Climate change -refers to any change in climate over a long period of time, whether due to natural or human induced activities.Although often referred to as ‘global warming’, global climate change is more about serious disruptions of the entire world’s weather and climate patterns, including impacts on rainfall, extreme weather events and sea level rise, rather than just moderate temperature increases.
Global air temperature anomalies
The intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change defines "climate change" as a "change in climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural variability observed over comparable time periods".
“For fifteen years now, some small percentage of the world’s scientists and diplomats and activists has inhabited one of those strange dreams where the dreamer desperately needs to warn someone about something bad and imminent; but somehow, no matter how hard he shouts, the other person in the dream - standing smiling, perhaps, with his back to an oncoming train - can’t hear him. This group, this small percentage, knows that the world is about to change more profoundly than at any time in the history of human civilisation. And yet, so far, all they have achieved is to add another line to the long list of human problems- people think about ‘global warming’ in the way they think about ‘violence on television’ or ‘growing trade deficits’, as a marginal concern to them, if a concern at all. Enlightened governments make smallish noises and negotiate smallish treaties; enlightened people look down on America for its blind piggishness. Hardly anyone, however, has fear in their guts.” (McKibben, 2003)
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