Climate Change
Climate Change are words you would definitely have heard being used quite often. Most often than not, you might have heard people talking about the weather get worse every year. So what are they talking about and what does this all mean? Let’s break it down.
IS EARTH’S CLIMATE REALLY CHANGING?
You may have noticed that it keeps getting warmer every year. In places where you would often have to wear warm clothes most of the year, now you can wear anything you please! So the climate has been changing, and fast! Considering that the Global Climate of the entire planet has been changing so fast, scientists are understandably concerned.
FIRST THINGS FIRST, WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CLIMATE AND WEATHER?
“Climate” describes the average weather in an entire region over the long term. While weather can change in just a few hours, climate takes hundreds, thousands, even millions of years to change. Therefore, a weather scientist, that is, a meteorologist, is able to foresee and predict the weather for the next few days for a specific area. For example, if you turn on the news, a meteorologist may tell you that it is raining in Colombo, but that it is very dry in Anuradhapura. Weather happens at a particular time and place. Rain, snow, wind, hurricanes, tornadoes-these are all weather events.
SHOULD WE CARE IF EARTH IS GETTING WARMER?
Most definitely! Especially since this is where we live! Earth takes us on a 583-million-mile ride around the Sun every year. It even has its own “force field” that protects us from killer radiation and brutal solar wind. For its life-support system, Earth has all the air, water, and food we need. Because of this, it is vital that we monitor all of earth’s functions and ensure they are fine.
DOES WHAT WE DO MATTER?
Of course, because in all seriousness, earth’s fate really is in our hands. Everything that happens here affects something over there. Earth has its own control system. The oceans, the land, the air, the plants and animals, and the energy from the Sun all affect each other to make everything work in harmony. Nothing changes in one place without changing something in another place. The overall effect gives us our global climate.
WHAT IS MAKING EARTH’S CLIMATE WARMER?
Scientists have discovered that humans are causing this warming. So what are we doing that could cause the whole planet to get warmer? We are burning fossil fuels, cutting down rainforests and farming livestock, which immensely contribute to climate change.