Awareness Of Climate Change
WHAT IS CLIMATE CHANGE? Widespread improvements in the quality of life of many of the world’s populations have gone hand-in-hand with increased demands on natural resources. The planet is struggling to keep up. Increases in the average global temperature, and the frequency of extreme weather events are transforming ecosystems around the world and threatening entire species of plants and animals. Forests are drying up because there is less rainfall and thus more fires, and the glaciers of both the North and South Poles are shrinking. The consequences of climate change affect all of us, but to react and adapt to these challenges, we must first understand them. CLIMATE, WEATHER, AND NATURAL DISASTERS Climate is not the same as weather, but the two phenomena are closely related. While weather refers to short-term conditions that can change quickly, climate determines the long-term character of a given place, for instance, whether it is temperate or tropical. The relationship between ...