Definition of Global Warming

Global warming and climate change are often mistaken to be the same concept; however, they are not. Climate is defined as the "Generally prevailing weather conditions of a region, as temperature, air pressure, humidity, precipitation, sunshine, cloudiness, and winds, throughout the year, averaged over a series of years"^[1].

This means that climate change is a change in the given weather conditions, such as temperature and air pressure, but only applies to a certain region. Global warming or cooling on the other hand is defined as "An increase in the average temperature of the Earth's atmosphere, especially a sustained increase sufficient to cause climatic change"^[2]. This means that global warming is an increase in average temperature, and only temperature, of the entire atmosphere. Therefore, global warming is one type of climate change, that takes place on a global scale.

Another common belief, that also happens to be false, is that global warming affects the globe uniformly. This is the belief that if the average atmospheric temperature was to increase by 4^oC, every region worldwide would increase by 4^oC. This is not the case, as an increase in global temperature will also cause the atmosphere circulation to fluctuate and therefore resulting in increased warming in certain areas and less significant warming in other areas. Generally, the northern and southern areas farther away from the equator would have a more dramatic increase in temperature, while regions nearer to the equator would experience a smaller increase^[3].

A usually overlooked aspect of global warming is the second part of the
above definition: ‘...a sustained increase sufficient to cause climatic change’. Climatic elements can naturally vary one year to the next, but can still be considered within the bounds of normal climate variability. Such cases of single year abnormalities are actually quite common, such as the effects of El Niño-Southern Oscillation. If a single unusually warm winter was to succeed several expected cold winters, it would not necessarily represent global warming, or climate change. A warming must continue to occur consistently over a long period of time to be appropriately classified as global warming. Such periods are referred to as ‘warm periods’. A well-known warming period that occurred quite recently, in geographical terms, was the medieval warm period. This warming lasted from the 11th to 14th centuries.

Presently, there is belief that the Earth has entered another warm period, one that can be directly linked to human activities. There is a controversy on whether the present warming is actually human induced or part of the Earth’s natural cycle of fluctuating temperatures. Believers and skeptics constantly debate over the case on whether there is a need to take action, or if humans can just wait out the warming period. It is projected that the current period has no signs of stopping anytime soon, and temperatures will not only continue to rise, but rise more dramatically. If such predictions are accurate, there would be devastating effects to both the environment and economy worldwide.

This site will present facts on today’s issues in hope to raise awareness and motivate positive actions on this topic.