Introduction to climate change (in depth)

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Hotter summer temperatures and more severe winter storms. Droughts that empty reservoirs at hydropower plants and walls of water that wipe out entire towns in mountain valleys. Extreme weather is making headlines – but is it really climate change?

Springboard

Weird weather? Or a changing climate
A brief history of climate change science
So, how are humans causing climate change?
Why is global warming a worrying trend?
Advance the investigation!
Up next:
Climate change2
Glossary
Lessons info
References

Weird weather? Or a changing climate

Storms, heat waves or cold snaps, and air pollution episodes are all prime examples of weather. For the most part, they are short-term events, happening at a specific location at a specific time. They also change continuously: the Sun bursts through the clouds five minutes after the downpour of a thunderstorm. Or it may be that no storm passed through just a few kilometres away.

Diverse factors determine climate and, in turn, can strongly influence weather. Average temperatures reflect how close a location is to the Equator or the North or South Pole. Countries situated in the Arabian Desert (e.g. Saudi Arabia and Oman) get just 50 millimetres (mm) of rain each year.^[1] Those in the Amazon region of South America are deluged in comparison, getting 1.8 to 3 metres (FTR, that’s 1 800 to 3 000 mm) annually.^[2]

The distinction between weather and climate explains why people can experience unusual cold spells, even as average global temperatures rise. The cold spell is changing weather – an isolated, short-term event happening locally. Higher average temperatures across many different climate zones are part of pattern that occurs over decades.

Watch this

Watch this video and try to identify three elements that are related to the changes in your local weather. Then ask your teacher to tell you how the summers and winters were different when they were young and try to find proof for these changes which are related to the climate changing:

Have your say

REFLECTION: We all talk about the weather all the time as it impacts what we wear and what we plan to do. What kind of weather do you prefer and why? Do you think your preferred season is changing because of climate change? Explain and document your reasoning.

Data dive

Take a look at this graph which indicates global average temperature anomaly over the past 70 years. What are you observing?

Global climate change is a relatively new phrase that has become a seriously ‘hot topic’ of debate. It focuses on whether the weather and climate today are substantially different than a few decades ago. It might seem that climate change is such a ‘new’ field of study – and that questioning its findings is logical. In fact, it goes back about 200 years – and solid evidence has been piling up. In fact, scientists have found super-cool ways to study past trends in how climates have already changed to calculate what might happen in the future.

A brief history of climate change science

The idea that life on Earth is influenced by a greenhouse gas effect first emerged in the early 1800s (although it wasn’t yet called that). Scientists found that certain gases in Earth’s atmosphere had a dual effect. By keeping heat from the Sun from escaping back into space, these gases kept the Earth’s surface temperature at around bout 14-15°C (57-49°F). For the record, without the greenhouse effect, the Earth's average surface temperature would plummet to −18 °C (−0.4 °F).

In turn, scientists began to look for clues about weather and climate patterns that pre-dated the data they could collect with the most advanced instruments of the day. Ultimately, they found ‘records’ stored in things rocks and sediments, tree rings, ice sheets, coral reefs and fossils. The study was known as paleoclimatology. They soon determined that past Ice Ages and other natural changes were linked to this effect.

As the Industrial Revolution ramped up, some scientists argued that burning modern fuels (e.g. coal and oil) would push up emissions of the greenhouse gases (GHGs) previously identified. These include CO2, methane, chlorofluorocarbons, nitrous oxide and ozone. In turn, this would alter the Earth's energy balance – that is, the equilibrium between the energy the Planet gets from the Sun and the energy it ‘loses’ into outer space.

In 1856, Eunice Newton Foote demonstrated that the Sun’s warming effect was stronger on air with water vapour than on dry air. Critically, she also showed that it was stronger where concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) were higher.^[3]

Fast forward – through a lot of studies across many different fields – to 1990. In its First Assessment Report, the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) built a solid case for the reality that GHG emissions linked to human activity were triggering climate change. And that the dominant trend was global warming.

Data dive

Take a look at this graph and see what types of fossil fuels have dominated since the industrial revolution:

Data dive

Take a look at this graph showing the Annual CO2 Emissions: Compare the emission of your country to those of some EU countries and non-EU countries, what do you observe? Then observe the World CO2 Emissions and compare it to the Global Fossil Fuels Consumption (graph above). Do the two graphs have any common features? If so, what, try to explain what you observe.


Weather	Climate
What are typical weather patterns in your city or country? What factors in your local environment influence weather? Do you think weather patterns have changed in your lifetime? What might you and your family have to do to cope with hotter summers or colder winters? Or more or less rain? Have any news stories about extreme weather events been linked to climate change? What was your personal experience of these events?	Are local weather patterns different than they were 30, 50 or 100 years ago? (Hint: try to find data and to get stories from your parents or grandparents.) Is there any evidence that climate change is already damaging local ecosystems? Is anybody doing something to address these environmental problems? The government? Non-governmental organisations?

Watch this

Take a look at this video to understand exactly how the greenhouse effect works on planet Earth and its climate:

So, how are humans causing climate change?

Lots of talk about climate change uses the term anthropogenic. It simply means that something ‘originates in or from human activity’ (as opposed to 'originating from natural sources').Until the Industrial Revolution, humans relied primarily on two very basic forms of energy: muscle power to move things and burning biomass (wood and other plant products) to create heat. The upside of shifting to fossil fuels was that it drove technological, social and economic development – at a pace never before experienced. People who could tap into this energy enjoyed many benefits.But digging up – and then burning – coal, oil and natural gas would release CO2 that nature, for millennia, had effectively kept underground or in other natural systems. The ‘extra’ CO2 is linked to an environmental ‘double whammy’:

Higher concentrations of GHGs cause Earth’s atmosphere to trap more heat.
Higher temperatures at the Earth’s surface degrade environments, reducing the natural ability to absorb GHGs.

Source:^[4]

Why is global warming a worrying trend?

More and more evidence shows that a warmer Planet is a potential threat to all living things. It also suggest a number of ‘domino’ and ‘multiplier’ effects. For example, higher ocean temperatures cause ice caps to melt, making sea levels rise and causing ocean acidification. More frequent and intense extreme weather events cause damage to ecosystems and loss of biodiversity, which can disrupt anything from water resources to agriculture and human societies.

Already, heat waves, severe storms and floods, and massive forest fires have forced millions of people around the World to relocate – sometimes on very short notice! In some cases, the move is temporary; in others, entire villages or towns have been destroyed. When this happens, people are said to be climate change refugees.

But extreme events are not the only problem. Gradual warming of the Planet is expected to have negative impacts human health and influence how people earn a living or carry out daily activities. It also threatens to disrupt essential services that underpin societies – such as access to clean water and affordable electricity.

Sooner or later, climate change will affect everyone, both directly and indirectly. But there’s also reason for hope. Explore more Yconic content to see what people are doing to save the Planet.

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Advance the investigation!

Help Yconic users learn more by adding an article that digs deeper. Here are a few questions to suggest ‘leads’ you could follow. Got a different question? Check with your teacher about how it fits with the bigger story of understanding weather and climate change.


Weather	Climate
What are typical weather patterns in your city or country? What factors in your local environment influence weather? Do you think weather patterns have changed in your lifetime? What might you and your family have to do to cope with hotter summers or colder winters? Or more or less rain? Have any news stories about extreme weather events been linked to climate change? What was your personal experience of these events?	Are local weather patterns different than they were 30, 50 or 100 years ago? (Hint: try to find data and to get stories from your parents or grandparents.) Is there any evidence that climate change is already damaging local ecosystems? Is anybody doing something to address these environmental problems? The government? Non-governmental organisations?

Up next:

Climate change2

Investigate further

ACTIVITY: Think of your preferred meal and use this graph to try to estimate the carbon footprint of it. Are any of the ingredients particularly GHG intensive? Could you replace these?

Watch this

Watch this video to get a re-cap of what climate change is and what can be done to address it:

Glossary

Weather
Climate
Climate change
Anthropogenic
Paleoclimatology
Fossil fuels
Greenhouse gases

Have your say

Test your knowledge and express your ideas on climate change.

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References

[1] ttps://www.nature.com/articles/s44264-023-00006-w

[2] ttps://misr.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/dry-and-wet-seasons-amazon-basin/

[3] ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_climate_change_science

[4] ttps://ourworldindata.org/ghg-emissions-by-sector

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Introduction to climate change (in depth)

Introduction to climate change

Weird weather? Or a changing climate

A brief history of climate change science

So, how are humans causing climate change?

Why is global warming a worrying trend?

Advance the investigation!

Up next:

Climate change2

Glossary

References

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Introduction to climate change (in depth)

Introduction to climate change

Weird weather? Or a changing climate

A brief history of climate change science

So, how are humans causing climate change?

Why is global warming a worrying trend?

Advance the investigation!

Up next:

Climate change2

Glossary

References

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