Climate change (sometimes referred to with the misunderstood term "global warming") is the warming of the earth's average temperature, above and beyond normal geological cycles, caused by human activity on earth, such as burning fossil fuels or overfarming.
How does climate change affect us?
If the average temperature goes up, weather patterns change. This change doesn't mean it gets warmer all over. It means that some areas experience extensive flooding and heavy rains, while some experience drought.
It means that sea levels rise and saline ratios in the oceans change. It means many more severe storms of every type. This change in turn changes agriculture- the same crops won't grow, the same plants can't live. In drought areas, it means food shortages for huge populations. It also means water shortages, as clean water supplies that used to run from snowmelt into rivers are depleted and unavailable to growing cities.
While there are still a few naysayers, we'll take the word of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the International Panel on Climate Change, and former veep and Nobel winner Al Gore. You don't ride on Airforce 2 for that long without getting to know what's really going on!
Want to learn more? Watch these video primers on climate change from Al Gore at the TED conference.
One was the presentation he gave in 2006 - before "An Inconvenient Truth" was released - and the more recent 2008 Update on the numbers.
"Climate change affects people, plants, and animals. Scientists are working to better understand future climate change and how the effects will vary by region and over time.....Scientists have observed that some changes are already occurring.
Observed effects include sea level rise, shrinking glaciers, changes in the range and distribution of plants and animals, trees blooming earlier, lengthening of growing seasons, ice on rivers and lakes freezing later and breaking up earlier, and thawing of permafrost. Another key issue being studied is how societies and the Earth's environment will adapt to or cope with climate change..."
