GLOBAL WARMING

But wait a second — What exactly is Global Warming/Climate Change? And how does it impact the world? What do scientists think about it? Is it proven that it exists? Has it already had some effects? What are greenhouse gases? How can we prevent climate change or is it already too late? Should we do something against it? Why have the scientists let it happen? What is our impact on it? What will happen, if we can’t find a way to avoid it? I think that most of these questions are not very clear to the general public. Therefore, I am going to try to answer all of these and more questions, but let us start with a general introduction to this topic:

“What is climate and is it the same as the weather?”

Weather:

“The state of the atmosphere at a particular time and place. (…)”

–Dictionary.com (from the paragraph weather in Science)

Note: The state of the Atmosphere can describe weather events as well as temperature. A particular time and place mean that it is in a specific spot at a definite time. For instance, weather in Nelson, B.C. on Saturday 23.12.2019 at 10:45 pm: clear sky, but some lonely clouds and the temperature measures -11 degree Celsius.

Climate:

„The composite or generally prevailing weather conditions of a region, (…), throughout the year, averaged over a series of years.“

–Dictonary.com

Note: To get the general or average climate for a certain region (mostly state, country, world) several weather reports from this region is collected over a long period of time (primarily years, decades).

Footnote: If the climate is getting warmer, it does not mean that every day has to be warmer than the next one. For example, in a warming period, the climate is more temperate than usual. However, the weather on a winter day will still be (usually) colder than on a summer day. 

Summary: So, the weather is of relevance to know the specific conditions for a precise time at a particular place. As an example: If you want to go to town (specific location) tomorrow morning (specific time). You may conclude to wear warm clothes because it gets cold (weather) tomorrow morning. Climate is the average of all the collected weather reports in a specific region; therefore, it is more complex than the weather. That is why the climate is mostly relevant to scientists and businesses who want to gain information about the average weather conditions. Knowledge over the regional climate is required, in order to find out if the land is suitable for agriculture, tourism and similar. The scientist can use information about the climate to examine patterns, or changes, in the sequence they may be able to predict new ones. For example, every year in the last eight years was warmer than the year before that; this year will follow the pattern.