miller, Clark A. (2001). Changing the atmosphere: expert knowledge and environmental governance. Cambridge MA: MIT Press. 
• McKibben, Bill (2011). The global warming reader. New York, N.Y.: OR Books. 
• Ruddiman W.F. (2003). "The anthropogenic greenhouse era began thousands of years ago". Climate Change 61 (3): 261–293.  [1]
• Ruddiman, William F. (2005). Plows, plagues, and petroleum: how humans took control of climate. Princeton N.J: Princeton University Press. 
• Schelling, Thomas C. 2002. "Greenhouse Effect". Concise Encyclopedia of Economics (1st). Ed. David R. Henderson (ed.). Library of Economics and Liberty.  OCLC 317650570, 50016270 and 163149563