Climate Questions

Are human activities causing climate change?

The sun's activity does affect Earth's seasonal cycles, but on timescales of thousands of years.

Earth's temperature fluctuates naturally over tens of thousands to millions of years. Scientists take these fluctuations into account when they assert that we are currently experiencing unique conditions in Earth's history.

According to a recent survey by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 97 percent of climate scientists agree that global climate change is occurring and that human activity is the primary cause.

When faced with a question, scientists first develop a "hypothesis" and then subject their hypothesis to rigorous experimentation and observation, a process called the "scientific method."

We are seeing impacts in many places around the world. Many fragile ecosystems and cultural resources are in danger of disappearing forever.

While we may use the terms "climate" and "weather" interchangeably, they are two very different things. "Weather" describes day-to-day conditions; "Climate" is the average of these weather conditions over long periods of time. As Mark Twain put it, "Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get."

While alternative energy producers may be more expensive in the short-term, when long-term costs such as pollution, global warming, and quality of life are factored in, alternative energy is by far more cost effective.

One individual CAN make a difference, and even small efforts can add up to big change when people work together.