Intro to Climate Change - What is it, why do we know it’s real, and what can we do about it?

Climate change is a term that we hear a lot these days, but what is it? While it has many impacts and effects, climate change is, at its core, the accelerated and extreme shift in Earth’s climate that has resulted from human activity. This activity can be narrowed more specifically to fossil fuels, another term important to understand.

Fossil fuels are fuels that contain carbon and other elements which, when burned, create compounds such as carbon dioxide and methane, etc. These compounds, when they enter the atmosphere, amplify something known as the greenhouse effect. Many people mistake the greenhouse effect as being inherently bad and human caused, but without it we would freeze - it is what allows the Earth to stay warm and not lose all heat to space. However, carbon dioxide, methane and other compounds that are known as “Greenhouse gases” cause the greenhouse effect to be greatly amplified, resulting in an excessively warm Earth climate.

As we continue to release more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, the effects of climate change will get worse. We have already seen heat waves, extreme weather, Arctic ice melt, flooding, drought, and more. Climate change is not necessarily linear, but will result in an increasingly variable and extreme global climate if we continue to do nothing to mitigate it.

Now that we know what climate change is and why it's happening, how do we know that it’s real? Many climate change deniers like to point to the fact that Earth’s climate has always changed, and it has been warm in the past, too. While this is true - Earth’s climate is not static, and warm periods have occurred before - climate change is a bit more than a usual variation in Earth’s climate. We know what the past looked like through past climate reconstruction methods such as isotope analysis and ocean and ice cores, and the change we are experiencing now falls beyond what is expected based on those measurements. Looking at additional factors contributing to long term climate variability, such as Milankovitch cycles, which is the combined variation in climate that results from shifts in Earth’s orbit, axis, and axial tilt, we can truly tell that what we are experiencing now is beyond what is precedented.

Climate change is a real and scary threat to the world. If you are someone who believes in climate change, and are wondering what you can do to stop it, the answers are infinite. However, pressuring our governments to create sufficient responses and corporations to stop emitting excessive amounts of greenhouse gasses are some of the most important things you can do. Talking to people about climate change is also incredibly valuable - you never know when you might change someone’s viewpoint.

If, after reading this blog post, you are still skeptical, I encourage you to take a look at this issue from another viewpoint. Climate change is going to cause massive upheavals in society whether we like it or not. If you live in a region prone to extreme weather, it is likely that there will only be more of that as time goes on. I encourage you to think about climate change not as a hoax, but as something that could genuinely impact you, and that you can do something about rather than watch helplessly. Climate change is real. Don’t let fear stop you. Speak up!

Geosystems (Birkeland) was referenced in the writing of this post.