What is climate change and what can we do about it?

Chloe Bruce explains what climate change really is, what causes it and what actions are needed to help address it.

You probably hear the term “climate change” all the time these days, but it’s understandable if you’re not entirely sure what it is or why you should care about it. We’re going to answer some key questions to help you better understand climate change, its causes, impacts and what actions can be taken to respond to it.  

What is climate change?

To understand climate change, you need to know what the climate is. It’s not the same thing as weather. As the NASA website explains, weather refers to the conditions in the atmosphere in a small area over a short amount of time. For example, the town you live in might experience rain over the course of a few hours or days. That’s the weather.

Climate refers to the regional or global averages of temperature, humidity and rainfall in a season over a span of at least 30 years. It’s about patterns: predictable expectations of what weather we might expect in a certain place, at a certain time of year. For example, how hot it gets in your town every summer, each year on average. This is important because it helps us make plans, build homes and shelters to deal with expected conditions and plant different types of food where they will best grow. Climate change is the long-term shift in these patterns and averages, meaning that the conditions that we have come to expect at a certain time of year are changing. Right now, they are changing a lot, very quickly. 

“Climate change is the long-term shift in these patterns and averages, meaning that the conditions that we have come to expect at a certain time of year are changing.”

What is causing climate change?

You might hear people say that the climate is always changing, that it’s natural for it to change, and that we really shouldn’t worry about it. It’s true that the climate can change due to natural events like volcanic eruptions, cyclical ocean patterns and changes in the Sun’s energy output, but scientists have found evidence to prove that since the 1800s, human activities have been the main cause of climate change, through global warming. Global warming is the long-term heating up of the Earth’s surface since the Industrial Revolution in the 1850s. It is caused by the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas. As the UN explains, “Burning fossil fuels generates greenhouse gas emissions that act like a blanket wrapped around the Earth, trapping the sun’s heat and raising temperatures.”

Carbon Dioxide and Methane are the greenhouse gases most responsible for global warming. The sectors that contribute most to this increase in greenhouse gases in our atmosphere are energy, agriculture, industry, buildings and transport. The average global temperature has increased by about 1.5 degrees in the last 150 years, with it getting hotter quicker over the last 40 years. This might seem like a small number, but it makes a big difference to life on Earth.

“Since the 1800s, human activities have been the main cause of climate change, through global warming.”

Why is climate change important?

It is important that we are aware of and take action on climate change because it has huge effects on human life and our environment. Hotter temperatures mean more dangerous heatwaves in summer, a higher chance that vulnerable people who can’t escape the heat, who work outside or whose bodies are more affected by high temperatures, might get sick or die. Heatwaves can also cause deadly droughts and wildfires.

Hotter temperatures cause the ice in the Arctic and Antarctica to melt, making sea levels rise, threatening to send island nations underwater. Hotter oceans result in the bleaching of coral reefs and the destruction of important marine habitats. Storms become more severe due to these increased ocean and atmospheric temperatures, creating more destructive hurricanes and tropical storms. As our climate changes, it can affect our ability to grow food as conditions get hotter, drier or wetter than common crops can handle. In general, climate change threatens the foundations of human and animal life.

How do I deal with climate anxiety?

If all of this sounds scary and overwhelming, you’re not alone. A recent study suggested that up to 1 million Canadian’s have serious climate anxiety. The same study found that anxiety about the climate was higher among younger people, indigenous people and those living in Northern Canada. It makes sense, since indigenous communities, younger people and people living in the North are more likely to deal with the impacts of climate change. A global study from 2021 found that 84% of children and young people were worried about the climate. Climate anxiety can cause people to feel strong emotions like hopelessness, sadness, anger and guilt. Most young people feel that adults are not doing enough about climate change and that they have failed to take care of the planet. 

“It can be scary and overwhelming to hear how serious climate change is, but it’s important to remember that there are some things we can do to help ourselves and our planet. ”

It’s normal for people to feel sad, angry and worried about the climate. After all, this is our home, and we rely on a healthy Earth for our future. However, studies have found that in some cases, the climate anxiety young people are feeling can get so bad that it starts to interrupt their lives and affect their well-being. If you feel so stressed about climate change that you are struggling to cope, remember to reach out to someone you can trust and ask for help. Mental health professionals agree that the best ways to combat this anxiety are to acknowledge your feelings, to talk openly about them with like-minded people, and to focus on things that you can control. It can be scary and overwhelming to hear how serious climate change is, but it’s important to remember that there are some things we can do to help ourselves and our planet.

Solutions to Climate Change

Scientists call for two main kinds of response to climate change. One is about trying to reduce the rate at which the world is warming up by reducing carbon emissions and stabilizing the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. They call this “mitigation”, which really means trying to limit climate change from happening. The second is about reacting to changes that are already happening, so that the harms can be reduced and people are better able to cope with the impacts of climate change. This is “adaptation.” It is not enough to do one without the other; we have to do both.

To mitigate against climate change, we must limit how many fossil fuels we burn and how many emissions we produce. We can do this by investing in more alternative energy sources, like wind and solar power; by changing society’s habits, like limiting our use of plastics; and by reducing the amount of stuff we produce. International governments and industrial leaders are the ones responsible for taking this action. Governments across the world need to take tougher action on reducing global emissions, and businesses that profit from burning fossil fuels need to be held accountable for their damage and forced to change their ways. 

“Climate change is already happening, and people are suffering from its effects, so we have to start acting now to protect people and the planet.”

Another thing we can do to mitigate against climate change is planting more forests, protecting the forests we have and protecting our oceans. Forests and oceans are important in absorbing large amounts of carbon dioxide, meaning less of it is trapped in the atmosphere, heating our planet through the greenhouse effect. Governments and industrial leaders need to ensure they are tackling issues of deforestation and the pollution of our oceans. We might not be able to stop climate change completely, but we can stop actively making the problem worse with our behaviour.

To adapt to climate change, we have to prepare our communities to cope with the impacts of climate change and reduce the harm that these changes are having on us. This could be done by educating people about the dangers of heatwaves and wildfires, ensuring they know what to do to protect themselves and others in these dangerous situations. It can also include building houses better to be able to withstand extreme heat, cold and storms or building defences to protect from rising sea levels. Climate change is already happening, and people are suffering from its effects, so we have to start acting now to protect people and the planet.

What can I do to help stop climate change?

The main way to limit climate change is for governments to keep the promises of the Paris Agreement, ensuring the global temperature doesn’t rise above 1.5 degrees, by reducing global emissions. Without that action, climate change will continue at the same unprecedented levels. That doesn’t mean that there is nothing you can do, though. Firstly, you can help keep pressure on governments to act. The UN Act Up section contains a lot of helpful resources for getting you started on your activism journey. Join a group of people (like us here at Planet Watch) who care about the same issues as you and work together to contact representatives and challenge them on their climate policies. Working with others to make change is both fun and fulfilling, and is more effective at making change happen.

“You can help keep pressure on governments to act.”

Another way to make an impact on the climate is by making changes to your lifestyle to live more sustainably. The way we live in modern society requires a lot of fossil fuels, whether it’s by burning them to run our cars or heat our homes, or by turning them into plastics used in our clothes and food packaging. We need to find ways to reduce our carbon footprint. Using public transport or cycling instead of driving, buying things second hand rather than brand new, eating less meat and reducing food waste, using reusable materials for hot drinks and take-out food over throwaway plastics, reducing your electricity usage or transforming your home with solar power, are all things we can do ourselves which are better for the climate.

Again, this doesn’t mean it’s all on you to single-handedly “fix” climate change, but if we all make these changes collectively, it will make an impact. By switching our habits, businesses will have no choice but to switch their habits too. To preserve our planet and ensure our future on Earth, we need to come together and do our bit. We are not alone, and we know that things can get better. If we start to change, maybe our climate won’t have to.