The climate change is going haywire across our planet. The phenomenon is due to excess greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere.
This upheaval is not inevitable. We can seriously limit it by reducing our greenhouse gas emissions now: avoiding waste, reducing our energy consumption, preferring public transport trips, favoring energy-efficient appliances, reducing the heating of our houses, etc.
Discover how to fight climate change daily and how to adapt to it.
What is the difference between global warming and climate change?
Global warming or climate change?
The accumulation, constantly increasing for more than 100 years, of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere traps heat on the surface of the Earth: this greenhouse effect leads to global warming. However, not all areas are affected in the same way:
- on the surface of the globe, since 1850, temperatures have increased by 1.1°C;
- the polar zones are warming twice as fast as the rest of the globe;
- in mainland France, since 1961, temperatures have increased by 2.3°C.
Climatic zones react differently depending on their geography, type of soil, or ocean currents: we speak of climate change.
International terminology is not mistaken. It uses the terms “global warming” or “climate change”. Their literal translation is not global warming but “global warming” and “climate change”.
Weather and climate: what distinction?
It is essential to distinguish weather from climate. Weather is the weather at a given time and place. For example, in winter, there can be periods of very intense cold in France, like last winter.
This does not mean that global warming should be questioned. Indeed, a meteorological phenomenon does not provide information on the evolution of the climate.
Climate refers to the average values of meteorological events (precipitation, temperatures, etc.) measured over long periods and in a well-defined geographical location (climatic zones).
It is considered that 30 years of observation are needed to define climatic characteristics.
In general, we only feel changes in the weather in the short term. It is much more difficult to perceive the evolution of the climate over the long term: you need an unfailing memory and a feeling that does not change with age!
The causes of climate change
Why is the climate changing? What is the greenhouse effect? What is the role of human activities in this change?
A natural greenhouse effect is vital.
We live on Earth like in a greenhouse. Our atmosphere plays the role of a window: the greenhouse gases (GHG) (carbon dioxide: CO2, methane: CH4, and nitrous oxide: N2O) capture and retain heat.
Thanks to them, the temperature of our Earth is cozy, on average 15°C. Without them, it would be unbearably cold: -18°C
Too many greenhouse gases = global warming
For about 150 years, the concentration of GHGs in our atmosphere has been increasing. Since 1990, global CO2 emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels have increased by 68%.
These GHGs retain heat. As a result, the global average temperature of our planet is rising (+ 1.1°C since 1850). We are talking about global warming. And this warming leads to climate change.
The reactions of our atmosphere are slow.
Global warming is like a big ship. Once launched, it takes time to slow it down or make it change course. The lifetime of CO2 in the atmosphere is about 100 years. Thus, the later the measures are taken, the more difficult it will be to limit the global warming of our planet and this climate change.
To prevent our climate from racing, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), global warming should be contained to a maximum of +1.5°C (by 2100 compared to 1850).
The first part of the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report, published on August 9, 2021, indicates that this limitation will be out of reach unless there are immediate, rapid, and massive reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
Stabilizing global warming at 1.5°C requires neutrality in CO2 emissions before the middle of the century: we must no longer emit more CO2 into the atmosphere than we can remove. Without this, upheavals and climate change will be irreversible.
The consequences of climate change
Climate change is causing a chain of upheavals!
Since 1850, our planet has already warmed by an average of 1.1°C. According to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), ongoing global warming could reach 1.5°C to 4.4°C by 2100. Our ancestors had known nothing so fast!
IPCC experts indicate that global warming should be contained to a maximum of +1.5°C by 2100 to prevent our climate from racing.
This limitation will be out of reach unless there are immediate, rapid, and massive reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050: we will no longer have to emit more CO2 into the atmosphere than we are capable of. get out of it.
Don’t think that a rise in temperature means it’s just going to get a little warmer everywhere. Climate change is causing a chain of upheavals:
- higher sea level rise than predicted in previous analyses;
- more violent and more frequent extreme climatic events (droughts, torrential rains, floods, storms, heat waves, fires, etc.);
- an increase in average temperatures that could reach 4.4°C by 2100.
The consequences of climate change are becoming increasingly complex and challenging to manage: multiple dangerous climatic events occur simultaneously and interact with each other.