What is Climate Change really all about and 10 ways you can make a difference at home.

Climate change describes a change in the average conditions — such as temperature and rainfall — in a region over a long period of time. For example, 20,000 years ago, much of the United States was covered in glaciers. In the United States today, we have a warmer climate and a lot fewer glaciers. An attempt to debunk Climate change by saying “well, it was cold today!” is not a valid argument because that statement refers to the weather not the climate. Weather describes the conditions outside right now in a specific place. For example, if you see that it’s raining outside right now, that’s a way to describe today’s weather. Rain, snow, wind, hurricanes, tornadoes — these are all weather events. Climate, on the other hand, is more than just one or two rainy days. Climate describes the weather conditions that are expected in a region at a particular time of year. Is it usually rainy or usually dry? Is it typically hot or typically cold? A region’s climate is determined by observing its weather over a period of many years—generally 30 years or more. So, for example, one or two weeks of rainy weather wouldn’t change the fact that Phoenix typically has a dry, desert climate. Even though it’s rainy right now, we still expect Phoenix to be dry because that's what is usually the case.

Global climate change refers to the average long-term changes over the entire Earth. These include warming temperatures and changes in precipitation, as well as the effects of Earth’s warming, such as:

• Rising sea levels

• Shrinking mountain glaciers

• Ice melting at a faster rate than usual in Greenland, Antarctica and the Arctic

• Changes in flower and plant blooming times.

Earth’s climate has constantly been changing — even long before humans came into the picture. However, scientists have observed unusual changes recently. For example, Earth’s average temperature has been increasing much more quickly than they would expect over the past 150 years. Some parts of the Earth are warming faster than others. But on average, global air temperatures near Earth's surface have gone up about 2 degrees Fahrenheit in the past 100 years. In fact, the past five years have been the warmest five years in centuries. Many people, including scientists, are concerned about this warming. As Earth’s climate continues to warm, the intensity and amount of rainfall during storms such as hurricanes is expected to increase. Droughts and heatwaves are also expected to become more intense as the climate warms. When the whole Earth’s temperature changes by one or two degrees, that change can have big impacts on the health of Earth's plants and animals, too.

There are lots of factors that contribute to Earth’s climate. However, scientists agree that Earth has been getting warmer in the past 50 to 100 years due to human activities. Certain gases in Earth’s atmosphere block heat from escaping. This is called the greenhouse effect. These gases keep Earth warm like the glass in a greenhouse keeps plants warm. Human activities — such as burning fuel to power factories, cars, and buses — are changing the natural greenhouse. These changes cause the atmosphere to trap more heat than it used to, leading to a warmer Earth. This matter because oceans, land, air, plants, animals, and energy from the Sun all have an effect on one another. The combined effects of all these things give us our global climate. In other words, Earth’s climate functions like one big, connected system. Thinking about things as systems means looking for how every part relates to others. NASA’s Earth-observing satellites collect information about how our planet’s atmosphere, water, and land are changing. By looking at this information, scientists can observe how Earth’s systems work together. This will help us understand how small changes in one place can contribute to bigger changes in Earth’s global climate.

1. Switch to 100% green power: the use of energy represents by far the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions caused by human activity.

2. Save energy: Saving energy not only saves you money - it also helps to cut emissions too.

3. Optimize your diet: In the EU, meat and dairy production is estimated to be responsible for 12-17% of total greenhouse gas emissions, while throughout the world, the global livestock industry produces more greenhouse gas emissions than all cars, planes, trains, and ships combined

4. Avoid plastic: Almost every plastic is produced from fossil fuels - and in every single phase of its life cycle, plastic emits greenhouse gases.

5. Sharing: If we own less and use more things collectively, we need to produce fewer things - and that saves on resources. Sharing cars, exchanging clothes, lending and borrowing tools - there are multiple different possibilities for collective consumption are they're being used by millions of people worldwide.

6. Shrink your Footprint: Every search query we type, every email we send or receive, and every song we stream causes CO2 emissions. Why? Because energy is needed for all the data we’re producing - and a lot of it!

7. Try not to Fly: There is, of course, no other means of transport that gets us from A to B as fast as the plane. But at the same time, there is hardly any other activity in which a single person can emit such large quantities of CO2 in such a short time.

8. Invest in sustainability: Sustainable investments consider social, ethical, and ecological aspects as well as financial aspects - and that pays off, both for you and in the fight against climate change.

9. Ride a Bike: Still the number one form of sustainable transportation - the bicycle. In the age of electric scooters, electric mopeds, and whatever else may come - when it comes to protecting the climate, the humble pedal-powered bicycle is still way ahead.

10. Protect to forests: Check out this post all on protecting the forests: https://environmentally.wixsite.com/forevergreen/post/deforestation-what-you-can-do-to-combat-it-at-home