Climate Change
Gavin Schmidt and Joshua Wolfe
22 min
7 Key Points
5 RateWhat's inside?
Explore the reality of climate change through compelling images and scientific explanations, and understand its impact on our world.
You'll learn
1. What's the real deal with climate change?2. How's climate change messing up our world?3. Making sense of all those climate charts and graphs.4. Are we causing climate change?5. How can we fight back against climate change?6. Why it's crucial to talk about climate change.Key points
01Understanding the Basics of Climate Change
Have you ever noticed how the weather seems to be getting more unpredictable? Summers are hotter, winters are colder, and storms are more frequent and severe. This isn't just a coincidence or a string of bad luck. It's a sign of a much larger, more complex issue: climate change. Let's start with the basics. Picture the Earth as a greenhouse. The glass walls and roof of a greenhouse allow sunlight in, but they don't let all of it out. This trapped heat warms the greenhouse, helping plants inside to grow. The Earth's atmosphere works in a similar way, with certain gases playing the role of the greenhouse's glass walls and roof. These are what we call greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, trap heat from the sun in the Earth's atmosphere. This leads to an increase in the Earth's average temperature, a phenomenon known as global warming. But climate change is more than just global warming. It involves long-term shifts in weather patterns, including changes in precipitation, wind patterns, and the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. So, where do these greenhouse gases come from? Well, a lot of it comes from us. Every time we drive a car, heat our homes, or power our electronics, we burn fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas. This burning process releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Other human activities, like deforestation and industrial processes, also contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. For example, when we cut down forests to make way for farms or cities, we lose valuable carbon sinks—trees that absorb carbon dioxide—and release more of this gas into the atmosphere. But how do we know that climate change is real? The evidence is all around us. Scientists use temperature records, ice cores, and sea level data to track changes in the Earth's climate. For instance, temperature records show that the Earth's average temperature has been steadily rising over the past century. Ice cores—cylinders of ice drilled from glaciers and ice sheets—provide a snapshot of past climates, revealing that current levels of greenhouse gases are higher than they've been for hundreds of thousands of years. And sea level data shows that the world's oceans are rising, a result of melting ice and warming waters. Taken together, this evidence paints a clear and concerning picture: climate change is real, it's happening now, and it's largely caused by human activities. But understanding the basics of climate change is just the first step. We all have a role to play in mitigating this global issue. Simple actions, like reducing our energy use, planting trees, and supporting renewable energy, can make a big difference. So let's roll up our sleeves and get to work. After all, the future of our planet depends on it.
02Understanding Climate Modeling: Predictions, Uncertainties, and Policy Implications
Ever wondered how we can predict the future of our climate? It's a bit like playing a complex computer game, where the game is our planet and the rules are the laws of physics. This is the essence of climate modeling, a tool that scientists use to understand and predict how our climate will change in the future. Climate modeling is a bit like creating a virtual Earth on a computer. Scientists use mathematical equations to represent the physical, biological, and chemical processes that affect our climate. These equations simulate everything from the flow of air and water, to the growth of plants, to the reflection of sunlight off the Earth's surface. By adjusting the inputs to these equations, scientists can see how changes in factors like greenhouse gas concentrations or solar radiation might affect our climate. One of the key inputs to these models is the trajectory of greenhouse gas emissions. These trajectories represent different possible futures, depending on how much greenhouse gas we emit into the atmosphere. For example, one trajectory might assume that we continue to emit greenhouse gases at our current rate, while another might assume that we drastically reduce our emissions. By running the climate model with these different trajectories, scientists can predict a range of possible future climates. But just like any computer game, climate models aren't perfect. They have their uncertainties, which come from things like the complexity of the climate system and the limitations of our knowledge and computing power. These uncertainties are quantified and factored into the model results, giving us a range of possible outcomes rather than a single definitive prediction. So, while we can't say exactly what the climate will be like in 50 years, we can say that it's likely to be within a certain range. Despite these uncertainties, climate models play a crucial role in informing policy decisions. They help us understand the potential consequences of our actions and guide us in developing strategies to mitigate and adapt to climate change. For example, if a model predicts that a certain region will become drier in the future, policymakers might decide to invest in water conservation measures in that region. In conclusion, understanding climate modeling is crucial for understanding our future. These models provide us with the best predictions we have about how our climate will change, and they play a key role in shaping our response to climate change. So next time you hear about a new climate prediction, remember that it's not just a guess - it's the result of a complex simulation run on some of the most powerful computers in the world. And it's something that could have real implications for your life and your community.
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03Impacts of Climate Change: From Biodiversity to Human Health
04Strategies for Mitigating Climate Change
05Understanding the Challenges of Communicating Climate Change
06Understanding International Climate Change Policy
07Conclusion
About Gavin Schmidt and Joshua Wolfe
Gavin Schmidt is a climatologist, climate modeler and Director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Joshua Wolfe is a professional photographer and founder of GHG Photos, a photography agency focused on climate change. Both are co-authors, combining science and imagery to communicate about climate change.