What is Climate Change?

The word “climate” refers to overall weather conditions over a long period of time – all over the earth. Gradual changes to climate have been happening on the earth for millions of years. Some have been periods of warm, wet weather, such as the Age of Dinosaurs 100 million years ago. Some have been periods of colder weather, like the last Ice Age 50,000 years ago.

Human life began about 300,000 years ago, primarily because moderate climate conditions were favorable for primates like us in equatorial regions like in central Africa.  We would not be able to survive with an extremely warm climate because, unlike reptiles, our body temperature must be maintained at a constant temperature of 98.6 degree Fahrenheit.

Climate changes have historically occurred gradually over long periods of time, which allowed animal species to evolve and adapt. The difficulty we face today is that, due to rapid burning of coal, oil and natural gas, the earth’s climate is changing so rapidly we do not have time to adapt to a warmer planet Thus our very survival as a species is threatened.