Global Warming

Climate is the temperature, humidity, precipitation, winds, radiation, and other meteorological conditions characteristic of a locality or region over an extended period of time.

Climate change is any long-term significant change in the “average weather” that a given region experiences. Average weather may include average temperature, precipitation and wind patterns .

The term Global Warming refers to the observation that the atmosphere near the Earth's surface is warming. This warming is one of many kinds of climate change that the Earth has gone through in the past and will continue to go through in the future. It is reasonable to expect that the Earth should warm as the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere increases. It is known for certain that atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases are rising dramatically due to human activity. It is less well known exactly how the increases in these greenhouse gases factor in the observed changes of the Earth's climate and global temperatures.

The major greenhouse gases are:

water vapor, which causes about 36–70% of the greenhouse effect on Earth (not including clouds)
carbon dioxide, which causes 9–26%
methane, which causes 4–9%
ozone, which causes 3–7%.
It is not possible to state that a certain gas causes a certain percentage of the greenhouse effect, because the influences of the various gases are not additive. (The higher ends of the ranges quoted are for the gas alone; the lower ends, for the gas counting overlaps.)
Other greenhouse gases include, but are not limited to, nitrous oxide, sulfur hexafluoride, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and chlorofluorocarbons.

Human beings can contribute to global warming and climate change by polluting and cutting down rainforests, but humans can not control the climate or change it. The climate system is very complex and has many variables and components. Human beings do not control all the variables and components or the Planet Earth.

Any organization or person that is saying things like "we can solve the climate crisis" or "we can stop global warming" are making statements that are just "Advertising Slogans" impossible to accomplish.

To actually "stop global warming" or "solve the climate crisis" human beings would have the ability to control the following to name a few:

The Sun
Volcanic Activity
The Weather
The Atmosphere
All Human Activities
The Oceans

No matter how aggressively heat-trapping emissions are reduced, some amount of climate change and resulting impacts will continue. Consequently, there is a need for adaptation and mitigation.

“Adaptation” – improving our ability to cope with or avoid harmful impacts or taking advantage of newly favorable conditions

Mitigation is defined as -to lessen in force or intensity, as wrath, grief, harshness, or pain; moderate- to make less severe. At best human beings can slightly modify climate change.

“Mitigation” – reducing the amount of climate change, for example, by reducing heat-trapping emissions or increasing their removal from the atmosphere

We should try to be the best protectors of the planet as much as we are capable and adapt to and prepare for the changes in the Earth's Climate that are inevitable.

If we stop all greenhouse gas emissions, will global climate change stop?

Industrial activity has already pumped billions of tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, and we have yet to see the full effect of warming from those gases. A great deal of excess energy imbalance is stored in the ocean and will be released gradually over time, continuing to warm the planet.

In other words, some degree of climate change is irreversible. Scientists call this the "committed warming," and estimate that the Earth would continue to warm about 1 degree Fahrenheit (.6 degrees Celsius) even if greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere stopped growing immediately. That is, if all human greenhouse gas emissions stopped tomorrow, the Earth would still warm for at least a half-century.

NASA:Clouds and Earth's Radiation Budget

Earths Energy Budget There are three main factors that directly influence the energy balance of the earth and it's temperature

Credit:NASA

There are three main factors that directly influence the energy balance of the earth and it's temperature

There are three main factors that directly influence the energy balance of the earth and it's temperature:

The total energy influx, which depends on the earth's distance from the sun and on solar activity
The chemical composition of the atmosphere
Albedo, the ability of the earth's surface to reflect light.

Solar Variability: Striking a Balance with Climate Change NASA Video

Credit: GRACE Goddard Space Flight Center NASA, UNEP, EPA, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, NOAA, University of Colorado, CIA, U.S. Department of Energy