It’s getting hot in here: Climate change for dummies

BY GENNA NORDLING

“So much for global warming,” is a phrase said by many when the temperature falls below a tolerable level. Those who say this often deny the existence of global warming and climate change solely because they are experiencing cool weather.

One of these climate change doubters is President Donald Trump, who often takes to Twitter to announce his disbelief to the world.

The reason the President, and many others, believe this is because they are uneducated on the topic at hand. There is a clear misunderstanding of what climate change actually refers to.

Many people confuse climate and weather when they are, in fact, two completely different things. According to the National Centers for Environmental Information (a part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or NOAA), weather is “the mix of events that happen each day in our atmosphere” but climate is “what the weather is like over a long period of time in a specific area.”

The recent drop in temperature is actually the result of a weather pattern called a polar vortex— a large area of cold air and low pressure that can be found at both of the Earth’s poles— not the disappearance of global warming. This phenomenon has nothing to do with the climate.

It is also important to note that climate change is a normal process, as Earth’s climate is constantly going through changes in a natural climate cycle of ice ages and warm periods. However, according to the Committee on Climate Change, the Earth has deviated from this natural cycle, and the temperature has risen well above the normal measurements from the last 800,000 years.

The problem with climate change is not that humans have caused it, it’s that they have accelerated it to a dangerous rate.

The problem with climate change is not that humans have caused it, it’s that they have accelerated it to a dangerous rate.

On February 6, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released the results of an independent analysis they conducted. This analysis found that last year, the global surface temperature was the fourth warmest since 1880 and the past five years have been Earth’s warmest years recorded in modern history.

The biggest problem with climate change is that it causes even more problems beyond those already mentioned. Continued temperature rises, more heat waves and droughts, stronger and more intense hurricanes, sea level rise and ocean acidification are just a few effects of climate change.

Climate change is a pressing issue, and if it isn’t addressed soon it could prove to be detrimental to Earth and the human race. Those who want to lessen climate change and help save the planet (and themselves) can get involved with organizations such as Greenpeace, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and the Sunrise Movement.

Photo courtesy of How Stuff Works