Introduction to Climate Change

Climate change is an important topic that many people around the world are talking about. The United Nations has sponsored a series of climate change talks. One of the ones that people know best is the United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference. In 2017, the UN Climate Change Conference was in Bonn, Germany.

When scientists research climate change, they try to understand why the weather patterns on the Earth change over long periods of time. This is a large and difficult task. The weather patterns change in different ways, and there could be a lot of different ways to explain the changes that we have seen over time.

Of all of the different kinds of climate change, the one that usually receives the most attention is called "Global Warming." Meteorologists and Earth scientists have measured the average global temperature for hundreds of years, and they have found something interesting: the average global temperature has increased by about 0.75 degrees Celsius (1.3 degrees Fahrenheit) over the last 100 years! This might sound like a small change, but it can greatly affect the way that the world works. Some scientists fear that if the temperature of the earth increases, it could indirectly lead to more extreme weather patterns. Droughts might happen more often in some places and less often in others. Near the ocean, coastal flooding might start happening more often.

Some scientists theorize that this increase in global temperature is because of the way that we humans live our lives. In these resources, you will learn about the scientific theory that says that humans are making choices that warm up our planet. First, you will learn about the "Greenhouse Effect" that allows the Earth to collect the heat from the sun. Then, you will learn about how human activity may be increasing the greenhouse effect. Finally, you will learn about how an increase in the global temperature could lead to more extreme weather patterns.