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Instructions:  Use this column for evidence you find to support "what we have heard".  Please type what you have learned, and also copy and paste the website where this information came from.

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Instructions:  Use this column for evidence you find to support "what we have heard".  Please type what you have learned, and also copy and paste the website where this information came from.

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Please also sign your name to your note, like this:
-Chris Willems

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I have heard that it's harming animals, and also it is very unhealthy for the world

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I have heard that it affects the weather and causes change in the climate

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I have heard that climate change is affecting the plants and letting them die due to the heat.

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I have heard that climate change is affecting the plants and letting them die due to the heat.

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"More Than 250,000 People May Die Each Year Due to Climate Change"

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Deforestation can be a cause of climate change. There are effects to climate change.

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Fossil Fuels release carbon dioxide which traps heat in our atmosphere causing climate change

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the ice is melting because of all the factors  and because of
the climate change

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affects weather

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The first thing I've heard about climate change is that it affects the weather of the area. The second thing I've heard is climate change happening in either tropical areas or in the arctic.

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The first thing I've heard about climate change is that it affects the weather of the area. The second thing I've heard is climate change happening in either tropical areas or in the arctic.

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I heard its making the earth warm.

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I have heard that it's harming animals, and also it is very unhealthy for the world

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I have heard that it's harming animals, and also it is very unhealthy for the world

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2019 was the second warmest year and California wildfires are due to climate change.

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2019 was the second warmest year and California wildfires are due to climate change.

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I've heard that it's harming animals and it's unhealthy for the world.

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Climate change is where a large shift in weather patterns. I hear people say that it is a bad thing because of fossil fuels.

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I've heard that climate change rises the temperature, and it can be harmful to places like Greenland where it has a lot of ice.

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its melting the ice also that theirs a clock in new York that's its counting down the time of rescores we have

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- I've heard that climate change changes our universe to different types of weather that can either have a good impact in our world or not.

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~I've heard that climate warming is a global warming and it effects human's emission.

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~It mostly affects large shifts in the earth's weather

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It mostly affects out weather.

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If all the ice melts it can really do harm on us it can bring sea levels way up

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The world’s population is currently vulnerable to climate change impacts

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"Humans and wild animals face new challenges for survival because of climate change. More frequent and intense drought, storms, heat waves, rising sea levels, melting glaciers and warming oceans can directly harm animals, destroy the places they live." -world wildlife fund

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- "Global climate change has already had observable effects on the environment. Glaciers have shrunk, ice on rivers and lakes is breaking up earlier, plant and animal ranges have shifted and trees are flowering sooner."- https://climate.nasa.gov/effects/

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Instructions:   Use this column for evidence you find that does NOT support "what we have heard".  Please type what you have learned, and also copy and paste the website where this information came from.

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Instructions:   Use this column for evidence you find that does NOT support "what we have heard".  Please type what you have learned, and also copy and paste the website where this information came from.

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Please also sign your name to your note, like this:
-Chris Willems

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This is the column to put ideas that you think you need more information, evidence or research support from our team.

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This is the column to put ideas that you think you need more information, evidence or research support from our team.

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Please also sign your name to your note, like this:
-Chris Willems

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"The oceans are getting hotter, expanding and becoming more acidic. They are getting hotter because they absorb 90 percent of the extra heat in the climate. This shift causes the oceans to expand, contributing to higher sea levels, and strips corals of their vivid colors." - https://www.edf.org/climate/how-climate-change-plunders-planet

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I've heard that Climate change is already affecting wildlife all over the world.

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climate change is a threat to agriculture.

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"...Food is vitally connected to our climate's normal patterns. Farmers, worldwide are struggling to keep up with the weather's  shifting patterns and increasingly unpredictable water supplies. Events also threaten crop yields, such as through flooding or the reduce of water."
https://www.edf.org/climate/how-climate-change-plunders-planet

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"Polar animals- whose icy natural habitat is melting in the warmer temperatures are particularly at risk."  "It's not just polar animals who are in trouble"
-National geographic.

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"Climate change influences severe weather by causing longer droughts and higher temperatures in some regions and more intense deluges in others, say climate experts"
-national geographic

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SURVIVING STORMS

A fierce cyclone hits Bangladesh about every three years. In 1991 Cyclone Marian killed 140,000. In 2007 Cyclone Sidr flattened 565,000 homes, but a warning system and fortified shelters helped limit deaths to 3,500. Today restoring coastal mangroves and hillside forests aims to stave off surging seas, landslides, and floods during future storms.

SUCCUMBING TO HEAT

The global average temperature in May 2015 was the highest on record. In India some 2,200 people perished during a ten-day heat wave when reported highs hit 113°F (45°C). To cope, the city of Ahmadabad offered potable water and cooling centers in high-risk areas and trained health aides to treat heat-related illness.

RISING SEAS, RISING CONCERNS

Climate change may not cause a particular storm, but rising sea levels can worsen its impact. In 2012 a nine-foot storm surge from Hurricane Sandy hit New York City at high tide, making the water 14 feet higher than normal at the tip of Manhattan. Flooding destroyed neighborhoods and beaches in outer boroughs. The sea level in this area is rising by more than an inch each decade-twice as fast as the global average-and is predicted to rise 11 to 21 inches by 2050. To prepare, the city is implementing coastal resiliency measures: A multiuse project will create more green spaces for city residents as well as a system of floodwalls, berms, and retractable barriers for enhanced storm protection.

THE PRICE OF NATURAL CATASTROPHES

Costly storm and flood damage to burgeoning coastal infrastructure is growing. Innovations such as building floating villages and relocating vulnerable assets away from rising seas can reduce risk and losses.

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5 Ways Climate Change Will Affect You: Wild Weather

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Climate change will likely cause longer droughts and higher temperatures in some regions and more intense precipitation in others. People worldwide are adjusting to new and more extreme weather by strengthening warning, shelter, and protection systems.

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I heard that climate change has taken away habitats from animals and ruining weather worldwide for everyone

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I heard that climate change is causing global warming. and that it has something to do with pollution

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"You can think of global warming as one type of climate change. The broader term covers changes beyond warmer temperatures, such as shifting rainfall patterns."

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The Science of Climate Change Explained: Facts, Evidence and Proof

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Definitive answers to the big questions.

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- "Earth's climate is now changing faster than at any point in the history of modern civilization, primarily as a result of human activities. Global climate change has already resulted in a wide range of impacts across every region of the country and many sectors of the economy that are expected to grow in the coming decades." - https://www.globalchange.gov/climate-change

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"If climate change goes unaddressed, food prices could rise, availability could drop and the consequence, especially for those that are most vulnerable, could be limited access to food. But progress is being made. Farmers and scientists are working together to help mitigate the effects of climate change, help make farms more resilient, and keep our food supply affordable and reliable."
-https://www.bayer.com/en/news-stories/modern-approach-combatting-climate-change

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- I have learned that many things occur when climate change is included. Climate change harms animals and plants, fire is included, affects Greenland, causes fires, deforestation, different temperatures, etc..
One piece of inaccurate evidence is, "Numerous studies in peer-reviewed scientific journals show that at least 97% and actively publishing climate scientists agree that climate-warming trends over the past century are extremely likely due to human activities." - https://www.ramanan.com/personal-blog/climate-denial-inaccurate-facts
^ I don't know if I'm correct. I was stuck. (Note from Chris Willems: does this information say something we heard about climate change is not true?  That's what this column is for.  For example, if somebody said that climate change said they heard climate change was caused by volcanoes, not human activity, this information would show that to NOT be true.  Does this help?)

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I've heard that climate change is affecting the weather

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 Naheda, "You can think of global warming as one type of climate change in others, say climate experts"  -national geographic. (Please help us understand which statement this went with.  Where did the information come from?)

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 Naheda, "You can think of global warming as one type of climate change in others, say climate experts"  -national geographic. (Please help us understand which statement this went with.  Where did the information come from?)

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I heard that climate change has taken away habitats from animals and ice is melting from south pole and north pole.
https://www.ipcc.ch/

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"Myth #1: It's the sun.

While it is true that varying intensity of energy from the sun has driven long-term climate changes like ice ages in the distant past, the sun can not explain the recent spike in warming."

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If you've ever engaged in a discussion about climate change, in person or online, you've probably encountered some arguments about what the science says. Some of those claims may sound logical but are actually misleading or inaccurate.

In fact, misconceptions and outright misinformation have gotten so out of hand, just days ago NASA felt the need to publicly address one of the most popular myths: that a decrease in the the sun's output will soon trigger cooling and a mini ice age.

This and other topics have been studied thoroughly and debunked over and over again by climate scientists. Nevertheless these myths persist, often as a result of an organized disinformation campaign waged by special interests whose goal is to raise doubts among the public and delay action on human-caused climate change.

Here is a look at 10 of the most common myths about climate change that persist in the public sphere and what science has to say about them.
Myth #1: It's the sun.
While it is true that varying intensity of energy from the sun has driven long-term climate changes like ice ages in the distant past, the sun can not explain the recent spike in warming.

Over tens and hundreds of thousands of years, the Earth's tilt and orbit around the sun varies in predictable cycles. The way these cycles interact with each other cause gradual increases or decreases in the energy from the sun reaching the Earth. That change in energy can gradually - over thousands of years - ease the Earth into and out of ice age cycles. Over about the past 800,000 years, these ice/melt cycles have occurred about every 100,000 years.

But the pace of the recent temperature spike has been markedly faster - taking place over 150 years, with the majority happening over just the past few decades. At that same time, the sun's output has been going in the opposite direction, diverging from the direction in temperature. As this NASA graph shows, solar irradiance is down slightly from a peak in the 1950s.

In fact, according to NASA, in late 2020 the current solar cycle is headed for its lowest level since 1750, meaning the lowest energy output from the sun in 270 years. Still, that change in output is minor, having varied by only 0.1% since 1750.
Myth #2: Carbon dioxide levels are tiny. They can't make a difference.
It's true, carbon dioxide (CO2) makes up a tiny fraction of the atmosphere, less than a tenth of a percent. But because of CO2's powerful heat-trapping greenhouse properties, its presence makes a huge difference. Currently, CO2 levels keep Earth's temperature at a comfortable average of nearly 60 degrees Fahrenheit. As shown in the below animation, if CO2 abruptly dropped to zero, Earth's average temperature would also drop far below freezing, eradicating most life as we know it.

It should be noted: the drop in CO2 doesn't directly cause the whole drop in temperature. Other feedbacks occur when CO2 is eliminated. Water vapor condenses out as temps fall thus tanking its greenhouse effect & Albedo (reflected sun) increases bec. of ice growth = more cooling.
- Jeff Berardelli (@WeatherProf) November 20, 2019

To be clear, a drop in CO2 wouldn't directly cause the whole drop in temperature. The biggest impact comes from the most abundant greenhouse gas, water vapor, which condenses out due to the fact that colder air holds less water vapor; this is what tanks the greenhouse effect in the simulation. Positive feedbacks like the growth of ice cover would further precipitate the temperature plunge. But it's CO2 which drives all this change.

Because small concentrations of carbon dioxide have an outsized impact, scientists are very concerned about the recent unprecedented rate of increase. For the vast majority of the past million years, CO2 levels have been below 280 parts per million. Since the industrial revolution of the 1800s, levels have jumped to 415 parts per million - an astounding 48% increase in 150 years.

As the below graph shows, that dramatic increase in carbon dioxide levels coincides with the rapid warming.

Myth #3: Scientists disagree on the cause of climate change.

Contrary to popular belief, scientists do not disagree that climate change is happening and that it is caused by humans. Various analyses over many years have shown that between 90% and 100% of publishing climate scientists agree that humans are the main cause of our warming climate. Many studies have evaluated the scientific consensus, but the most famous, which as of this summer has been downloaded 1 million times, is this 2013 paper quantifying that agreement at over 97%.

According to NASA, "Multiple studies published in peer-reviewed scientific journals show that 97 percent or more of actively publishing climate scientists agree: Climate-warming trends over the past century are extremely likely due to human activities. In addition, most of the leading scientific organizations worldwide have issued public statements endorsing this position."

For perspective, NASA Goddard Institute climate scientist Kate Marvel put this consensus into relatable terms, "We are more sure that greenhouse gas is causing climate change than we are that smoking causes cancer."

Despite this scientific consensus, only 1 in 5 Americans understand that almost all climate scientists agree that climate change is real and caused by humans. That is called the " Consensus Gap."

Myth #4: The climate has always changed. It's natural.

No scientist will disagree that the climate changes naturally. It always has and it always will. What makes the recent changes stand out is the unprecedented pace of change.

Because "the present anthropogenic (human-caused) carbon release rate is unprecedented during the past 66 million years," as scientists concluded in a 2016 study in Nature Geoscience, the rate of temperature rise is 10 times faster than that of the last mass extinction about 56 million years ago.

Science has a firm handle on the various reasons why the climate changes naturally. Two examples are long-term fluctuations in sunlight due to changes in Earth's orbit, which modulate ice ages, and shorter-term release of sun-dimming ash from large volcanoes, like Mount Pinatubo, which cooled Earth's surface by 1 degree Fahrenheit in 2001.

None of these natural changes can explain the spike in heating since the 1800s. In contrast, physics calculates that most of the recent warming stems from heat-trapping greenhouse gases released by the burning of fossil fuels. According to climate scientist and data analyst Dr. Zeke Hausfather, "Our best estimate is that 100% of the warming the world has experienced is due to human activities. Natural factors - changes in solar output and volcanoes - would have led to slight cooling over the past 50 years."

Here's a brief video showing the different natural and human-caused factors which factor into temperature changes.

Myth #5: It's cold out. What happened to global warming?

It should be obvious that Earth as a whole can warm up and at the same time certain parts of the Earth can feel cold. Yet cold weather is common cited as evidence against climate change - both sincerely and, by some, disingenuously. Famously, in 2015, Senator Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma held up a snowball on the Senate floor on a cold winter day to deny the existence of climate change.

At issue here is the difference between weather and climate. When scientists use the term global warming, or climate change, it refers to a broad temperature shift across the entire Earth's surface over the course of years and decades. The term weather, on the other hand, is the short-term, sometimes abrupt day-to-day variation in any given location. A good way to think about it is: Weather is your mood; Climate is your personality. Global warming does not prohibit cold, it just makes extreme cold less intense and less likely. Winter is still winter, it's just not as wintery overall.

This is illustrated below. In recent decades, the ratio of record highs compared to record lows in the United States (and globally) is increasing, averaging approximately two record highs to every one record low. The duration of winter cold snaps is also decreasing, but of course cold air still exists.

Myth #6: In the 1970s scientists warned about a coming ice age. They were wrong. So why should we believe them now?
If you were of age in the 1970s you might remember a number alarming newspaper headlines warning of an ice age on the way. But a deeper dive reveals those articles were based on a small number of papers very much in the scientific minority.

In the mid 20th century, climate science was very much in its infancy - scientists were just learning to decipher the influence of competing forces regulating climate. In the 1960s and 1970s, the science began to mature as researchers unearthed the most prominent factors such as the cooling influence of aerosols and the warming influence of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide - concepts which have stood up to decades of rigorous testing.

Yet even at that early stage, a scientific consensus was emerging on warming, not cooling, in the near future. This was made clear by a 2008 study called "The Myth of the 1970s Global Cooling Scientific Consensus," which conducted a survey of the peer-reviewed literature from 1965 to 1979. The research team found that of the 71 related research papers, 44 indicated warming while only 7 indicated cooling (20 did not make projections either way). "Global cooling was never more than a minor aspect of the scientific climate change literature of the era, let alone the scientific consensus," the authors write.

So why then was there such an outsized influence in the social consciousness from these few cooling papers? For one thing, the paper suggests, ice ages make for very compelling and memorable headlines. But those stories often included contradictory evidence as well, and other news coverage at the time did focus on warming theories.

Selecting and highlighting past inaccuracies in science, even if they are the exception and not the rule, is an expedient way for politicians and opponents of climate action to sow doubt about the credibility of climate science.

In short, while a handful of scientists did predict cooling a half a century ago, that is a drop in the bucket compared to the tens of thousands of peer-reviewed scientific papers since then which substantiate that humans are heating the climate.
Myth #7: The temperature record is rigged or unreliable.
A common talking point among climate change skeptics is either "the temperature record is unreliable" or "the temperature record is rigged." That might be a plausible argument if all of science relied on just one or two records; however, there are many independent temperature records produced by various independent bodies worldwide, and their data are remarkably consistent with each other.

These organizations include NASA, NOAA, the UK Meteorological Service, the Japanese Meteorological Service and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, just to name a few.

One of the variables they have to account for is a phenomenon called the Urban Heat Island effect. Simply put, large cities - which are expanding - heat up the local atmosphere due to the concentration of dark surfaces, buildings and industries releasing heat. The concern is this extra heat may "contaminate" surface temperature trends. Scientists have studied this phenomena thoroughly and the surprising conclusion is that the warming trend in the temperature record of urban sites, in general, is similar to rural sites. So the urban heat island effect is real but not very substantial.

The temperature records are carefully fine-tuned by data experts to account for factors including the urban heat island effect, instrument sites being relocated, and instrument type changes. While each organization has its own unique methods for data gathering and analysis, the resulting temperature records are largely in sync.

Myth #8: Climate models are not accurate.

Considering how complex modeling the climate is, most model projections of future temperature, even the rather primitive climate computer models of the 1970s, 80s and 90s, were impressively accurate. This lends extra credibility to the much more advanced climate models of today in predicting future changes.

A recent study evaluated 17 climate model projections published between 1970 and 2007, with forecasts ending on or before 2017. The researchers found 14 of the 17 model projections were consistent with observed real-world surface temperatures, when they factored in the actual rise in greenhouse gas emissions. Here's the assessment of the lead scientist on the study, Dr. Zeke Hausfather: "Climate models have by and large gotten things right."

Dr. Gavin Schmitt, the head of NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, posted an even more recent assessment of the state-of-the-art collection of climate models run in the early 2000s called CMIP3. He concluded, "The CMIP3 simulations continue to be spot on (remarkably), with the trend in the multi-model ensemble mean effectively indistinguishable from the trends in the observations."

In the graph below, the model projection is the black line and the colored lines are the actual temperature datasets from various agencies. As you can see, the magnitude and pace of temperature change consistently match.

To be sure, evaluating global temperature projections are not the only gauge of a model's accuracy. Models can be expected to be accurate on general trends, such as whether global temperatures will warm, overall rainfall increase or hurricanes get stronger. However, when it comes to predicting regional changes and other specific types of events, the climate models are far from perfect. Future projections like whether rainfall will increase or decrease in San Francisco, or whether more or fewer hurricanes will hit Florida, are still uncertain and on the edge of climate models' current ability.

Myth #9: Grand Solar Minimum is coming. It will counteract global warming.

Many scientists speculate that we are now entering the beginning of a Grand Solar Minimum - a period with decreased solar energy which could last a few decades. There is a general acknowledgement that this speculation may be true, but there is a lack of scientific consensus because of limited understanding of longer-term solar cycles.

If this happens it certainly would not be the first time. The most famous Grand Solar Minimum, called the Maunder Minimum, spanned from 1645 to 1715. The period indeed corresponds with a decrease in temperature, but was embedded in a much longer-term cooling period called the Little Ice Age (from about the 1300s through the mid 1800s). While it seems logical to assume the cooling during the Little Ice Age may have been due to a decrease in solar activity, leading theories actually point more so to volcanic activity.

With that said, a scientific collaboration to reconstruct past temperatures, called PAGES2K, indicates that global average temperatures decreased by no more than a couple of tenths of a degree Celsius during the Maunder Minimum. During that time the solar irradiance decreased by one-quarter of one percent.

Several studies have been conducted on the potential impact of a Grand Solar Minimum in the coming decades. The consensus of these studies finds that global average temperatures would decrease by no more than around half a degree Fahrenheit, but likely less. In contrast, human-caused climate change has already warmed the planet by 2 degrees Fahrenheit since the late 1800s, and climate scientists forecast we could see about 4 degrees Fahrenheit of additional warming by 2100.

So, while a Grand Solar Minimum is possible, our best science tells us it would do nothing more than make a small dent in the overall warming trend. According to NASA, that amount of cooling would be balanced by just three years of greenhouse gas emissions and the warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions from the human burning of fossil fuels is six times greater than a possible decades-long cooling from a prolonged Grand Solar Minimum. And any impact of cooling would be short-lived, with temperatures bouncing right back after the minimum ends.

It's also worth mentioning that during the Maunder Minimum certain regions, like Europe, cooled more than others. If this reoccurs during the next minimum, regional cooling may be slightly more impactful on those given regions, but it would still pale in comparison to the amplitude of warming from human-caused climate change.

Myth #10: Scientists claim climate change will destroy the planet by 2030.

Climate scientists are often accused of making alarming assertions about climate change, like "the impacts will be catastrophic by 2030" or "we only have a decade left to save the planet." First and foremost, scientists are not predicting this. However, some politicians and media headlines have used select bits of scientific data to fuel the impression of impending Armageddon.

This specific myth comes directly from a quote in the 2018 Special Report produced by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Here's what the quote actually says:

"The report finds that limiting global warming to 1.5°C would require 'rapid and far-reaching' transitions in land, energy, industry, buildings, transport, and cities. Global net human-caused emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) would need to fall by about 45 percent from 2010 levels by 2030, reaching 'net zero' around 2050."

To simplify, the report concludes that if the global community wants to avoid breaching the threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming, then we need to abruptly cut emissions by rapidly reducing the use of fossil fuels by the end of the decade. At this point the globe has already warmed by slightly more than 1 degree Celsius; the vast majority of scientists agree there is little to no chance that warming will be held below 1.5 degrees.

Staying below 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming is a goal often cited as the limit needed to prevent the most severe consequences from climate change. But 1.5 degrees is not a magical cut-off point. There is no bright line separating "normal" from "catastrophic." Rather, the impacts of global warming get progressively worse as temperatures incrementally rise. Some have already started.

One lead author of the IPCC report, Hans-Otto Pörtner, said, "Every extra bit of warming matters, especially since warming of 1.5°C or higher increases the risk associated with long-lasting or irreversible changes, such as the loss of some ecosystems."

For people who live near sea level, like on low-lying Pacific islands, 1.5 degrees of warming will in fact be catastrophic, because it can mean the difference between an inhabitable and uninhabitable homeland due to sea-level rise. For others who are less vulnerable or have more resources, 1.5 degrees won't have quite as drastic an impact.

The IPCC report lays out many other examples of the escalating damage produced by warming above 1.5 degrees. For instance, at that level of warming, it's estimated that coral reefs will decline another 70% to 90%. If we hit 2 degrees Celsius of warming, the death toll for coral reefs jumps to 99%. This would not only be devastating to the aquatic species which rely directly on reefs, but also to millions of people worldwide who depend on the ecosystem for sustenance and business, as well as the web of life as a whole.

So, no, the world will not end in 10 years due to climate change. But the longer action is delayed, the more dire the consequences will be and the more likely it is that the changes will be irreversible.

The Skeptical Science website has compiled an exhaustive list of common myths and misconceptions about human-caused climate change, each complemented by peer-reviewed scientific research to illuminate the topics.

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10 common myths about climate change - and what science really says

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If you've ever engaged in a discussion about climate change, in person or online, you've probably encountered some arguments about what the science says. Some of those claims may sound logical but are actually misleading or inaccurate.

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"Humans and wild animals face new challenges for survival because of climate change. More frequent and intense droughts, storms, heat waves, rising sea levels, melting glaciers and warming oceans can directly harm animals, destroy and places they live." -https://www.worldwildlife.org/

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I heard that they are attributed to very small variations in Earth’s orbit that change the amount of solar energy our planet receives

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''We are releasing more and more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere these days, and this is causing our atmosphere to absorb more and more heat (global warming). The greater heat is leading to regional and global changes in average temperature, precipitation, wind and ocean currents, and storms. That is, global warming is causing climate change.  Also, our oceans are absorbing more carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere, which reacts with water to form carbonic acid.  This makes our oceans more acidic, and this is harmful for ocean life.'' I feel like this statement is accurate because the website is telling us how the greenhouse gases are releasing more and more.

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What's happening?

Our atmosphere contains greenhouse gases (such as carbon dioxide and methane) that absorb heat from the sun. This is good, because it makes our planet warm enough to sustain life. But we are releasing more and more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere these days, and this is causing our atmosphere to absorb more and more heat (global warming). The greater heat is leading to regional and global changes in average temperature, precipitation, wind and ocean currents, and storms. That is, global warming is causing climate change. Also, our oceans are absorbing more carbon dioxide (CO ₂) from the atmosphere, which reacts with water to form carbonic acid. This makes our oceans more acidic, and this is harmful for ocean life.

What's causing it?

The earth's climate changes naturally over long periods of time, but the changes we're seeing now are much faster, and they are caused by things people do. When we burn coal, oil, and gas, or grow pigs and cows for meat, we release greenhouse gases like CO ₂ and methane into the air. When we cut down trees, we're taking away plants that otherwise would be absorbing some of the CO ₂.

What are the consequences of climate change?

As ocean water warms and expands, and as polar ice caps melt, sea levels will rise and flood coastal areas where people live. Changes in average temperature, wind patterns, and ocean currents mean that some parts of the world will get hotter and some will get colder. Many areas will suffer colder lows and hotter highs.

Changes in climate and acid in oceans will affect the habitats where plants and animals live. Many species of plants and animals will not be able to adapt in time and will become extinct.

Changes in precipitation and mountain snow cover will result in many areas having less water, which will make it harder to grow food. Some parts of the world may become drier, while others may have more floods. In some countries people may fight with each other over food, or countries might go to war with each over food and other resources. Many people may become refugees because their homes and land have flooded and they can't make a living.

We can't predict exactly what will happen in any one place, but we're already seeing some bad effects for people, animals, and plants, and we can expect that there will be more. Some changes will take place suddenly, and others will take place gradually over the course of this century and the next.

What can we do?

We can't stop global warming and climate change completely, because the extra greenhouse gases in our atmosphere will continue to cause the planet to warm for awhile. But we can make better choices, individually and together, that will result in less greenhouse gas being released, and this will help make the problem smaller than it would otherwise be. We can also take steps to prepare ourselves and our communities for change. To learn more about what we can do, see our Climate Action for Kids page.

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What's happening? Our atmosphere contains greenhouse gases (such as carbon dioxide and methane) that absorb heat from the sun. This is good, because it makes our planet warm enough to sustain life. But we are releasing more and more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere these days, and this is causing our atmosphere to absorb more and more heat (global warming).

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"Polar bears are at risk because of their long generation times and small populations. According to the National Wildlife Federation, the amount of Arctic sea ice observed in 2012 was 49 percent less than in the 1980s and 1990s. Polar bears need thick near-shore ice on which to hunt seals, but with the sea ice dwindling so rapidly, polar bears must now swim, sometimes as long as 12 days, to reach offshore ice floes, and they often drown. The U. S. Geological Survey projects that two-thirds of the world’s polar bear sub-populations will be extinct by 2050" *Harmful for animals*

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Climate Change Poses Challenges to Plants and Animals

In the Rocky Mountains, climate change has raised summer temperatures 0.72˚ F each decade over the last 30 years, while snows are melting three to five days earlier in spring. Wildflowers bloom several days earlier, with peak flowering also occurring earlier. No one knows what this might eventually mean for pollinators. In Australia, warmer winters are forcing mountain pygmy possums out of hibernation earlier than their prey, the bogong moth, so many are starving to death. In Europe, roe deer, whose fertility is triggered by the length of days, are giving birth after the first flowers, which are blooming earlier than in the past. The mismatch of 36 days between birthing times and food availability is resulting in a decline in the deer population's fitness.

According to one study, spring, summer, fall and winter in the temperate zones are all arriving on average 1.7 days earlier than they did before 1950. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports that average temperatures in the U.S. have increased 0.14˚F per decade, and worldwide, the decade from 2001 to 2010 was the warmest on record since measurements began. The changing climate with its more extreme weather is already affecting many plant and animal species and disrupting ecosystem functioning.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that 20 to 30 percent of assessed plants and animals could be at risk of extinction if average global temperatures reach the projected levels by 2100. Evolution would have to occur 10,000 times faster than it typically does in order for most species to adapt and avoid extinction.

A 2011 study found that in response to warming temperatures, species are moving to higher elevations at an average rate of 36 feet per decade and to higher latitudes approximately 10 miles per decade, though individual species vary in their rates.

The National Wildlife Federation reports that 177 of 305 North American bird species shifted their range further north by 35 miles in the last 40 years; and over the last century, 14 species of small mammals extended their range 1,640 feet higher in the Sierra Nevada region. But many scientists say climate change is occurring too rapidly for the majority of species to outrun it. And even if some species are able to migrate northward or upward, they could enter territory where there is increased competition for food or unprecedented interactions with species they have never encountered before. Those that are already at their northern limits have no place left to go. For example, as forests move north into the tundra, many Arctic creatures such as caribou, arctic fox and snowy owl are losing their habitat. Other species may not be able to migrate due to geographical obstructions or man-made barriers such as cities or highways.

In addition to driving species to cooler regions, warming temperatures affect the timing of seasonal life cycle events of plants and animals such as mating, blooming or migration. One population of pink salmon in Auke Creek, Alaska, and sockeye salmon in the Columbia River are migrating to spawn earlier than they did 40 years ago in response to warmer water temperatures. The changing conditions can lead to mismatches of life cycle events, making growth or survival more difficult when babies are born or migrating animals arrive before or after their food is available. In one Dutch park, as spring arrives earlier, caterpillars are appearing earlier, but their predators, the great tits, are not always laying their eggs earlier, so the bird population is declining.

Pests and pathogens, however, benefit from warmer temperatures, which enable them to expand their territory and survive through the winter; their populations are on the increase.

From 1997 to 2010, mountain pine beetles destroyed trees on 26.8 million acres in the American West. Warmer winters have helped an oyster parasite extend its range from Chesapeake Bay north to Maine, with the potential to cause large oyster die-offs. The Aedes aegypti mosquito that carries dengue and yellow fever and that is usually found in Texas or the southeastern United States appeared as far north as San Francisco in 2013.

With less winter snowfall to insulate the soil and keep it warm, frozen soils result in more root death and nutrient runoff, which can produce algal blooms and dead zones where nothing can survive. Decreasing snow pack in the mountains can create a greater risk of winter and spring flooding, and means there will be less snowmelt runoff to cool streams in summer and fall. Changes in stream flow and temperature can damage habitat and stress fish and wildlife, disrupting their life cycle events. And as rivers and streams become warmer, warm-water fish are crowding cold-water fish out of their habitat.

Warming oceans become increasingly acidified, stressing corals and causing bleaching and die-offs. Warmer waters also cause the rapid melting of Arctic sea ice, which has ramifications all along the food chain: The decline of sea ice results in the loss of ice algae, which are eaten by zooplankton. Arctic cod, which feed on zooplankton, are the prey of seals, which in turn are the main food of polar bears.

Global warming is also intensifying rainfall, flooding, hurricanes and droughts. Changing precipitation patterns can affect plant growth, the amount of moisture in soils, nutrient runoff, water retention and insect prevalence. In California, drier conditions have meant less food for desert bighorn sheep. The drying up of ponds in Yellowstone National Park has led to the decline of four amphibian species. And in the Sonoran Desert in the southwest, some bird species stop breeding altogether during extreme drought conditions.

Over the last 50 years, the Arctic has warmed two to three times faster than the rest of the planet. The tundra is a treeless expanse with only low-lying growth where the subsoil is permanently frozen. Because of global warming, however, more and more woody deciduous shrubs are appearing. Natalie Boelman, assistant research professor at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, is studying the impacts of the changing conditions here on some of the millions of songbirds from all over the world that migrate to the Arctic in spring and summer to breed because of abundant food sources and fewer predators and parasites.

The increasing shrubbiness of the Arctic means that the habitat and food supply are changing. The Lapland longspurs that Boelman and her team are studying prefer to nest on the open tundra, while the Gambel's white-crowned sparrows favor shrubs. On the open tundra, spiders, beetles and more predator insects are prevalent. The shrubbier areas have many types of flies and grasshoppers, so all the birds are eating more flies which is their preferred food source.

Relative to 30 years ago, the sparrows' range limit has moved north by dozens of miles, tracking the shrubs they like to nest under as the shrubs move north. "Because of changing food availability and environmental conditions, the birds on the northern range are more stressed," said Boelman. "But they are doing it so far." Looking ahead, Boelman predicts there will be an increase in sparrow habitat and a decrease in longspur habitat. "It seems clear that shrub nesters will be happy, but open nesters will have a harder time. ... Maybe the longspurs can move further north, but it's a very waterlogged area, so they may be out of luck unless they can adapt to these shrubbier habitats."

Boelman's team is also researching the impacts of changing seasonality. The birds, which migrate based on day length cues unaffected by climate change, will likely continue to arrive in the Arctic at the same time each year. Their reproduction is timed to dovetail with the availability of insects, so that when chicks are born, there is plenty of food. With spring now beginning earlier, fall arriving later and a resulting longer growing season, Boelman is investigating whether the chicks will be hatching after the period of greatest insect availability and thus have a harder time surviving.

The Arctic generally has very unpredictable spring weather conditions, with huge swings between years. As it turned out, the growing season started 12 days late in 2013. The birds also showed up later, had their babies later, found enough insects to eat and did fine dealing with the delayed snowmelt. The delays had no significant effect on their reproduction. Boelman explained. "Animals living and migrating up there are well adapted to big swings and extremes. Perhaps they will react less to climate change because they are already well adapted. We are looking at if we are starting to exceed the range of conditions they can cope with."

While organisms that adapt evolve through natural selection over many generations, some individual organisms can change their features (developmental, behavioral and physical) during their lifetime in response to the environment through phenotypic plasticity. Plasticity enables organisms with identical genes to exhibit different traits in reaction to climate conditions through altering gene expression. For example, a Rocky Mountain wild mustard plant's traits normally vary according to whether it is growing at a low elevation with a hot, dry climate or at higher elevations under cold, wet conditions. Researchers found that when they simulated climate change by reducing the snowpack at an intermediate elevation, the plants flowered earlier and took on the appearance of the lower elevation plants.

Having phenotypic plasticity could allow some species to remain in place and give others time to migrate and adapt. Having more plasticity could also help some species migrating to new areas better adapt to unfamiliar conditions. How plastic a species is can also potentially evolve over time, as species with genes that allow for plasticity might survive better in changing climate conditions. It's also possible, however, that climate change could cause some organisms to change in ways that make them less able to adapt.

Factors other than plasticity also affect how well a species can adapt to climate change. The shorter the generation time (the time it takes for a species to go from one generation to another), the faster the evolutionary rate. The size of a particular population, the amount of genetic variability it has and the fitness of its individuals are also important variables. Adaptation could conceivably keep pace with climate change in situations where there is less environmental disruption, a good-sized population with genetic variation, short generation times and fit individuals.

For example, the Quino checkerspot butterfly, once common in Southern California, was thought to be at risk of extinction because of climate change and habitat loss. To the surprise of scientists, it adapted by shifting its range to higher ground and finding a completely new plant on which to lay its eggs.

Some corals in Samoa have also shown unexpected resilience in response to higher water temperatures. Scientists believe that natural selection may have favored the most heat-tolerant corals, allowing them to survive and produce more offspring.

While there are numerous examples of nature's resilience, today species also face the human-induced stresses of pollution, invasive species and habitat fragmentation or degradation, which can decrease or isolate populations and inhibit migration, all of which make adaptation more difficult.

Organisms that do not have the phenotypic plasticity or genetic variation that enable them to adapt to changing conditions may well face extinction. For example, the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker, which depends on the longleaf pine forests in the southeast U.S., has not shifted its range north at all. As its habitat changes, scientists do not know if the bird will survive.

Polar bears are at risk because of their long generation times and small populations. According to the National Wildlife Federation, the amount of Arctic sea ice observed in 2012 was 49 percent less than in the 1980s and 1990s. Polar bears need thick near-shore ice on which to hunt seals, but with the sea ice dwindling so rapidly, polar bears must now swim, sometimes as long as 12 days, to reach offshore ice floes, and they often drown. The U. S. Geological Survey projects that two-thirds of the world's polar bear sub-populations will be extinct by 2050.

A National Wildlife Federation report offers a range of recommendations to safeguard wildlife including:

Provide funding to federal and state programs that promote climate science and adaptation.

Make sure that steps taken to reduce carbon emissions minimize impacts on wildlife and their habitats.

Promote climate adaptation plans that enhance natural ecosystems and habitats while providing natural protection against extreme weather events.

Discourage development and infrastructure building in environmentally sensitive areas.

Make room for wildlife to shift their ranges in response to changing climate conditions by expanding parks and refuges and providing connectivity between them.

There are now a number of efforts to preserve larger expanses of land that allow for species to move. Landscapes that run north-south like the Yellowstone-to-Yukon project, a joint U.S. and Canada initiative seeking to preserve wild lands from Yellowstone to the Yukon, would allow organisms to move north to cooler temperatures. East-west landscapes would enable species to move away from the increasingly hot, dry West. The Wildlands Network aims to create four Continental Wildways, large protected areas for wildlife movement across North America.

The Nokuse Plantation in Florida, the largest private conservation project east of the Mississippi, is a strategic link between various tracts of existing protected lands. The Quabbin-to-Cardigan partnership's mission is to preserve 2 million acres of one of the largest areas of intact, ecologically important forest in central New England. And Regional Conservation Partnerships are helping private owners, public organizations and agencies in New England work together to preserve larger and connected areas of land.

Renowned evolutionary biologist E.O. Wilson believes the only way to prevent the sixth mass extinction of life on earth is to set aside half the planet for all the other species. He described his vision this way: "I see a chain of uninterrupted corridors forming, with twists and turns, some of them opening up to become wide enough to accommodate national biodiversity parks, a new kind of park that won't let species vanish."

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Climate Change Poses Challenges to Plants and Animals

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Because of climate change, spring, summer, fall and winter in the temperate zones are all arriving on average 1.7 days earlier than they ever have before. The changing climate with its more extreme weather is affecting many plant and animal species, disturbing their habitat and disrupting ecosystem functioning.

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Many other aspects of global climate are changing as well. High temperature extremes and heavy precipitation events are increasing, glaciers and snow cover are shrinking, and sea ice is retreating. Seas are warming, rising, and becoming more acidic, and flooding is become more frequent along the U.S. coastline.( it mean that as the climate gets worse so will the weather like the when it was raining o much we are going to have heavy rains get snow stores and the water level will stat to rise

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Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet

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The rate of change since the mid-20th century is unprecedented over millennia.

Earth's climate has changed throughout history. Just in the last 800,000 years, there have been eight cycles of ice ages and warmer periods, with the end of the last ice age about 11,700 years ago marking the beginning of the modern climate era - and of human civilization. Most of these climate changes are attributed to very small variations in Earth's orbit that change the amount of solar energy our planet receives.

This graph, based on the comparison of atmospheric samples contained in ice cores and more recent direct measurements, provides evidence that atmospheric CO2 has increased since the Industrial Revolution. (Credit: Luthi, D., et al.. 2008; Etheridge, D.M., et al. 2010; Vostok ice core data/J.R. Petit et al.; NOAA Mauna Loa CO2 record.) Find out more about ice cores (external site).

The current warming trend is different because it is clearly the result of human activities since the mid-1800s, and is proceeding at a rate not seen over many recent millennia. It is undeniable that human activities have produced the atmospheric gases that have trapped more of the Sun's energy in the Earth system. This extra energy has warmed the atmosphere, ocean, and land, and widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere, and biosphere have occurred.

Do scientists agree on climate change?

Yes, the vast majority of actively publishing climate scientists - 97 percent - agree that humans are causing global warming and climate change.

detailed answer

Earth-orbiting satellites and new technologies have helped scientists see the big picture, collecting many different types of information about our planet and its climate all over the world. These data, collected over many years, reveal the signs and patterns of a changing climate.

Scientists demonstrated the heat-trapping nature of carbon dioxide and other gases in the mid-19th century. Many of the science instruments NASA uses to study our climate focus on how these gases affect the movement of infrared radiation through the atmosphere. From the measured impacts of increases in these gases, there is no question that increased greenhouse gas levels warm Earth in response.

"Scientific evidence for warming of the climate system is unequivocal."

- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Ice cores drawn from Greenland, Antarctica, and tropical mountain glaciers show that Earth's climate responds to changes in greenhouse gas levels. Ancient evidence can also be found in tree rings, ocean sediments, coral reefs, and layers of sedimentary rocks. This ancient, or paleoclimate, evidence reveals that current warming is occurring roughly 10 times faster than the average rate of warming after an ice age. Carbon dioxide from human activities is increasing about 250 times faster than it did from natural sources after the last Ice Age.

References

References
Header image shows clouds imitating mountains as the sun sets after midnight as seen from Denali's backcountry Unit 13 on June 14, 2019. Credit: NPS/Emily Mesner

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Climate Change Evidence: How Do We Know?

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Vital Signs of the Planet: Global Climate Change and Global Warming. How do we know it's happening? Here's the evidence.

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I heard that climate change/global warming is caused by the greenhouse effect

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when sunlight reaches the earth, some of the energy that reaches the earths atmosphere gets reflected back into space, And some is absorbed into the earth and radiated as heat, and most of the heat and reflected by greenhouse gases into all directions, thus warming the planet

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I heard that climate change is everywhere we go .

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“Impacts related to climate change are evident across regions and in many sectors important to society—such as human health, agriculture and food security , water supply, transportation, energy, ecosystems, and others—and are expected to become increasingly disruptive in the coming decades”
globalchange.gov

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yea climate is everywhere we go

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Climate variability includes all the variations in the climate that last longer than individual weather events, whereas the term climate change only refers to those variations.

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I've learned that

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I heard about California fire, and Amazon fire.