essay on climate change for class 7

Climate Change Essay for Students and Children

500+ words climate change essay.

Climate change refers to the change in the environmental conditions of the earth. This happens due to many internal and external factors. The climatic change has become a global concern over the last few decades. Besides, these climatic changes affect life on the earth in various ways. These climatic changes are having various impacts on the ecosystem and ecology. Due to these changes, a number of species of plants and animals have gone extinct.

When Did it Start?

The climate started changing a long time ago due to human activities but we came to know about it in the last century. During the last century, we started noticing the climatic change and its effect on human life. We started researching on climate change and came to know that the earth temperature is rising due to a phenomenon called the greenhouse effect. The warming up of earth surface causes many ozone depletion, affect our agriculture , water supply, transportation, and several other problems.

Reason Of Climate Change

Although there are hundreds of reason for the climatic change we are only going to discuss the natural and manmade (human) reasons.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Natural Reasons

These include volcanic eruption , solar radiation, tectonic plate movement, orbital variations. Due to these activities, the geographical condition of an area become quite harmful for life to survive. Also, these activities raise the temperature of the earth to a great extent causing an imbalance in nature.

Human Reasons

Man due to his need and greed has done many activities that not only harm the environment but himself too. Many plant and animal species go extinct due to human activity. Human activities that harm the climate include deforestation, using fossil fuel , industrial waste , a different type of pollution and many more. All these things damage the climate and ecosystem very badly. And many species of animals and birds got extinct or on a verge of extinction due to hunting.

Effects Of Climatic Change

These climatic changes have a negative impact on the environment. The ocean level is rising, glaciers are melting, CO2 in the air is increasing, forest and wildlife are declining, and water life is also getting disturbed due to climatic changes. Apart from that, it is calculated that if this change keeps on going then many species of plants and animals will get extinct. And there will be a heavy loss to the environment.

What will be Future?

If we do not do anything and things continue to go on like right now then a day in future will come when humans will become extinct from the surface of the earth. But instead of neglecting these problems we start acting on then we can save the earth and our future.

Although humans mistake has caused great damage to the climate and ecosystem. But, it is not late to start again and try to undo what we have done until now to damage the environment. And if every human start contributing to the environment then we can be sure of our existence in the future.

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Home / For Educators: Grades 6-12

For Educators: Grades 6-12

Climate change is a complex topic to teach. In addition to teaching the science behind climate change, it is critical to help students become effective climate change communicators.

We have developed materials for teachers who are interested in using our resources in their classrooms, such as the Yale Climate Opinion Maps and Yale Climate Connections. These materials were developed based on recommendations from educators across the United States. They aim to immerse students in climate change issues in an accessible, digestible, and interactive way. While these NGSS and Common Core-aligned activities were designed for middle and high schoolers, you can easily convert them to Word documents using free platforms like https://simplypdf.com/ so that you can customize them for your students. We’d also love to hear about your experience using our materials with your students! Please fill out this brief survey .

• Audio Story

Backgrounders for Educators

• Climate Change Audiences
• Interactive Maps
• Intermediate
• Introductory

Climate Change Basics: Five Facts, Ten Words

To simplify the scientific complexity of climate change, we focus on communicating five key facts about climate change that everyone should know. 

Climate Change Communication Investigation

Advanced Interactive Maps

The Yale Climate Opinion Maps help us compare Americans’ beliefs around climate change across different parts of the country. For this project, students will get to be researchers collecting data in their own communities, just like the researchers at YPCCC.

Climate Change Jigsaw

Introductory Audio Story

This Jigsaw exercise offers two ways in which students can discuss our radio stories as a team to deepen thinking around climate change issues.

Climate Explained: Introductory Essays About Climate Change Topics

Climate Explained, a part of Yale Climate Connections, is an essay collection that addresses an array of climate change questions and topics, including why it’s cold outside if global warming is real, how we know that humans are responsible for global warming, and the relationship between climate change and national security.  

Connecting Data to Storytelling

Advanced Audio Story

There are many ways to tell stories. We can write, speak, or even use art to tell a story. Data can tell a story, too. In this activity, students will draw connections between a Yale Climate Connections radio story and data from the Yale Climate Opinion Maps.

Decoding the Data

Intermediate Climate Change Audiences

This activity is inspired by the New York Times What’s Going On in This Graph? feature and offers students the chance to practice their data interpretation skills.

External Resources

Looking for resources to help you and your students build a solid climate change science foundation? We’ve compiled a list of reputable, student-friendly links to help you do just that!  

Meet Global Warming’s Six Americas

Introductory Climate Change Audiences

Our research has identified “Global Warming’s Six Americas” as six unique audiences within the American public that each responds to the issue of climate change in a distinct way. Introduce Global Warming’s Six Americas to your students with this text.

Navigating the Yale Climate Opinion Maps

Intermediate Interactive Maps

The Yale Climate Opinion Maps tool is a way to explore how Americans’ climate change beliefs vary across the country. Navigating the Yale Climate Opinion Maps is a question guide that will help students use this interactive tool. 

Question Bank

Use this Question Bank as a guide to discuss any of our 90-second daily podcasts! These questions can help start a full class conversation, be used in small group discussion, or function as writing prompts.

Re-representing a Climate Change Story

Intermediate Audio Story

Stories can build understanding around a topic and can also help students explore connections between classroom content and their own lives. In this activity, students will get to be the storyteller and will choose how they would like to retell one of our radio stories.

Role Play: Six Americas, Six Views on Global Warming

Advanced Climate Change Audiences

An important part of stopping climate change is being able to communicate with people who may have different opinions about it. This is an exercise to help students practice engaging with people of varying perspectives.

What is a Survey?

This annotated list of links can be used to teach your students about surveying in general and scientific polling in particular. These resources can help answer questions about what polls are, why we use polling and surveying, and what reliable survey data shows us.   

Why should we care about climate change?

Having different perspectives about global warming is natural, but the most important thing that anyone should know about climate change is why it matters.  

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Steps To Follow While Writing An Essay On Climate Change

Table of Contents

Climate change is the most essential issue of our generation; we are the first to witness its early signs and the last who have a chance of stopping them from happening.

Living in a bubble of denial can only get us this far; the planet which is our home is already a scene for melting glaciers, raising floods, extinction of species… the list goes on and on. Spreading awareness on matters of climate change through any means available, including as seemingly trivial form as writing a school essay, cannot be underestimated.

Follow the guidelines suggested in the paragraphs below to learn how to create a perfect essay that will get you an appraisal of your teacher.

Essay on climate changes: how to write?

If you really want to make your teacher gasp while they are reading your work, there are three vital things to pay attention to .

First of all, read the topic carefully and understand it’s specific, i.e., what is expected from you.

For instance, if it is the role of individuals in helping prevent climate change, you should not focus so much on the global problems, but speak about how small changes all of us can introduce in our routines will eventually have a positive environmental effect.

Secondly, determine your personal take on the problem . Search for materials on your subject using keywords, and pile up the evidence that supports your point of view.

Finally, write a conclusion. Make sure that the conclusion you make reflects the viewpoints you have been expressing all throughout your essay.

Below you will find a more detailed breakdown of tasks you will have to accomplish to complete writing an essay on climate changes that is worthy of a top mark.

Check if it is an argumentative essay on climate change or more of a speculative one? Arrange your writing accordingly.

• Craft the outline and don’t go off-topic.
• Search for keywords .
• Make a plan .
• Avoid the most common mistakes from the start.
• Write an introduction thinking about what you will write later.
• Develop your ideas according to the outline .
• Make a conclusion which is consistent with what you’ve written in the main paragraphs.
• Proofread the draft , correct mistakes and print out the hard copy. All set!

One of the most focal of your writing will be factual evidence. When writing on climate change, resort to providing data shared by international organizations like IPCC , WWF , or World Bank .

It is undeniable that among the main causes of climate change, unfortunately, there are oil and fossil fuels that are the basis of the whole economy and still invaluable sources of energy.

Although everyone knows that oil resources are polluting and that it would be much more useful and environmentally sustainable to rely on renewable energies such as wind and solar energies and electricity, the power of the world seem not to notice or pretend not to see for don’t go against your own interests.

The time has come to react and raise awareness of the use of renewable energy sources.

In addition to the causes already mentioned, we must consider the increase in the carbon dioxide air that traps heat in our atmosphere, thus increasing the temperatures with the consequent of the Arctic glaciers melting.

WWF reported that in 2016, the recorded data was quite worrying with a constant increase in temperatures and a 40% decrease in Arctic marine glaciers.

Topics for essay on global warming and climate change

If you do not have any specific topic to write on, consider yourself lucky. You can pick one that you are passionate about – and in fact, this is what you should do! If we think back to the very definition of essay, it is nothing more than a few paragraphs of expressing one’s personal attitude and viewpoints on a certain subject. Surely, you need to pick a subject that you are opinionated about to deliver a readable piece of writing!

Another point to consider is quaintness and topicality factors. You don’t want to end up writing on a subject that the rest of your class will, and in all honesty, that has zero novelty to it.

Even if it is something as trivial as the greenhouse effect, add an unexpected perspective to it: the greenhouse effect from the standpoint of the feline population of Montenegro. Sounds lunatic, but you get the drift.

Do not worry, below you will find the list of legitimately coverable topics to choose from:

• The last generation able to fight the global crisis.
• Climate change: top 10 unexpected causes.
• Climate changes. Things anyone can do.
• Climate changes concern everyone. Is it true?
• The Mauna Loa volcano: climate change is here.
• Water pollution and coastal cities: what needs to be done?
• Is there global warming if it’s still cold?
• The CO2 concentration in the atmosphere.
• Celebrity activists and climate changes.
• Individual responsibility for the environment.
• How the loss of biodiversity is the biggest loss for humanity.
• Ways to fight global warming at home.
• Sustainable living as a way of fighting climate change.
• Climate change fighting countries to look up to.
• Industrial responsibility and climate change.
• What future will be like if we fail to make an environmental stand?
• Discovering water on Mars: a new planet to live on?
• Climate change effects on poor countries.
• Nuclear power laws and climate change.
• Is it true that climate change is caused by man?

Mistakes to avoid when writing an essay on climate change

When composing your essay, you must avoid the following (quite common!) mistakes:

• Clichés – no one wants to read universal truths presented as relevant discoveries.
• Repeating an idea already expressed – don’t waste your readers’ time .
• Making an accumulation of ideas that are not connected and that do not follow one another; structure your ideas logically .
• Being contradictive (check consistency).
• Using bad or tired collocations .
• Using lackluster adjectives like “good”/”bad”. Instead, think of more eye-catching synonyms.

Structure your essay in a logical way : introduce your thesis, develop your ideas in at least 2 parts that contain several paragraphs, and draw a conclusion.

Bottom line

Writing an essay on global warming and climate change is essentially reflecting on the inevitable consequence of the irresponsible behavior of people inhabiting the planet. Outside of big-scale thinking, there is something each of us can do, and by shaping minds the right way, essential change can be done daily.

Each of us can act to protect the environment, reducing the use of plastic, recycling, buying food with as little packaging as possible, or turning off water and light when not in use. Every little help, even a short essay on climate change can help make a difference.

Can’t wait to save the planet? Do it, while we write your essay. Easy order, complete confidentiality, timely delivery. Click the button to learn more!

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Introductory essay

Written by the educators who created Climate Change, a brief look at the key facts, tough questions and big ideas in their field. Begin this TED Study with a fascinating read that gives context and clarity to the material.

The greenhouse effect has been detected, and it is changing our climate now. James Hansen, June 24, 1988

The drought that crippled much of the U.S. and Canada in 1988-89 was the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history prior to Hurricane Katrina. It spawned dust storms in the Midwest and forest fires in Yellowstone National Park. That summer, thousands died during an intense heat wave.

It was against this backdrop, on a 101-degree day in the nation's capital, that NASA scientist James Hansen delivered his landmark testimony to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. The next day, The New York Times ran a headline that read "Global Warming Has Begun, Expert Warns." Coverage of Hansen's testimony by the Times and other national and global media organizations transformed climate change from a relatively obscure scientific topic to one that people began to discuss over dinner, in the pub, at school and at work.

It remained newsworthy over the rest of that pivotal year. Days after Hansen's testimony, the World Meteorological Association (WMO) hosted a conference called "Our Changing Atmosphere," one of the earliest international climate change gatherings. 300 scientists and policy makers representing 46 countries attended. Participants called upon countries to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent or more by 2005, and by the end of the year the WMO and the United Nations Environment Program had established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher famously became one of the first world leaders to talk about climate change in a speech delivered that September to the Royal Society. "For generations, we have assumed that the efforts of mankind would leave the fundamental equilibrium of the world's systems and atmosphere stable," remarked Thatcher. "But it is possible that… we have unwittingly begun a massive experiment with the system of this planet itself." In this speech and others she gave during the remainder of her tenure, Thatcher advocated for expanded climate research and for policies that would safeguard the environment and promote sustainable development.

As global public awareness of the issue grew in the 1980s and beyond, the science and its significance were vigorously debated. Is there credible evidence that climate change is real? If it's real, when and how will we feel its effects? If it's real, what should be done, and who should do it? (Thatcher herself reversed position many years later, calling climate change "the doomsters' favorite subject" predicated on science that is "extremely obscure" and leading to "worldwide, supra-national socialism.")

Climate change is still hotly contested and the debate is often shrill, with skeptics branded as "climate deniers" and activists derisively labeled "warmists." Tensions are palpable, as when nearly 800 NGO representatives walked out of the 2013 international climate negotiations in Poland.

How has climate change become so politicized? It requires us to tackle thorny ethical and economic dilemmas, like how the least developed nations will cope with the effects of climate change and who should help them. It highlights serious structural issues like how to reckon with entrenched carbon-based industry interests and the connected yet complex resistances to decarbonization efforts. It calls for global governmental collaboration on an unprecedented scale. Atmospheric chemist Rachel Pike comments, "It goes, of course, to the top of our sky, but it goes to the bottom of the ocean, to every corner of the globe. It's every nation, every people. It's political, it's economic, it requires debate; it's scientific, it's engineering. It's the biggest problem you could ever imagine." It's no surprise, then, that climate change prompts a range of individual psychological and collective societal responses—avoidance, fatalism, denial, paralysis and wishful thinking, to name a few.

It's also not surprising that the scientific evidence is contested, given that the indicators of climate change -- like changing precipitation patterns over decadal time scales -- may be difficult for ordinary citizens to detect, and given what's at stake once we acknowledge that those indicators are correct. Initially -- and even today, despite the fact that we've reached the gold standard for scientific certainty -- some have questioned the quantity and quality of the evidence, feeding the public's perception that the science is half-baked. In reality, by the time Hansen delivered his congressional testimony in 1988, he'd been researching the relationship between atmospheric components and temperature since the 1960s, building upon a line of scientific inquiry stretching back at least a century.

A crash course on climate science

During the previous century, French physicist Joseph Fourier (1821) and Irish physicist John Tyndall (1861) described the Earth's natural "greenhouse effect" whereby water vapor and other gases in the atmosphere regulate the planet's surface temperatures. By the end of the 1800s, Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius had made the prediction that industrialized coal-burning would intensify the natural greenhouse effect. Remarkably, when Arrhenius calculated the quantitative effects on temperature his results were relatively close to what's predicted by modern climate change models.

In the 1930s, British engineer and citizen scientist Guy Callendar demonstrated that global temperatures were rising, using data from more than 140 weather stations around the world. Callendar argued that rising CO2 levels were to blame, but his hypothesis failed to gain widespread acceptance in the scientific community. Two decades later, American researcher Gilbert Plass analyzed the infrared absorption of various gases and created the early computational models suggesting that a 3- to 4-degree rise in temperature would result from doubling the concentration of atmospheric CO2. For the scientists aware of Plass's work, Dave Keeling's findings a few years later were undoubtedly unsettling: the American geochemist provided the first unequivocal proof that atmospheric CO2 levels were increasing, based on analysis of atmospheric samples he collected at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii.

Many scientists assumed that the world's oceans would absorb the extra atmospheric CO2 that human industry was producing, until American oceanographer Roger Revelle and chemist Hans Suess demonstrated otherwise. The authors of a 1957 National Academy of Sciences climatology report quoted Revelle: "In consuming our fossil fuels at a prodigious rate, our civilization is conducting a grandiose scientific experiment."

Revelle's subsequent testimony before a Congressional committee helped put climate change on the radar of elected officials. In 1965, a presidential advisory panel warned that the greenhouse effect was a "real concern," and the U.S. government's engagement deepened when Nixon established the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in 1970. Political and scientific interest in climate change grew during the ‘70s, culminating in the First World Climate Conference sponsored by the WMO in 1979. The Second World Climate Conference a decade later paved the way for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in 1992, where the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was launched and the groundwork laid for subsequent international climate change negotiations.

The challenge of communicating climate change

The task of translating climate research for policymakers and the general public has been hampered by multiple definitions of climate change within and outside of the scientific community. As Roger Pielke Jr. argued in his 2005 article " Misdefining climate change: Consequences for science and action ," definitions used by the UNFCCC, IPCC and others profoundly influence public opinion and the range of probable policy choices. Additionally, the conflation of "climate change," "global warming" and "the greenhouse effect" in news coverage has fueled public confusion about how to diagnose and treat the problem. For our purposes here, "climate change" is any change in climate over time due to natural variability or as a result of human activity. This is consistent with the IPCC's use of the term.

Rachel Pike's comment that it's the "biggest problem you could ever imagine" reminds us that climate change is a dense and multifaceted issue. There are facets of climate science and policy where convergent agreement dominates, while in other areas, contentious disagreement has generated worthwhile debate and discussion. The media's conflation of these diverse dimensions into one sweeping issue has contributed to confusion and created a breeding ground for manipulation from outlier viewpoints to inadvertently or deliberately skew public opinion.

It's important that we critically assess who ‘speaks for climate change' and understand their agendas. To the extent that their claims are flatly reported, or that in the name of fairness and balance speakers are frequently placed on equal footing irrespective of their expertise, individuals and organizations have become empowered to speak with authority through mass media. This skews how citizens and policy makers understand climate change issues, the stakes involved and the spectrum of possible actions to take. Cognizant of this, in 2013 the L.A. Times announced it would no longer print letters from climate change detractors. L.A. Times letters editor Paul Thornton wrote, "Simply put, I do my best to keep errors of fact off the letters page; when one does run, a correction is published. Saying "there's no sign humans have caused climate change" is not stating an opinion, it's asserting a factual inaccuracy."

About this TED Studies collection

While poorly communicated information can hamper the ability to make important decisions related to climate change causes and consequences, accurate and engaging information accessed through these TED Talks gives you power: power to understand, power to share your understanding with others, and power to take action.

Here we'll consider the environment as our planet's renewable and non-renewable natural resources, and a support system for the quantity, quality and sustainability of human activities. We'll see science as a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge, sorting through the unceasing flow of human experience. We'll explore policy as guides for decision making about human management of environment, articulating the principles, intentions, and mandates about who gets what, when and how. And we'll contemplate values as systems of conduct and broad preferences (individual to societal) concerning the morality of outcomes.

We begin with three modules that center our considerations on the climate science. First, through science journalist Lee Hotz's TED Talk, we explore the evidence that the climate is changing. Next, photographer James Balog contributes additional compelling, visible, measurable documentation of certain climate change effects. Balog's talk also highlights critical elements of the certainty/uncertainty debate that has dogged the issue. Third, through the TED Talk by climate scientist James Hansen, we explore the convergent agreement in the scientific community that humans contribute to contemporary climate change.

We continue with three modules exploring the politics of taking action through mitigation, adaptation and cross-cutting market-based, risk-reduction regulatory measures. We start with a TED Talk from former United States Vice President Al Gore, who calls for various ways to reduce our emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere (mitigation). Next, we turn to the TED Talk by environmental lawyer Vicki Arroyo, who suggests ways in which human communities can reduce their vulnerability to climate change and increase resilience (adaptation). Then we consider cross-cutting, often market-based risk reduction efforts by way of a TED Talk from journalist Naomi Klein. Her talk opens a space where we can critically evaluate climate risk reduction endeavors such as the market-based cap and trade proposals that are considered an essential tool by some, and merely a shell game by others.

We finish with two modules that focus our attention on important values and ethics questions. First, former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown challenges us to build a stronger global society by cutting carbon emissions in a way that is beneficial and equitable to all nations. Finally we turn to sustainabily strategist Johan Rockström's TED Talk about how nine ‘planetary boundaries' (which include climate change) can usefully guide ecosystem and environmental protection for future generations.

Let's begin with a look at the scientific evidence that's being unearthed at" the South Pole; science journalist Lee Hotz takes us there via his TED Talk "Inside an Antarctic time machine."

Inside an Antarctic time machine

Relevant talks.

New thinking on the climate crisis

Gordon Brown

Global ethic vs. national interest.

James Balog

Time-lapse proof of extreme ice loss.

James Hansen

Why i must speak out about climate change.

Johan Rockström

Let the environment guide our development.

Naomi Klein

Addicted to risk.

Vicki Arroyo

Let's prepare for our new climate.

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Teaching Ideas

Resources for Teaching About Climate Change With The New York Times

Dozens of resources to help students understand why our planet is warming and what we can do to stop it.

By The Learning Network

How much do your students know about climate change — what causes it, what its consequences are and what we can do to stop it?

A 2022 report from the United Nations found that countries around the world are failing to live up to their commitments to fight climate change, pointing Earth toward a future marked by more intense flooding, wildfires, drought, heat waves and species extinction.

Young people in particular are feeling the effects — both physical and emotional — of a warming planet. In response to a writing prompt about extreme weather that has been intensified by climate change, teenagers told us about experiencing deadly heat waves in Washington, devastating hurricanes in North Carolina and even smoke from the California wildfires in Vermont. They’re also feeling the anxiety of facing a future that could be even worse: “How long do I have before the Earth becomes uninhabitable? I ask myself this every day,” one student wrote .

Over the years, we’ve created dozens of resources to help young people learn about climate change with New York Times articles, interactive quizzes, graphs, films and more. To mark this moment, we’re collecting 60 of them, along with selected recent Times reporting and Opinion pieces on the topic, all in one place.

To get you started, we’ve highlighted several of those resources and offered ideas for how you can use them in your classroom. Whether it’s a short video about a teenage climate activist, a math problem about electric vehicles, or a writing prompt about their diet’s carbon footprint, we hope these activities can get your students thinking and talking about climate change and inspire them to make a difference.

How are you teaching about the climate crisis, its consequences and its solutions? Let us know in the comments.

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ENCYCLOPEDIC ENTRY

Climate change.

Climate change is a long-term shift in global or regional climate patterns. Often climate change refers specifically to the rise in global temperatures from the mid-20th century to present.

Earth Science, Climatology

Fracking tower

Fracking is a controversial form of drilling that uses high-pressure liquid to create cracks in underground shale to extract natural gas and petroleum. Carbon emissions from fossils fuels like these have been linked to global warming and climate change.

Photograph by Mark Thiessen / National Geographic

Climate is sometimes mistaken for weather. But climate is different from weather because it is measured over a long period of time, whereas weather can change from day to day, or from year to year. The climate of an area includes seasonal temperature and rainfall averages, and wind patterns. Different places have different climates. A desert, for example, is referred to as an arid climate because little water falls, as rain or snow, during the year. Other types of climate include tropical climates, which are hot and humid , and temperate climates, which have warm summers and cooler winters.

Climate change is the long-term alteration of temperature and typical weather patterns in a place. Climate change could refer to a particular location or the planet as a whole. Climate change may cause weather patterns to be less predictable. These unexpected weather patterns can make it difficult to maintain and grow crops in regions that rely on farming because expected temperature and rainfall levels can no longer be relied on. Climate change has also been connected with other damaging weather events such as more frequent and more intense hurricanes, floods, downpours, and winter storms.

In polar regions, the warming global temperatures associated with climate change have meant ice sheets and glaciers are melting at an accelerated rate from season to season. This contributes to sea levels rising in different regions of the planet. Together with expanding ocean waters due to rising temperatures, the resulting rise in sea level has begun to damage coastlines as a result of increased flooding and erosion.

The cause of current climate change is largely human activity, like burning fossil fuels , like natural gas, oil, and coal. Burning these materials releases what are called greenhouse gases into Earth’s atmosphere . There, these gases trap heat from the sun’s rays inside the atmosphere causing Earth’s average temperature to rise. This rise in the planet's temperature is called global warming. The warming of the planet impacts local and regional climates. Throughout Earth's history, climate has continually changed. When occuring naturally, this is a slow process that has taken place over hundreds and thousands of years. The human influenced climate change that is happening now is occuring at a much faster rate.

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Climate Change High School Questions

Help students understand how climate change poses an extraordinary threat to the planet and its inhabitants through these essay and discussion questions.

Introduction

• In what ways have human activities contributed to climate change as evidenced by increasing average global temperatures? What types of activities contribute most directly and are seen in historic records?
• What are some of the consequences of climate change? How can humans help mitigate climate change?
• Why are scientists so concerned with what they are observing in Greenland? What is the enhanced Greenhouse Effect? How does climate change create an unhealthy melting cycle in Greenland? What will happen if climate change continues to worsen (with average global temperatures rising more than 2.0℃)?
• Why does addressing climate cause challenges at the international level?
• When looking at greenhouse emissions, why is it important to consider both annual and cumulative emissions?
• How can measuring greenhouse gas emissions help guide policy decisions about climate change?
• How should the responsibility for combating climate change be divided up among countries?
• What are the benefits of letting each country decide its own Nationally Defined Contribution (NDC)? What are the limitations of this approach? Why do you think negotiators chose this approach, rather than negotiating each country’s responsibility as they did in the Kyoto Protocol?
• Each country has access to the same information about climate - why do you think their NDCs differ so greatly?
• What do you think the impact of the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement was? How can countries be persuaded to stay in the agreement in the future?
• Do you think the Paris Agreement is sufficient to address climate change? If not, what further action is needed?
• In what ways will climate change affect life? In what ways will it affect the lives of people around the world?
• What are some examples of ways in which climate change will affect people around the world unequally? What are the effects of this inequality?
• How does climate change contribute to water scarcity?
• In what ways will water scarcity affect your life? In what ways will it affect the lives of people around the world?
• Why is it important to consider how advancements in AI might impact the future of climate change? What are some important aspects for policymakers to consider about AI in relation to climate change?
• Do you think it is worth investing in AI as a means of fighting climate change? Why or why not?
• Do you think the future potential of AI might overshadow the need to address climate change in the short term?
• What are some ways that the Inflation Reduction Act seeks to fight climate change?
• What are some ways that countries can incentivize/disincentivize behaviors related to climate change?
• Should the world focus efforts on mitigation, adaptation, or geoengineering? Why?
• Should developing countries like China and India continue industrializing, even though their carbon emissions are increasing as a result?

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Essay on Global Warming

• Updated on  
• Apr 27, 2024

Being able to write an essay is an integral part of mastering any language. Essays form an integral part of many academic and scholastic exams like the SAT, and UPSC amongst many others. It is a crucial evaluative part of English proficiency tests as well like IELTS, TOEFL, etc. Major essays are meant to emphasize public issues of concern that can have significant consequences on the world. To understand the concept of Global Warming and its causes and effects, we must first examine the many factors that influence the planet’s temperature and what this implies for the world’s future. Here’s an unbiased look at the essay on Global Warming and other essential related topics.

Short Essay on Global Warming and Climate Change?

Since the industrial and scientific revolutions, Earth’s resources have been gradually depleted. Furthermore, the start of the world’s population’s exponential expansion is particularly hard on the environment. Simply put, as the population’s need for consumption grows, so does the use of natural resources , as well as the waste generated by that consumption.

Climate change has been one of the most significant long-term consequences of this. Climate change is more than just the rise or fall of global temperatures; it also affects rain cycles, wind patterns, cyclone frequencies, sea levels, and other factors. It has an impact on all major life groupings on the planet.

Also Read: Essay on Yoga Day

Also Read: Speech on Yoga Day

What is Global Warming?

Global warming is the unusually rapid increase in Earth’s average surface temperature over the past century, primarily due to the greenhouse gases released by people burning fossil fuels . The greenhouse gases consist of methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, carbon dioxide, water vapour, and chlorofluorocarbons. The weather prediction has been becoming more complex with every passing year, with seasons more indistinguishable, and the general temperatures hotter.

The number of hurricanes, cyclones, droughts, floods, etc., has risen steadily since the onset of the 21st century. The supervillain behind all these changes is Global Warming. The name is quite self-explanatory; it means the rise in the temperature of the Earth.

Also Read: What is a Natural Disaster?

What are the Causes of Global Warming?

According to recent studies, many scientists believe the following are the primary four causes of global warming:

• Deforestation 
• Greenhouse emissions
• Carbon emissions per capita

Extreme global warming is causing natural disasters , which can be seen all around us. One of the causes of global warming is the extreme release of greenhouse gases that become trapped on the earth’s surface, causing the temperature to rise. Similarly, volcanoes contribute to global warming by spewing excessive CO2 into the atmosphere.

The increase in population is one of the major causes of Global Warming. This increase in population also leads to increased air pollution . Automobiles emit a lot of CO2, which remains in the atmosphere. This increase in population is also causing deforestation, which contributes to global warming.

The earth’s surface emits energy into the atmosphere in the form of heat, keeping the balance with the incoming energy. Global warming depletes the ozone layer, bringing about the end of the world. There is a clear indication that increased global warming will result in the extinction of all life on Earth’s surface.

Also Read: Land, Soil, Water, Natural Vegetation, and Wildlife Resources

Solutions for Global Warming

Of course, industries and multinational conglomerates emit more carbon than the average citizen. Nonetheless, activism and community effort are the only viable ways to slow the worsening effects of global warming. Furthermore, at the state or government level, world leaders must develop concrete plans and step-by-step programmes to ensure that no further harm is done to the environment in general.

Although we are almost too late to slow the rate of global warming, finding the right solution is critical. Everyone, from individuals to governments, must work together to find a solution to Global Warming. Some of the factors to consider are pollution control, population growth, and the use of natural resources.

One very important contribution you can make is to reduce your use of plastic. Plastic is the primary cause of global warming, and recycling it takes years. Another factor to consider is deforestation, which will aid in the control of global warming. More tree planting should be encouraged to green the environment. Certain rules should also govern industrialization. Building industries in green zones that affect plants and species should be prohibited.

Also Read: Essay on Pollution

Effects of Global Warming

Global warming is a real problem that many people want to disprove to gain political advantage. However, as global citizens, we must ensure that only the truth is presented in the media.

This decade has seen a significant impact from global warming. The two most common phenomena observed are glacier retreat and arctic shrinkage. Glaciers are rapidly melting. These are clear manifestations of climate change.

Another significant effect of global warming is the rise in sea level. Flooding is occurring in low-lying areas as a result of sea-level rise. Many countries have experienced extreme weather conditions. Every year, we have unusually heavy rain, extreme heat and cold, wildfires, and other natural disasters.

Similarly, as global warming continues, marine life is being severely impacted. This is causing the extinction of marine species as well as other problems. Furthermore, changes are expected in coral reefs, which will face extinction in the coming years. These effects will intensify in the coming years, effectively halting species expansion. Furthermore, humans will eventually feel the negative effects of Global Warming.

Also Read: Concept of Sustainable Development

Sample Essays on Global Warming

Here are some sample essays on Global Warming:

Essay on Global Warming Paragraph in 100 – 150 words

Global Warming is caused by the increase of carbon dioxide levels in the earth’s atmosphere and is a result of human activities that have been causing harm to our environment for the past few centuries now. Global Warming is something that can’t be ignored and steps have to be taken to tackle the situation globally. The average temperature is constantly rising by 1.5 degrees Celsius over the last few years.

The best method to prevent future damage to the earth, cutting down more forests should be banned and Afforestation should be encouraged. Start by planting trees near your homes and offices, participate in events, and teach the importance of planting trees. It is impossible to undo the damage but it is possible to stop further harm.

Also Read: Social Forestry

Essay on Global Warming in 250 Words

Over a long period, it is observed that the temperature of the earth is increasing. This affected wildlife, animals, humans, and every living organism on earth. Glaciers have been melting, and many countries have started water shortages, flooding, and erosion and all this is because of global warming. 

No one can be blamed for global warming except for humans. Human activities such as gases released from power plants, transportation, and deforestation have increased gases such as carbon dioxide, CFCs, and other pollutants in the earth’s atmosphere.                                              The main question is how can we control the current situation and build a better world for future generations. It starts with little steps by every individual. 

Start using cloth bags made from sustainable materials for all shopping purposes, instead of using high-watt lights use energy-efficient bulbs, switch off the electricity, don’t waste water, abolish deforestation and encourage planting more trees. Shift the use of energy from petroleum or other fossil fuels to wind and solar energy. Instead of throwing out the old clothes donate them to someone so that it is recycled. 

Donate old books, don’t waste paper.  Above all, spread awareness about global warming. Every little thing a person does towards saving the earth will contribute in big or small amounts. We must learn that 1% effort is better than no effort. Pledge to take care of Mother Nature and speak up about global warming.

Also Read: Types of Water Pollution

Essay on Global Warming in 500 Words

Global warming isn’t a prediction, it is happening! A person denying it or unaware of it is in the most simple terms complicit. Do we have another planet to live on? Unfortunately, we have been bestowed with this one planet only that can sustain life yet over the years we have turned a blind eye to the plight it is in. Global warming is not an abstract concept but a global phenomenon occurring ever so slowly even at this moment. Global Warming is a phenomenon that is occurring every minute resulting in a gradual increase in the Earth’s overall climate. Brought about by greenhouse gases that trap the solar radiation in the atmosphere, global warming can change the entire map of the earth, displacing areas, flooding many countries, and destroying multiple lifeforms. Extreme weather is a direct consequence of global warming but it is not an exhaustive consequence. There are virtually limitless effects of global warming which are all harmful to life on earth. The sea level is increasing by 0.12 inches per year worldwide. This is happening because of the melting of polar ice caps because of global warming. This has increased the frequency of floods in many lowland areas and has caused damage to coral reefs. The Arctic is one of the worst-hit areas affected by global warming. Air quality has been adversely affected and the acidity of the seawater has also increased causing severe damage to marine life forms. Severe natural disasters are brought about by global warming which has had dire effects on life and property. As long as mankind produces greenhouse gases, global warming will continue to accelerate. The consequences are felt at a much smaller scale which will increase to become drastic shortly. The power to save the day lies in the hands of humans, the need is to seize the day. Energy consumption should be reduced on an individual basis. Fuel-efficient cars and other electronics should be encouraged to reduce the wastage of energy sources. This will also improve air quality and reduce the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Global warming is an evil that can only be defeated when fought together. It is better late than never. If we all take steps today, we will have a much brighter future tomorrow. Global warming is the bane of our existence and various policies have come up worldwide to fight it but that is not enough. The actual difference is made when we work at an individual level to fight it. Understanding its import now is crucial before it becomes an irrevocable mistake. Exterminating global warming is of utmost importance and each one of us is as responsible for it as the next.  

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Essay on Global Warming UPSC

Always hear about global warming everywhere, but do we know what it is? The evil of the worst form, global warming is a phenomenon that can affect life more fatally. Global warming refers to the increase in the earth’s temperature as a result of various human activities. The planet is gradually getting hotter and threatening the existence of lifeforms on it. Despite being relentlessly studied and researched, global warming for the majority of the population remains an abstract concept of science. It is this concept that over the years has culminated in making global warming a stark reality and not a concept covered in books. Global warming is not caused by one sole reason that can be curbed. Multifarious factors cause global warming most of which are a part of an individual’s daily existence. Burning of fuels for cooking, in vehicles, and for other conventional uses, a large amount of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, and methane amongst many others is produced which accelerates global warming. Rampant deforestation also results in global warming as lesser green cover results in an increased presence of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere which is a greenhouse gas.  Finding a solution to global warming is of immediate importance. Global warming is a phenomenon that has to be fought unitedly. Planting more trees can be the first step that can be taken toward warding off the severe consequences of global warming. Increasing the green cover will result in regulating the carbon cycle. There should be a shift from using nonrenewable energy to renewable energy such as wind or solar energy which causes less pollution and thereby hinder the acceleration of global warming. Reducing energy needs at an individual level and not wasting energy in any form is the most important step to be taken against global warming. The warning bells are tolling to awaken us from the deep slumber of complacency we have slipped into. Humans can fight against nature and it is high time we acknowledged that. With all our scientific progress and technological inventions, fighting off the negative effects of global warming is implausible. We have to remember that we do not inherit the earth from our ancestors but borrow it from our future generations and the responsibility lies on our shoulders to bequeath them a healthy planet for life to exist. 

Also Read: Essay on Disaster Management

Climate Change and Global Warming Essay

Global Warming and Climate Change are two sides of the same coin. Both are interrelated with each other and are two issues of major concern worldwide. Greenhouse gases released such as carbon dioxide, CFCs, and other pollutants in the earth’s atmosphere cause Global Warming which leads to climate change. Black holes have started to form in the ozone layer that protects the earth from harmful ultraviolet rays. 

Human activities have created climate change and global warming. Industrial waste and fumes are the major contributors to global warming. 

Another factor affecting is the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation and also one of the reasons for climate change.  Global warming has resulted in shrinking mountain glaciers in Antarctica, Greenland, and the Arctic and causing climate change. Switching from the use of fossil fuels to energy sources like wind and solar. 

When buying any electronic appliance buy the best quality with energy savings stars. Don’t waste water and encourage rainwater harvesting in your community. 

Also Read: Essay on Air Pollution

Tips to Write an Essay

Writing an effective essay needs skills that few people possess and even fewer know how to implement. While writing an essay can be an assiduous task that can be unnerving at times, some key pointers can be inculcated to draft a successful essay. These involve focusing on the structure of the essay, planning it out well, and emphasizing crucial details.

Mentioned below are some pointers that can help you write better structure and more thoughtful essays that will get across to your readers:

• Prepare an outline for the essay to ensure continuity and relevance and no break in the structure of the essay
• Decide on a thesis statement that will form the basis of your essay. It will be the point of your essay and help readers understand your contention
• Follow the structure of an introduction, a detailed body followed by a conclusion so that the readers can comprehend the essay in a particular manner without any dissonance.
• Make your beginning catchy and include solutions in your conclusion to make the essay insightful and lucrative to read
• Reread before putting it out and add your flair to the essay to make it more personal and thereby unique and intriguing for readers  

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Ans. Both natural and man-made factors contribute to global warming. The natural one also contains methane gas, volcanic eruptions, and greenhouse gases. Deforestation, mining, livestock raising, burning fossil fuels, and other man-made causes are next.

Ans. The government and the general public can work together to stop global warming. Trees must be planted more often, and deforestation must be prohibited. Auto usage needs to be curbed, and recycling needs to be promoted.

Ans. Switching to renewable energy sources , adopting sustainable farming, transportation, and energy methods, and conserving water and other natural resources.

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Digvijay Singh

Having 2+ years of experience in educational content writing, withholding a Bachelor's in Physical Education and Sports Science and a strong interest in writing educational content for students enrolled in domestic and foreign study abroad programmes. I believe in offering a distinct viewpoint to the table, to help students deal with the complexities of both domestic and foreign educational systems. Through engaging storytelling and insightful analysis, I aim to inspire my readers to embark on their educational journeys, whether abroad or at home, and to make the most of every learning opportunity that comes their way.

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This was really a good essay on global warming… There has been used many unic words..and I really liked it!!!Seriously I had been looking for a essay about Global warming just like this…

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I want to learn how to write essay writing so I joined this page.This page is very useful for everyone.

Hi, we are glad that we could help you to write essays. We have a beginner’s guide to write essays ( https://leverageedu.com/blog/essay-writing/ ) and we think this might help you.

It is not good , to have global warming in our earth .So we all have to afforestation program on all the world.

thank you so much

Very educative , helpful and it is really going to strength my English knowledge to structure my essay in future

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Global warming is the increase in 𝓽𝓱𝓮 ᴀᴠᴇʀᴀɢᴇ ᴛᴇᴍᴘᴇʀᴀᴛᴜʀᴇs ᴏғ ᴇᴀʀᴛʜ🌎 ᴀᴛᴍᴏsᴘʜᴇʀᴇ

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Climate change has consequences for the Earth system and human lives.

Climate literacy principle 7.

Jump down to: Teaching these ideas Find activities Watch a video

Teaching the impacts of climate change is supported by six key concepts:

b. Climate plays an important role in the global distribution of freshwater resources. Changing precipitation patterns and temperature conditions will alter the distribution and availability of freshwater resources, reducing reliable access to water for many people and their crops. Winter snowpack and mountain glaciers that provide water for human use are declining as a result of global warming.

c. Incidents of extreme weather are projected to increase as a result of climate change. Many locations will see a substantial increase in the number of heat waves they experience per year and a likely decrease in episodes of severe cold. Precipitation events are expected to become less frequent but more intense in many areas, and droughts will be more frequent and severe in areas where average precipitation is projected to decrease.

d. The chemistry of ocean water is changed by absorption of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Increasing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are causing ocean water to become more acidic, threatening the survival of shell-building marine species and the entire food web of which they are a part.

e. Ecosystems on land and in the ocean have been and will continue to be disturbed by climate change. Animals, plants, bacteria, and viruses will migrate to new areas with favorable climate conditions. Infectious diseases and certain species will be able to invade areas that they did not previously inhabit.

f. Human health and mortality rates will be affected to different degrees in specific regions of the world as a result of climate change. Although cold-related deaths are predicted to decrease, other risks are predicted to rise. The incidence and geographical range of climate-sensitive infectious diseases— such as malaria, dengue fever, and tick-borne diseases—will increase. Drought-reduced crop yields, degraded air and water quality, and increased hazards in coastal and low-lying areas will contribute to unhealthy conditions, particularly for the most vulnerable populations.

These ideas relate to the current and predicted consequences of climate change.

Most people are aware of the increasing frequency of extreme weather events, which is what climate scientists predicted for a warming world. The impacts of climate change on humans and environmental systems have become a focus for resource managers, medical professionals, emergency managers, insurance companies, and military planners. A great challenge of the 21st century will be to prepare communities to adapt to climate change while reducing human impacts on the climate system (known as mitigation). Additional factors such as poverty, a lack of resources, the absence of political will, and the necessity for nations to work together add further complexity to this challenge. Many jobs and industries will be affected by the changes that are happening or are anticipated for the future.

Climate change has profound impacts at home and afar, today and in the future

• The impacts of human-caused climate change are already being seen, from polar regions, to our backyards, to communities around the world.
• Consequences of climate change will affect the biosphere on many levels, from coral bleaching, to dying forests, to species extinction.
• Human infrastructure is threatened by a changing climate, such as encroachment of coastlines, stress to the energy grid, and shifting structures as a result of melting permafrost.
• A warming climate threatens mountain snowpacks, fresh water supplies, and hydropower that serve millions of people.
• Changes in climate and precipitation patterns are impacting agriculture and food security.
• Populations that are already vulnerable in terms of sea level rise and food security are poised for the greatest hardships. Political unrest, migration of refugees, and global economic impacts are all visible outcomes. Some of these effects are already evident.

Helping students understand these ideas

Keep in mind that alarming students and the public about the impact of climate hazards, such as droughts and extreme events, can be counter-productive and cause people to ignore the warnings, feel hopeless, or succumb to denial. However, glossing over the severity of the impacts and the enormous social and environmental ramifications of climate change can lead to a society that is ill-prepared to deal with change. Finding a balanced approach and avoiding a "despair deficit" is clearly a good practice, both inside and outside of the classroom.

Another challenge for fostering public awareness for the consequences of climate change is that many of the effects are far away and may not directly touch the lives of our students in an obvious way. Two solutions to this are to use local data and examples to examine climate changes that affect your region, or to employ a case study approach that will allow students to gain a deeper sense of how these impacts will profoundly affect people and ecosystems in faraway areas.

Bringing these ideas into your classroom

Here are a few pedagogic strategies for teaching about climate impacts.

• Because climate change affects so many parts of our lives, the theme can be woven into a range of topics throughout a course or a unit. Subjects such as history, economics, or health can all touch on climate change. Climate impacts needn't only be addressed within the specific context of an earth science class.
• Student teams can investigate climate impacts on different parts of the earth system. Teams could learn how climate is affecting the cryosphere, coral reefs, birds, forests, native peoples, agriculture, transportation, diseases, national security, and many other avenues.
• A geographic approach could be used to examine impacts in different parts of the world.
• Students could write or read narrative stories about how climate affects people.
• Students could use imaginary time travel to visit the climate of the future, which would vary depending on actions we take today.
• Students could use local climate data such as temperature, snowfall, and streamflow. Similarly, students could learn about economic impacts such as maple syrup production, crop yields, and winter recreation.
• Role-playing activities could be used to explore how the climate affects people in different walks of life such as farmers, construction workers, insurance agents, or pilots.

Integrating Solutions

• Draw on case studies showing successful emissions reduction strategies.
• Explore adaptation strategies for humans, plants, and animals.
• Create an atmosphere of creativity and problem-solving as we all strive to meet this grand challenge.
• These ideas are discussed more fully on the next page, Humans can take action to reduce climate change and its impacts .

Teaching materials from the CLEAN collection

These concepts are well-represented in the CLEAN resources. One way to narrow the search is to look for a specific type of impact like melting ice and permafrost , sea-level rise , extreme weather , or impacts to plants and animals . Alternatively, you can search by regions, like the US Southwest or US coastal areas .

Despite the best efforts of the CLEAN team to keep our teaching materials up-to-date, impacts to the climate system are changing rapidly. Be sure to seek up-to-date graphics and data to supplement some of these activities.

Middle school

• Loss of Arctic sea ice has been making a lot of headlines. The Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes lesson plan allows students to analyze and explore this topic with graphing and hands-on activities.
• What if the Ice Shelves Melted? - This hands-on lesson from ANDRILL involves making a model of Antarctica and then using their model to explore the impact of potential ice shelf melting and break-up.
• Investigating Coral Bleaching Using Real Data - This sequence of 5 activities uses real-world data to understand how scientists monitor coral bleaching events.
• Ten Signs of a Warming World is an interactive website that provides descriptive information and data related to ten compelling climate indicators.

High school

• Extreme Ice - This is a classroom activity designed to accompany the Extreme Ice movie that captures stunning images of glacial retreat. Links to the activity and the video are included.
• The activity Inland Fish and Warming Waters offers a way to look at impacts to local species and habitats.
• Advanced high school students can do in-depth analysis of coral reef health: Using Data to Identify Hot Spots and Predict Bleaching Events . An easier analysis of coral bleaching is presented in Coral Bleaching: A White Hot Problem .
• Liz Hadly Tracks Impact of Climate Change in Yellowstone is a video that illustrates impacts to Yellowstone National Park's ecosystems. Examples include pine bark beetles and drought.
• To lighten the mood, take a break with Weather Girl Goes Rogue. This humorous video suggests what might happen if a weather forecaster reported the weather in the context of climate change.

Related Pedagogic Methods:

• - Using Investigative Cases
• - Teaching Environmental Issues and the Affective Domain
• - Campus-Based Learning
• - Teaching with Google Earth
• Tools like Google Earth allow students to examine faraway effects of a changing climate in Google Earth Tours of Glacial Change .
• Predicting the Effects of Climate Change on Soil Loss examines soil erosion, climate change, and agriculture.
• Glacier (?) National Park - Students take a mathematical approach to analyze the loss of glaciers in this iconic national park.
• Estimating How Much Sea Level Changes When Continental Ice Sheets Form is a quantitative exercise to calculating sea level rise and fall. This video about Meltwater Pulse 2B would be a good accompaniment.
• Predicting Glacial Futures is a a case study that explores ice loss from the Greenland ice sheet by way of outlet glaciers that flow into the ocean. Students do basic calculations and learn about data trends, rates of change, uncertainty, and predictions.

Find activities and visuals for teaching this topic

Search by grade level: middle school high school intro college upper college search all grade levels

Fourth National Climate Assessment Report - Published in 2018, this report focuses on the impacts of climate change. This is an ideal "one-stop-shop" for information, data, and reusable graphics on the effects of climate change. 2014 National Climate Assessment Report summarizes the impacts of climate change on the United States, now and in the future. The report can be explored by region and uses clear, simple messages to streamline the findings. The Effects of Climate Change from NASA - Short explanations of the major effects of climate change, with links to a deeper dive. How Much is Sea Level Rising? - This page from the Skeptical Science website provides clear answers to common questions and misunderstandings about climate change. Arctic Climate Impact Assessment from the Union of Concerned Scientists, this article describes observed climatic changes as well as predicted impacts. Topics include sea ice, ecosystems, albedo and sea level rise.

Additional Resources

Video about this principle.

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Inclusive Climate Teaching Guidance

• See the Spanish-language version of this Principle
• Explore Living Landscapes Culturally Relevant Climate Literacy Resources

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How does global warming work?

Where does global warming occur in the atmosphere, why is global warming a social problem, where does global warming affect polar bears.

global warming

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• U.S. Department of Transportation - Global Warming: A Science Overview
• NOAA Climate.gov - Climate Change: Global Temperature
• Natural Resources Defense Council - Global Warming 101
• American Institute of Physics - The discovery of global warming
• LiveScience - Causes of Global Warming
• global warming - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)
• global warming - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)
• Table Of Contents

Human activity affects global surface temperatures by changing Earth ’s radiative balance—the “give and take” between what comes in during the day and what Earth emits at night. Increases in greenhouse gases —i.e., trace gases such as carbon dioxide and methane that absorb heat energy emitted from Earth’s surface and reradiate it back—generated by industry and transportation cause the atmosphere to retain more heat, which increases temperatures and alters precipitation patterns.

Global warming, the phenomenon of increasing average air temperatures near Earth’s surface over the past one to two centuries, happens mostly in the troposphere , the lowest level of the atmosphere, which extends from Earth’s surface up to a height of 6–11 miles. This layer contains most of Earth’s clouds and is where living things and their habitats and weather primarily occur.

Continued global warming is expected to impact everything from energy use to water availability to crop productivity throughout the world. Poor countries and communities with limited abilities to adapt to these changes are expected to suffer disproportionately. Global warming is already being associated with increases in the incidence of severe and extreme weather, heavy flooding , and wildfires —phenomena that threaten homes, dams, transportation networks, and other facets of human infrastructure. Learn more about how the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report, released in 2021, describes the social impacts of global warming.

Polar bears live in the Arctic , where they use the region’s ice floes as they hunt seals and other marine mammals . Temperature increases related to global warming have been the most pronounced at the poles, where they often make the difference between frozen and melted ice. Polar bears rely on small gaps in the ice to hunt their prey. As these gaps widen because of continued melting, prey capture has become more challenging for these animals.

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global warming , the phenomenon of increasing average air temperatures near the surface of Earth over the past one to two centuries. Climate scientists have since the mid-20th century gathered detailed observations of various weather phenomena (such as temperatures, precipitation , and storms) and of related influences on climate (such as ocean currents and the atmosphere’s chemical composition). These data indicate that Earth’s climate has changed over almost every conceivable timescale since the beginning of geologic time and that human activities since at least the beginning of the Industrial Revolution have a growing influence over the pace and extent of present-day climate change .

Giving voice to a growing conviction of most of the scientific community , the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was formed in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). The IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), published in 2021, noted that the best estimate of the increase in global average surface temperature between 1850 and 2019 was 1.07 °C (1.9 °F). An IPCC special report produced in 2018 noted that human beings and their activities have been responsible for a worldwide average temperature increase between 0.8 and 1.2 °C (1.4 and 2.2 °F) since preindustrial times, and most of the warming over the second half of the 20th century could be attributed to human activities.

AR6 produced a series of global climate predictions based on modeling five greenhouse gas emission scenarios that accounted for future emissions, mitigation (severity reduction) measures, and uncertainties in the model projections. Some of the main uncertainties include the precise role of feedback processes and the impacts of industrial pollutants known as aerosols , which may offset some warming. The lowest-emissions scenario, which assumed steep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions beginning in 2015, predicted that the global mean surface temperature would increase between 1.0 and 1.8 °C (1.8 and 3.2 °F) by 2100 relative to the 1850–1900 average. This range stood in stark contrast to the highest-emissions scenario, which predicted that the mean surface temperature would rise between 3.3 and 5.7 °C (5.9 and 10.2 °F) by 2100 based on the assumption that greenhouse gas emissions would continue to increase throughout the 21st century. The intermediate-emissions scenario, which assumed that emissions would stabilize by 2050 before declining gradually, projected an increase of between 2.1 and 3.5 °C (3.8 and 6.3 °F) by 2100.

Many climate scientists agree that significant societal, economic, and ecological damage would result if the global average temperature rose by more than 2 °C (3.6 °F) in such a short time. Such damage would include increased extinction of many plant and animal species, shifts in patterns of agriculture , and rising sea levels. By 2015 all but a few national governments had begun the process of instituting carbon reduction plans as part of the Paris Agreement , a treaty designed to help countries keep global warming to 1.5 °C (2.7 °F) above preindustrial levels in order to avoid the worst of the predicted effects. Whereas authors of the 2018 special report noted that should carbon emissions continue at their present rate, the increase in average near-surface air temperature would reach 1.5 °C sometime between 2030 and 2052, authors of the AR6 report suggested that this threshold would be reached by 2041 at the latest.

The AR6 report also noted that the global average sea level had risen by some 20 cm (7.9 inches) between 1901 and 2018 and that sea level rose faster in the second half of the 20th century than in the first half. It also predicted, again depending on a wide range of scenarios, that the global average sea level would rise by different amounts by 2100 relative to the 1995–2014 average. Under the report’s lowest-emission scenario, sea level would rise by 28–55 cm (11–21.7 inches), whereas, under the intermediate emissions scenario, sea level would rise by 44–76 cm (17.3–29.9 inches). The highest-emissions scenario suggested that sea level would rise by 63–101 cm (24.8–39.8 inches) by 2100.

The scenarios referred to above depend mainly on future concentrations of certain trace gases, called greenhouse gases , that have been injected into the lower atmosphere in increasing amounts through the burning of fossil fuels for industry, transportation , and residential uses. Modern global warming is the result of an increase in magnitude of the so-called greenhouse effect , a warming of Earth’s surface and lower atmosphere caused by the presence of water vapour , carbon dioxide , methane , nitrous oxides , and other greenhouse gases. In 2014 the IPCC first reported that concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxides in the atmosphere surpassed those found in ice cores dating back 800,000 years.

Of all these gases, carbon dioxide is the most important, both for its role in the greenhouse effect and for its role in the human economy. It has been estimated that, at the beginning of the industrial age in the mid-18th century, carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere were roughly 280 parts per million (ppm). By the end of 2022 they had risen to 419 ppm, and, if fossil fuels continue to be burned at current rates, they are projected to reach 550 ppm by the mid-21st century—essentially, a doubling of carbon dioxide concentrations in 300 years.

A vigorous debate is in progress over the extent and seriousness of rising surface temperatures, the effects of past and future warming on human life, and the need for action to reduce future warming and deal with its consequences. This article provides an overview of the scientific background related to the subject of global warming. It considers the causes of rising near-surface air temperatures, the influencing factors, the process of climate research and forecasting, and the possible ecological and social impacts of rising temperatures. For an overview of the public policy developments related to global warming occurring since the mid-20th century, see global warming policy . For a detailed description of Earth’s climate, its processes, and the responses of living things to its changing nature, see climate . For additional background on how Earth’s climate has changed throughout geologic time , see climatic variation and change . For a full description of Earth’s gaseous envelope, within which climate change and global warming occur, see atmosphere .

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Causes and Effects of Climate Change

Fossil fuels – coal, oil and gas – are by far the largest contributor to global climate change, accounting for over 75 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions and nearly 90 per cent of all carbon dioxide emissions. As greenhouse gas emissions blanket the Earth, they trap the sun’s heat. This leads to global warming and climate change. The world is now warming faster than at any point in recorded history. Warmer temperatures over time are changing weather patterns and disrupting the usual balance of nature. This poses many risks to human beings and all other forms of life on Earth. 

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Eleven-year-old Markela is a fifth generation beekeeper, but climate change is making it so that she may not be able to carry on the family tradition. Wildfires, heatwaves, and droughts that are increasing in intensity and frequency due to the climate crisis, put bees and the ecosystems at risk.

Healing Chile’s Huapi Island

On Chile’s Huapi Island, native forests have become fragmented, making the soils poorer and drier and leaving the population vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Now, thanks to the restoration efforts of Indigenous Peoples, native trees are making a comeback.

Early warning systems are saving lives in Central Asia

As Central Asia grapples with the increasing frequency and severity of climate-induced hazards, the importance of robust early warning systems cannot be overstated. However, countries need both technical knowledge and resources to effectively implement these systems on a large scale. Japan has been a reliable ally for countries, helping advance early warning systems and increase resilience in the region.

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• CBSE Notes For Class 7
• CBSE Class 7 Science Notes
• Chapter 7: Weather Climate And Adaptations Of Animals To Climate

Weather, Climate and Adaptations of Animals to Climate Class 7 Science Notes - Chapter 7

According to the CBSE Syllabus 2023-24, this chapter has been removed from  NCERT Class 7 Science textbook .

The atmospheric condition of a place on a daily basis with regards to aspects such as – humidity, the temperature, wind-temperature, rainfall, wind speed, etc., is referred to as the weather of that place.

• The place’s humidity, temperature, and other factors are known as the elements of the weather.

To know more about Weather, visit here .

Fronts and Weather Conditions

Weather is produced by the interaction of several factors that, include:

• temperature or heat
• humidity or amount of water vapour in the air
• wind and atmospheric pressure.
• precipitation or the amount of rain
• cloudiness or the amount of cloud cover
• visibility that is how far you can look into the horizon
• Wind and an atmospheric pressure

A weather front is a boundary separating two masses of air of different densities.

•  The air masses separated by a front usually differ in temperature and humidity.
•  The weather analysis usually includes information about the weather fronts also.
• The average pattern of the weather recorded over a long time, say 25 years, is known as the climate of the place.
• If the temperature at a place is high mostly, then we affirm that the climate of that place is hot.
• If, on most days, there is heavy rainfall in the same place, then we affirm that the climate of that place is wet and hot.

Factors Affecting Climate

• Different factors affect climates, such as altitude, latitude, geography and topography.

To know more about “Factors Affecting Climate”, visit here .

Weather vs Climate

• Meteorologists record the weather every day.
• The records of the weather have been preserved for the past several decades.
• These help us to determine the weather pattern at a place.
• The average of the weather pattern over a time period is determined by the climate.

To know more about the “Difference Between Weather and Climate”, visit here .

Meteorology and Climatology

• The major focus in meteorology is weather forecasting.
• The daily weather reports are prepared by the Meteorological Department of the Government.
• This department collects data on temperature, wind, etc., and makes the weather prediction.
• Climatology is the study of climate, defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of time.

Formation and Types of Clouds

• Clouds form occurs via a phenomenon known as convection.
• As sun rays heat the ground and the immediate air over it, the warm air tends to become lighter, which is carried away along with the warm air upwards. As the air rises higher, the temperature falls, causing the amount of water vapour that the air can hold to decrease.
• This vapour condenses rapidly, and soon clouds — made up of billions of minuscule water droplets or ice crystals — result.
• Air that blows over mountains or hills is expelled upwards, leading to the development of clouds. Precipitation and clouds are often found on the windward side of a mountain.

To know more about Cloud Formation, visit here .

• Rainfall is measured by an instrument called the rain gauge.
•  It is basically a measuring cylinder with a funnel on top to collect rainwater.

To know more about Rain Gauge, visit here .

Thunderstorm

To know more about Thunderstorms and Lightning, visit here .

The Polar Regions

• The polar regions manifest an extremely cold climate.
• For most of the year, these areas are extremely cold, covered in snow
• Sun does not set for six months, and once it is set, it does not rise for six months.
• The temperature in winter can go as low as −37∘C.
• The north polar region is the Arctic region, while the south polar region is the Antarctic region.
• Animals living at both these poles have adjusted to these harsh conditions.

The Tropical Rainforests

• The tropical region generally has a hot climate because of its location around the equator.
• In winter, the temperatures are above 15∘C and during summers, it may cross even 40∘C.
• The climatic conditions in rainforests are highly suitable for supporting an enormous number and variety of animals and plants.

The Temperate Grasslands

• Temperate grasslands are located north of the Tropic of Cancer (23.5 degrees North) and south of the Tropic of Capricorn (23.5 degrees South).
• The major temperate grasslands include the veldts of Africa, the pampas of South America, the steppes of Eurasia, and the plains of North America.

Animal Adaptation

• Based on different climatic conditions, animals adapt or evolve to survive in these conditions.
• For example, Polar regions – Polar bears have white fur and hence are not visible easily in the snowy white background.
• It safeguards them from their predators.
• Also beneficial for them to catch their prey.
• They are naturally provided with two thick layers of fur to shield them from extreme cold.
• Also, they possess a layer of fat under their skin.

For more information on Adaptation and Habitats for Animals, watch the below video

To know more about Adaptation and Habitats, visit here .

Frequently Asked Questions on CBSE Class 7 Science Notes Chapter 7 Weather Climate and Adaptation of Animals to Climate

What are the animals found in the polar regions.

1. Polar Bear.2. Whale.3. Arctic Fox.4. Arctic Wolf.5. Pacific Salmon.6. Brown Bear.

How can we save this climate change situation?

1. Avoid over usage of natural resources 2. Do not use or buy items made from animals 3. Avoid plastic usage and pollution

Are there any natural causes for climate change?

Yes, some of the natural causes of climate change are: 1. Solar variations 2. Volcanic eruption and tsunamis 3. Earth’s orbital changes

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