Climate change: basics

In short: Climate is the average weather over at least 30 years. The current climate change means a rapid warming of the Earth, mainly due to human-made greenhouse gases.

In more detail: Since the start of industrialisation the global mean temperature has risen by around 1.1 to 1.3 °C.

In detail

• Weather and climate: One cold day does not refute warming. Climate looks at trends over decades.
• Causes: Mainly CO₂ from coal, oil and gas, plus methane from agriculture and waste water and deforestation (treibhauseffekt).
• Consequences: Heat waves, droughts, heavy rain, melting glaciers and ice sheets, rising sea level, shifting habitats.
• Tipping points: Some changes could reinforce themselves and be hard to reverse.
• Countermeasures: Renewable energy, efficiency, forest and bog protection, adaptation to consequences (solarzelle-funktionsweise).