GLOBAL WARMING vs CLIMATE CHANGE

“Climate change” and “global warming” are often used interchangeably but have distinct meanings.
Global warming refers to the rise in global temperature, while climate change is a long-term change in the average weather patterns that have been defining the Earth’s local, regional and global climates.

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Global warming

While the Earth’s climate has changed throughout its history, the current warming is happening at a rate not seen in the past 10,000 years. The long-term heating of the Earth’s surface observed since the late 19th century is called “global warming”: it is due to human activities which are responsible for almost all the increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Ever since the Industrial Revolution humans have burned fossil fuels, releasing huge amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2)1 and other gases into the atmosphere: these are known as greenhouse gases, and their impact is called the greenhouse effect.


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1 The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere far exceeds the naturally occurring range seen during the last 650,000 years.


Greenhouse effect

The greenhouse effect begins with the Sun and the energy it radiates to the Earth. The Earth absorbs some of this energy and radiates the rest back into space. Naturally occurring gases in the atmosphere trap some of this energy and reflect it back, warming the Earth and keeping our average temperature comfortable. These gases act like the glass walls of a greenhouse, hence the name. Scientists now believe that the greenhouse effect is being intensified by the extra greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which are trapping more and more radiation that cannot escape to space, thus causing the Earth to warm up. Warmer temperatures over time are changing weather patterns and disrupting the usual balance of nature. This poses many risks to human beings and all other forms of life on Earth.

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Climate change

Global climate is the connected system of sun, earth, oceans, ecosystems and human activities. Even slight increases in average global temperatures can have huge effects. Greenhouse gas emissions affect more than just temperature. In fact, global climate change leads to longterm changes over the entire Earth. These include waves of extreme heat, heavy snowfalls, increasingly violent hurricanes, long period of drought, rising sea level, reduction of mountain glaciers, ice melting2 at a faster rate than usual, and timing alteration of plant life cycle events.


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2 Greenland and Antarctic are losing ice six times faster than they were in the 1990s, causing changes to ecosystems and human communities.