What is Climate change?

What is Climate Change?

Have you noticed the increased media coverage about water scarcity, heat waves, floods or bush fires? Have the thoughts of, where the world is heading at this pace, ever scared you?

If these thoughts have pricked you, then this post is for you. Before journeying further into the impacts of this widely feared catastrophe, let us first understand what it is.

The average global temperature of the Earth, around 100 years ago, was approximately 14 °C .  But the current statistics indicate, this has already increased and is now rising even faster than before. Evidence connects this to the rising levels of greenhouse gases (such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide) in the Earth’s atmosphere.

The greenhouse gases absorb and then re-emit the heat radiated by the Earth. Thus a part of the heat is trapped on the Earth, instead of escaping into space. It is a normal and needed process as, without this, the average temperature of the surface of the Earth would be about −18 °C (0 °F). But if it happens often, the heat-trapping nature of these gases can prove disastrous to our planet.

The resulting increase in the temperature of the Earth can cause a long term change in the weather conditions expected in a  region at a particular time of year. This phenomenon is known as climate change.

Why is it happening? We will tell you in our next post. Stay tuned.