Climate Change

Table of Contents

Introduction
Early Science on Greenhouse Gasses and Climate Change
Formation of the IPCC and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
Kyoto Protocol, Paris Agreement, and Other International Conferences on Climate Change
U.S. Debate over Climate Change Heats Up
How Will Climate Change Affect Us?
Ongoing IPCC Findings, National Climate Assessment, and Counterpoints
U.S. Public Opinion
Pros
- Pro 1: Overwhelming scientific consensus finds human activity primarily responsible for climate change.
- Pro 2: Rising levels of human-produced gases released into the atmosphere create a greenhouse effect that traps heat and causes global warming.
- Pro 3: The rise in atmospheric CO2 over the last century was clearly caused by human activity, as it occurred at a rate much faster than natural climate changes could produce.
- Pro 4: The specific type of CO2 that is increasing in earth’s atmosphere can be directly connected to human activity.
- Pro 5: Average temperatures on earth have increased at a rate far faster than can be explained by natural climate changes.
- Pro 6: Natural changes in the sun’s activity cannot explain 20th century global warming.
- Pro 7: Global warming caused by human-produced greenhouse gases is causing the Arctic ice cap to melt at an increasing rate.
- Pro 8: Sea levels are rising at an unprecedented rate due to human activities.
- Pro 9: Ocean acidity levels are increasing at an unprecedented rate that can only be explained by human activity.
- Pro 10: Ocean temperatures are rising at an unprecedented rate due to anthropogenic global warming.
- Pro 11: Glaciers are melting at unprecedented rates due to global warming, causing additional climate changes.
- Pro 12: Human-caused global warming is changing weather systems and making heat waves and droughts more intense and more frequent.
- Pro 13: Dramatic changes in precipitation, such as heavier storms and less snow, are another sign that humans are causing global climate change.
- Pro 14: Permafrost is melting at unprecedented rates due to global warming, causing further climate changes.
Cons
- Con 1: Many scientists disagree that human activity is primarily responsible for global climate change.
- Con 2: Earth’s climate has always warmed and cooled, and the 20th century rise in global temperature is within the bounds of natural temperature fluctuations over the past 3,000 years.
- Con 3: Rising levels of atmospheric CO2 do not necessarily cause global warming.
- Con 4: Human-produced CO2 is re-absorbed by oceans, forests, and other “carbon sinks,” negating any climate changes.
- Con 5: CO2 is so saturated in earth’s atmosphere that more CO2, manmade or natural, will have little impact on the climate.
- Con 6: Global warming and cooling are primarily caused by fluctuations in the sun’s heat (solar forcing), not by human activity.
- Con 7: The rate of global warming has slowed over the last decade even though atmospheric CO2 continues to increase.
- Con 8: Sea levels have been steadily rising for thousands of years, and the increase has nothing to do with humans.
- Con 9: The acidity levels of the oceans are within past natural levels and the current rise in acidity is a natural fluctuation.
- Con 10: A lot of climate change fears are based on predictions and inadequate or flawed computer climate models.
- Con 11: Glaciers have been growing and receding for thousands of years due to natural causes, not human activity.
- Con 12: Deep ocean currents, not human activity, are a primary driver of natural climate warming and cooling cycles.
- Con 13: Increased hurricane activity and other extreme weather events are a result of natural weather patterns, not human-caused climate change.
Take Action
Sources

References & Edit History Related Topics

Images

A polar bear stands on a small piece of ice floating in the water.

Read Next

Polar bear leaping among ice floes at Spitsbergen, Svalbard archipelago, Norway, the Arctic. Sea ice climate change mammal jump global warming

A Recent History of Climate Change

Flower. Fruit tree. Cherry. Cherry tree. Cherry blossom. Spring. Close-up of cherry blossoms in bloom.

The Perils of an Early Spring

A timeline of important 20th- and 21st-century carbon emission/science dates. climate change, infographic. SPOTLIGHT VERSION

Timeline of Climate Change

Global warming illustration

5 Notorious Greenhouse Gases

Ghost forest along the Lewis Gut - a stream along the coast near Core Point, North Carolina. Photographed in 2022

Ghost Forests Are Becoming the New Haunts of Climate Change

Discover

Ice Sledge Hockey, Hockey Canada Cup, USA (left) vs Canada, 2009. UBC Thunderbird Arena, Vancouver, BC, competition site for Olympic ice hockey and Paralympic ice sledge hockey. Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, Vancouver Olympics

10 Best Hockey Players of All Time

Young boys working in a thread spinning mill in Macon, Georgia, 1909. Boys are so small they have to climb onto the spinning frame to reach and fix broken threads and put back empty bobbins. Child labor. Industrial revolution

The Rise of the Machines: Pros and Cons of the Industrial Revolution

Sailboat against a beautiful landscape

Which Waters Do You Pass Through When You “Sail the Seven Seas”?

King Cobra snake in Malaysia. (reptile)

9 of the World’s Deadliest Snakes

Data analysis of the Super Bowl's "winningest" teams, game locations, MVP winners by position, teams with the most game losses. football, sports, infographic

From Sport to Spectacle: The History of the Super Bowl

The Lost Colony of Roanoke, North Carolina, where 115 people mysteriously disappeared c. 1590. John White discovers the word Croatoan carved onto a tree upon his return to the deserted Roanoke Colony in 1590

The Lost Colony of Roanoke

bird. mourning dove. pigeon and dove. Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) family Columbidae.

Nikola Tesla's Weird Obsession with Pigeons

Climate Change: Related Content

Written and fact-checked by The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Photos

A polar bear stands on a small piece of ice floating in the water.

See All Images →

Topics

global warming climate change anthropogenic climate change Denmark to Tax Farm Animals’ Burps and Farts Alternative Energy Animal Testing Vegetarianism Fur Clothing Bans Space Colonization Single-Use Plastics GMOs Dakota Access Pipeline Pit Bull Bans Fracking