What is the climate crisis, why is it happening and what are the impacts?
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The average global temperature has risen by more than 1C in the last 140 years – what’s going on and does it matter?
By Harry Cockburn
Global warming, climate change, climate crisis, climate breakdown, and climate emergency are all terms which describe a major threat to life as we know it on our planet, but what are people talking about when they use these terms?
Climate and weather
The first important aspect to understanding the world’s climate is distinguishing ‘climate’ from ‘weather’.
Weather refers only to the changeable short-term atmospheric conditions in a place or area, while climate refers to a much longer pattern of weather behaviour, and can change from season to season.
But there is also the overall climate of the Earth, which is understood through combining the long-term climate records together to build a picture of the trends affecting our planet.
While weather patterns can change over just a few hours, climates usually take hundreds, thousands or even millions of ye...
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