What is climate change?
Any process that causes adjustments to a climate system from a volcanic eruption to a cyclical change in solar activity could be described as creating "climate change". Today, however, the phrase is most often used as shorthand for anthropogenic climate change in other words, climate change caused by humans. The principal way in which humans are understood to be affecting the climate is through the release of heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the air. Climate change is used interchangeably with another phrase "global warming" reflecting the strong warming trend that scientists have observed over the past century or so. Strictly speaking, however, climate change is a more accurate phrase than global warming, not least because rising temperatures can cause a host of other climatic impacts, such as changes in rainfall patterns. This answer last updated: 17.12.2010 Read about the project and suggest a question Report an error in this answer Related questions What exactly is the climate? Is the world really getting warmer? Are humans definitely causing the warming? This post by The Guardian is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 2.0 UK: England & Wales License . Based on a work at theguardian.com