How can climate change

Climate change is a shift in those average conditions. The rapid climate change we are now seeing is caused by humans using oil, gas and coal for their homes, factories and transport.

When these fossil fuels burn, they release greenhouse gases - mostly carbon dioxide CO2. These gases trap the Sun's heat and cause the planet's temperature to rise. The world is now about 1. Temperature rises must slow down if we want to avoid the worst consequences of climate change, scientists say.

They say global warming needs to be kept to 1. However, unless further action is taken, the planet could still warm by more than 2C by the end of this century.

A report in by the Climate Action Tracker group calculated that the world was heading for 2. If nothing is done, scientists think global warming could exceed 4C in the future, leading to devastating heatwaves, millions losing their homes to rising sea levels and irreversible loss of plant and animal species.

Extreme weather events are already more intense, threatening lives and livelihoods. With further warming, some regions could become uninhabitable, as farmland turns into desert.

In other regions, the opposite is happening, with extreme rainfall causing historic flooding - as seen recently in China, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. People in poorer countries will suffer the most as they do not have the money to adapt to climate change. Many farms in developing countries already have to endure climates that are too hot and this will only get worse.

Our oceans and its habitats are also under threat. The Great Barrier Reef in Australia, for example, has already lost half of its corals since due to warmer seas driven by climate change. Wildfires are becoming more frequent as climate change increases the risk of hot, dry weather.

And as frozen ground melts in places like Siberia, greenhouse gases trapped for centuries will be released into the atmosphere, worsening climate change. In a warmer world, animals will find it harder to find the food and water they need to live.

For example, polar bears could die out as the ice they rely on melts away, and elephants will struggle to find the litres of water a day they need. Scientists believe at least species could be lost this century if action is not taken. Climate change has different effects in different areas of the world. Some places will warm more than others, some will receive more rainfall and others will face more droughts.

Vote for leaders at all levels of government who take climate change seriously. They should commit to setting science-based targets to reduce harmful carbon emissions, implementing clear plans to reach those targets , adapting to climate change and shifting to a clean-energy economy.

Make sure you are registered to vote and then get informed for all elections — not just the ones that get the most media attention. Know that your vote really matters. You can also talk to your parents about the importance of voting for climate action. What can we help you find? Sorry, but your search returned no results. Try searching with different keywords.

Help raise climate ambition by painting your town with climate art We know that meeting the challenge of the climate crisis takes creativity, community and fun on top of the science, policy and advocacy that defines so much of our work. You can help raise our collective climate ambition by: selecting the posters you resonate most strongly with printing them on regular letter size 8. Use energy wisely — and save money too! Consider making some or all of these small changes.

Together, they can really add up. A house with a furnace is like a car that idles all day. Eat for a climate-stable planet The decisions we make about food can have a profound effect on the environment.

Start a climate conversation Solving climate change requires us all to work together. Green your commute In Canada, transportation accounts for 24 per cent of climate-polluting emissions , a close second to the oil and gas industry.

Whenever and wherever you can: Take public transit Ride a bike or advocate for bike lanes in your community Car-share If you have a large, inefficient vehicle, retire it and switch to an electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle Fly less if you do fly, make sure you offset your emissions. Your voice: mobilizing local government climate action Explore the guide. Join us on social! Learn more about climate change and discover ways to take action. More you can do View all tips and resources.

The challenges of predicting weather and climate are very different. Predicting the weather is like predicting how a particular eddy will move and evolve in a turbulent river: it is possible over short time scales by extrapolating the previous path of the eddy, but eventually the eddy is influenced by neighbouring eddies and currents to the extent that predicting its exact path and behaviour becomes impossible.

Similarly, the limit for predicting individual weather systems in the atmosphere is around 10 days. On the other hand, predicting climate is like predicting the flow of the whole river. It requires a consideration of the major forces controlling the river such as changes in rainfall, the operation of dams, and extraction of water.

Projections of human-induced climate change over decades to centuries are possible because human activities have predictable effects on the future atmospheric composition, and in turn a predictable effect on climate. Energy from the Sun is the ultimate driver of climate on Earth. The solar energy received by Earth depends on how much the Sun emits and the distance between Earth and the Sun. Part of this sunlight is reflected directly back to space by the atmosphere, clouds, and land, ice and water surfaces.

Aerosols tiny particles in the atmosphere, some coming from human activities can increase the reflection of sunlight. Eventually the solar energy absorbed by Earth is returned to space as infrared heat radiation. In the process it interacts with the whole climate system—atmosphere, oceans, land surfaces and ice sheets.

The flows of radiation in the atmosphere Figure 1. The main gases that make up the atmosphere, nitrogen and oxygen, do not interact with infrared radiation. By doing this they impede the outward flow of infrared energy from Earth to space. The most important are water vapour, carbon dioxide CO 2 and methane. Global climate varies naturally over time scales from decades to thousands of years and longer.