Climate change occurs when changes in Earth's climate system result in

new weather patterns that remain in place for an extended period of time. This length of
time can be as short as a few decades to as long as millions of years. Scientists have
identified many episodes of climate change during Earth's geological history; more
recently since the industrial revolution the climate has increasingly been affected
by human activities driving global warming,[1] and the terms are commonly used
interchangeably in that context.[2] The climate system receives nearly all of its energy
from the sun. The climate system also gives off energy to outer space. The balance of
incoming and outgoing energy, and the passage of the energy through the climate
system, determines Earth's energy budget. When the incoming energy is greater than
the outgoing energy, earth's energy budget is positive and the climate system is
warming. If more energy goes out, the energy budget is negative and earth experiences
cooling. The energy moving through Earth's climate system finds expression
in weather, varying on geographic scales and time. Long-term averages and variability
of weather in a region constitute the region's climate. Climate change is a long-term,
sustained trend of change in climate. Such changes can be the result of "internal
variability", when natural processes inherent to the various parts of the climate system
alter the distribution of energy. Examples include variability in ocean basins such as
the Pacific decadal oscillation and Atlantic multidecadal oscillation. Climate change can
also result from external forcing, when events outside of the climate system's
components nonetheless produce changes within the system. Examples include
changes in solar output and volcanism.
The most general definition of climate change is a change in the statistical
properties (principally its mean and spread)[3] of meteorological variables when
considered over long periods of time, regardless of cause.[4] Accordingly, fluctuations
over periods shorter than a few decades, such as El Niño, do not represent climate
change. The term "climate change" is often used to refer specifically to anthropogenic
climate change (also known as global warming). Anthropogenic climate change is
caused by human activity, as opposed to changes in climate that may have resulted as
part of Earth's natural processes.[5] In this sense, especially in the context
of environmental policy, the term climate change has become synonymous
with anthropogenic global warming. Within scientific journals, global warming refers to
surface temperature increases while climate change includes global warming and
everything else that increasing greenhouse gas levels affect. A related term, "climatic
change", was proposed by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1966 to
encompass all forms of climatic variability on time-scales longer than 10 years, but
regardless of cause. During the 1970s, the term climate change replaced climatic
change to focus on anthropogenic causes, as it became clear that human activities had
a potential to drastically alter the climate.[7] Climate change was incorporated in the title
of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the UN Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Climate change is now used as both a
technical description of the process, as well as a noun used to describe the problem
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change_(general_concept)

Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get. – Mark Twain

Climate refers to the average weather conditions in a certain place over many years.
For example, the climate in Minnesota is cold and snowy in the winter, and the climate
in Honolulu, Hawaii, is warm and humid all year long. The climate in one area, like the
Midwest or Hawaii, is called a regional climate. The average climate around the world is
called global climate. When scientists talk about global climate change, they're talking
about the global climate and a pattern of change that's happening over many years.
One of the most important trends that scientists look at is the average temperature of
the Earth, which has been increasing for many years. This is called global warming.
Rising global temperatures lead to other changes around the world, such as stronger
hurricanes, melting glaciers, and the loss of wildlife habitats. That's because the Earth's
air, water, and land are all related to one another and to the climate. This means a
change in one place can lead to other changes somewhere else. For example, when air
temperatures rise, the oceans absorb more heat from the atmosphere and become
warmer. Warmer oceans, in turn, can cause stronger storms.
https://archive.epa.gov/climatechange/kids/basics/concepts.html
What causes climate change?
The mechanics of the earth’s climate system are simple. When energy from the
sun is reflected off the earth and back into space (mostly by clouds and ice), or when
the earth’s atmosphere releases energy, the planet cools. When the earth absorbs the
sun’s energy, or when atmospheric gases prevent heat released by the earth from
radiating into space (the greenhouse effect), the planet warms. A variety of factors, both
natural and human, can influence the earth’s climate system.
Natural causes of climate change
As we all know, the earth has gone through warm and cool phases in the past, and long
before humans were around. Forces that contribute to climate change include the sun’s
intensity, volcanic eruptions, and changes in naturally occurring greenhouse gas
concentrations. But records indicate that today’s climatic warming—particularly the
warming since the mid-20th century—is occurring much faster than ever before and
can’t be explained by natural causes alone. According to NASA, “These natural causes
are still in play today, but their influence is too small or they occur too slowly to explain
the rapid warming seen in recent decades.”
Anthropogenic causes of climate change
Humans—more specifically, the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions we generate—are
the leading cause of the earth’s rapidly changing climate. Greenhouse gases play an
important role in keeping the planet warm enough to inhabit. But the amount of these
gases in our atmosphere has skyrocketed in recent decades. According to the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), concentrations of carbon dioxide,
methane, and nitrous oxides “have increased to levels unprecedented in at least the last
800,000 years.” Indeed, the atmosphere’s share of carbon dioxide—the planet’s chief
climate change contributor—has risen by 40 percent since preindustrial times.
A waterfront factory pumping out clouds of smoke. The burning of fossil fuels like
coal, oil, and gas for electricity, heat, and transportation is the primary source of human-
generated emissions. A second major source is deforestation, which releases
sequestered carbon into the air. It’s estimated that logging, clear-cutting, fires, and other
forms of forest degradation contribute up to 20 percent of global carbon emissions.
Other human activities that generate air pollution include fertilizer use (a primary source
of nitrous oxide emissions), livestock production (cattle, buffalo, sheep, and goats are
major methane emitters), and certain industrial processes that release fluorinated
gases. Activities like agriculture and road construction can change the reflectivity of the
earth’s surface, leading to local warming or cooling, too.  Though our planet’s forests
and oceans absorb greenhouse gases from the atmosphere through photosynthesis
and other processes, these natural carbon sinks can’t keep up with our rising emissions.
The resulting buildup of greenhouse gases is causing alarmingly fast warming
worldwide. It’s estimated that the earth’s average temperature rose by about 1-degree
Fahrenheit during the 20th century. If that doesn’t sound like much, consider this: When
the last ice age ended and the northeastern United States was covered by more than
3,000 feet of ice, average temperatures were just 5 to 9 degrees cooler than they are
now.
https://www.nrdc.org/stories/global-climate-change-what-you-need-know

Causes of climate change

The earth's climate is dynamic and always changing through a natural cycle.
What the world is more worried about is that the changes that are occurring today have
been speeded up because of man's activities. These changes are being studied by
scientists all over the world who are finding evidence from tree rings, pollen samples,
ice cores, and sea sediments. The causes of climate change can be divided into two
categories - those that are due to natural causes and those that are created by man.

Natural causes
There are a number of natural factors responsible for climate change. Some of the more
prominent ones are continental drift, volcanoes, ocean currents, the earth's tilt, and
comets and meteorites. Let's look at them in a little detail.
Continental drift
You may have noticed something peculiar about South America and Africa on a map of
the world - don't they seem to fit into each other like pieces in a jigsaw puzzle?
About 200 million years ago they were joined together! Scientists believe that back then,
the earth was not as we see it today, but the continents were all part of one large
landmass. Proof of this comes from the similarity between plant and animal fossils and
broad belts of rocks found on the eastern coastline of South America and western
coastline of Africa, which are now widely separated by the Atlantic Ocean. The
discovery of fossils of tropical plants (in the form of coal deposits) in Antarctica has led
to the conclusion that this frozen land at some time in the past, must have been situated
closer to the equator, where the climate was tropical, with swamps and plenty of lush
vegetation. The continents that we are familiar with today were formed when the
landmass began gradually drifting apart, millions of years back. This drift also had an
impact on the climate because it changed the physical features of the landmass, their
position and the position of water bodies. The separation of the landmasses changed
the flow of ocean currents and winds, which affected the climate. This drift of the
continents continues even today; the Himalayan range is rising by about 1 mm
(millimeter) every year because the Indian land mass is moving towards the Asian land
mass, slowly but steadily.
Volcanoes
When a volcano erupts it throws out large volumes of sulphur dioxide (SO2), water
vapour, dust, and ash into the atmosphere. Although the volcanic activity may last only
a few days, yet the large volumes of gases and ash can influence climatic patterns for
years. Millions of tons of Sulphur dioxide gas can reach the upper levels of the
atmosphere (called the stratosphere) from a major eruption. The gases and dust
particles partially block the incoming rays of the sun, leading to cooling. Sulphur dioxide
combines with water to form tiny droplets of Sulphur acid. These droplets are so small
that many of them can stay aloft for several years. They are efficient reflectors of
sunlight and screen the ground from some of the energy that it would ordinarily receive
from the sun. Winds in the upper levels of the atmopshere, called the stratosphere,
carry the aerosols rapidly around the globe in either an easterly or westerly direction.
Movement of aerosols north and south is always much slower. This should give you
some idea of the ways by which cooling can be brought about for a few years after a
major volcanic eruption.
The earth's tilt
The earth makes one full orbit around the sun each year. It is tilted at an angle of 23.5°
to the perpendicular plane of its orbital path. For one half of the year when it is summer,
the northern hemisphere tilts towards the sun. In the other half when it is winter, the
earth is tilted away from the sun. If there was no tilt we would not have experienced
seasons. Changes in the tilt of the earth can affect the severity of the seasons - more tilt
means warmer summers and colder winters; less tilt means cooler summers and milder
winters. The Earth's orbit is somewhat elliptical, which means that the distance between
the earth and the Sun varies over the course of a year. We usually think of the earth's
axis as being fixed, after all, it always seems to point toward Polaris (also known as the
Pole Star and the North Star). Actually, it is not quite constant: the axis does move, at
the rate of a little more than a half-degree each century. So Polaris has not always
been, and will not always be, the star pointing to the North. When the pyramids were
built, around 2500 BC, the pole was near the star Thuban (Alpha Draconis). This
gradual change in the direction of the earth's axis, called precession is responsible for
changes in the climate.
Ocean currents
The oceans are a major component of the climate system. They cover about 71% of the
Earth and absorb about twice as much of the sun's radiation as the atmosphere or the
land surface. Ocean currents move vast amounts of heat across the planet - roughly the
same amount as the atmosphere does. But the oceans are surrounded by land masses,
so heat transport through the water is through channels. Winds push horizontally
against the sea surface and drive ocean current patterns. Certain parts of the world are
influenced by ocean currents more than others. The coast of Peru and other adjoining
regions are directly influenced by the Humboldt current that flows along the coastline of
Peru. The El Niño event in the Pacific Ocean can affect climatic conditions all over the
world. Another region that is strongly influenced by ocean currents is the North Atlantic.
If we compare places at the same latitude in Europe and North America the effect is
immediately obvious. Take a closer look at this example - some parts of coastal Norway
have an average temperature of -2°C in January and 14°C in July; while places at the
same latitude on the Pacific coast of Alaska are far colder: -15°C in January and only
10°C in July. The warm current along the Norewgian coast keeps much of the
Greenland-Norwegian Sea free of ice even in winter. The rest of the Arctic Ocean, even
though it is much further south, remains frozen.

Ocean currents have been known to change direction or slow down. Much of the heat
that escapes from the oceans is in the form of water vapour, the most abundant
greenhouse gas on Earth. Yet, water vapor also contributes to the formation of clouds,
which shade the surface and have a net cooling effect.
Any or all of these phenomena can have an impact on the climate, as is believed to
have happened at the end of the last Ice Age, about 14,000 years ago.
Human causes
The Industrial Revolution in the 19th century saw the large-scale use of fossil fuels for
industrial activities. These industries created jobs and over the years, people moved
from rural areas to the cities. This trend is continuing even today. More and more land
that was covered with vegetation has been cleared to make way for houses. Natural
resources are being used extensively for construction, industries, transport, and
consumption. Consumerism (our increasing want for material things) has increased by
leaps and bounds, creating mountains of waste. Also, our population has increased to
an incredible extent. All this has contributed to a rise in greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere. Fossil fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas supply most of the energy
needed to run vehicles, generate electricity for industries, households, etc. The energy
sector is responsible for about ¾ of the carbon dioxide emissions, 1/5 of the methane
emissions and a large quantity of nitrous oxide. It also produces nitrogen oxides (NOx)
and carbon monoxide (CO) which are not greenhouse gases but do have an influence
on the chemical cycles in the atmosphere that produce or destroy greenhouse gases.

Greenhouse gases and their sources

Carbon dioxide is undoubtedly, the most important greenhouse gas in the atmosphere.
Changes in land use pattern, deforestation, land clearing, agriculture, and other
activities have all led to a rise in the emission of carbon dioxide. Methane is another
important greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. About ¼ of all methane emissions are
said to come from domesticated animals such as dairy cows, goats, pigs, buffaloes,
camels, horses, and sheep. These animals produce methane during the cud-chewing
process. Methane is also released from rice or paddy fields that are flooded during the
sowing and maturing periods. When soil is covered with water it becomes anaerobic or
lacking in oxygen. Under such conditions, methane-producing bacteria and other
organisms decompose organic matter in the soil to form methane. Nearly 90% of the
paddy-growing area in the world is found in Asia, as rice is the staple food there. China
and India, between them, have 80-90% of the world's rice-growing areas. Methane is
also emitted from landfills and other waste dumps. If the waste is put into
an incinerator or burnt in the open, carbon dioxide is emitted. Methane is also emitted
during the process of oil drilling, coal mining and also from leaking gas pipelines (due to
accidents and poor maintenance of sites). A large amount of nitrous oxide emission has
been attributed to fertilizer application. This in turn depends on the type of fertilizer that
is used, how and when it is used and the methods of tilling that are followed.
Contributions are also made by leguminous plants, such as beans and pulses that add
nitrogen to the soil.
http://edugreen.teri.res.in/explore/climate/causes.htm

Effects of Climate Change

Climate change destabilizes the Earth’s temperature equilibrium and has far-
reaching effects on human beings and the environment. During the course of global
warming, the energy balance and thus the temperature of the earth change, due to the
increased concentration of greenhouse gases, which has a significant impact on
humans and the environment.
https://www.myclimate.org/information/faq/faq-detail/detail/News/what-are-the-
effects-of-climate-change/

Impacts from climate change are happening now. These impacts extend
well beyond an increase in temperature, affecting ecosystems and communities
in the United States and around the world. Things that we depend upon and
value — water, energy, transportation, wildlife, agriculture, ecosystems, and
human health — are experiencing the effects of a changing climate. Changes to
water resources can have a big impact  on people's lives. In some regions,
particularly in the western United States, drought is an important factor affecting
communities. Less snow accumulation in the mountains is important in the West
and Alaska, where the snowpack   stores water for later use. In the Midwest and
northeastern states, the frequency of heavy downpours has increased. In many
regions, floods and water quality problems are likely to be worse because of
climate change.

https://www.noaa.gov/education/resource-collections/climate-education
resources/climate-change-impacts

Ways of minimizing
Climate change has already begun to impact our planet in more ways than
we can think. Temperatures continue to rise throughout the planet and we are
experiencing changes in precipitation patterns as we have never seen before. The main
cause of these catastrophic effects on our planet is pollution.
Fortunately, there are always things that we can do to fight against climate
change. Saving the environment starts with us and it is our responsibility to act against
these terrible changes to preserve the planet for future generations.
Make Your Commute Green
Millions of people drive to work every day. It is simply unavoidable in our modern-day
society. However, the downside to this is that millions of cars emit greenhouse
gases that destroy our atmosphere. Vehicle emissions are a close second when it
comes to the top causes of climate change. There are always other options that you can
utilize to make your commute to work eco-friendly. For starters, taking public
transportation to work is a great way to cut out emissions. Riding your bike to
work is also incredibly helpful to the environment and is a great method to get exercise.
Recycle
Manufacturing plants emit a large number of greenhouse gasses per year. It is
unavoidable in the production of goods that we use on a regular basis. However, a
cleaner alternative would be to invest in recycling. Recycling is a cost-effective and
eco-friendly process that eliminates waste and doesn’t emit greenhouse gasses into
the environment. Be sure to collect your discarded paper, glass, plastic, and
electronics to your local recycling center. The professionals will take these items to
a processing plant where they will be remade into other recyclable materials again.
https://www.activesustainability.com/climate-change/6-things-you-can-do-to-
prevent-climate-change/

Add solar panels to your house. With the plunging price of solar power, and an
increasingly diverse group of companies such as Tesla and Forward Labs offering new
products, the toughest decision may not be whether to install, but which style and color
panels to place on your roof. And the boom in solar installations will only continue; on
the heels of a record year of sales, analysts expect the market to nearly triple by 2020.
The Energy Department has a good resource guide for homeowners, while
Google’s Project Sunroof helps calculate the potential benefits of home installation.
Change lightbulbs to LEDs. Quality LED lightbulbs can last 25 times longer, are more
durable, and use at least 75 percent less energy than other bulbs. In the United States,
widespread use of LEDs over the next 10 years could save the equivalent annual
electrical output of 44 large power plants (about 348 TWh).
https://www.curbed.com/2017/6/7/15749900/how-to-stop-climate-change-actions

Greenhouse effect
The greenhouse effect is the process by which radiation from a planet's
atmosphere warms the planet's surface to a temperature above what it would be without
this atmosphere. Radiatively active gases (i.e., greenhouse gases) in a planet's
atmosphere radiate energy in all directions. Part of this radiation is directed towards the
surface, warming it.[3] The intensity of the downward radiation – that is, the strength of
the greenhouse effect – will depend on the atmosphere's temperature and on the
amount of greenhouse gases that the atmosphere contains.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_effect

The greenhouse effect is a process that occurs when gases in Earth's

atmosphere trap the Sun's heat. This process makes Earth much warmer than it would
be without an atmosphere. The greenhouse effect is one of the things that makes Earth
a comfortable place to live. A greenhouse stays warm inside, even during the winter. In
the daytime, sunlight shines into the greenhouse and warms the plants and air inside. At
nighttime, it's colder outside, but the greenhouse stays pretty warm inside. That's
because the glass walls of the greenhouse trap the Sun's heat.
https://climatekids.nasa.gov/greenhouse-effect/

Greenhouse Gas
A greenhouse gas  (sometimes abbreviated GHG) is
a gas that absorbs and emits radiant energy within the thermal infrared range.
Greenhouse gases cause the greenhouse effect[1] on planets. The primary greenhouse
gases in Earth's atmosphere are water vapor (H2O), carbon
dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and ozone (O3). Without greenhouse
gases, the average temperature of Earth's surface would be about −18 °C (0 °F),
[2]
 rather than the present average of 15 °C (59 °F).[3][4][5] The atmospheres
of Venus, Mars and Titan also contain greenhouse gases.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_gas

What are greenhouse gases?

Greenhouse gases are gases in Earth’s atmosphere that trap heat. They let
sunlight pass through the atmosphere, but they prevent the heat that the sunlight brings
from leaving the atmosphere. The main greenhouse gases are:
 Water vapor
 Carbon dioxide
 Methane
 Ozone
 Nitrous oxide
 Chlorofluorocarbons
Greenhouse gases are gases that can trap heat. They get their name from
greenhouses. A greenhouse is full of windows that let in sunlight. That sunlight creates
warmth. The big trick of a greenhouse is that it doesn’t let that warmth escape. That’s
exactly how greenhouse gases act. They let sunlight pass through the atmosphere, but
they prevent the heat that the sunlight brings from leaving the atmosphere. Overall,
greenhouse gases are a good thing. Without them, our planet would be too cold, and
life as we know it would not exist. But there can be too much of a good thing. Scientists
are worried that human activities are adding too much of these gases to the
atmosphere.
https://climatekids.nasa.gov/greenhouse-cards/
Global Warming Theory
A global warming conspiracy theory invokes claims that the scientific
consensus on global warming is based on conspiracies to produce manipulated data or
suppress dissent. It is one of a number of tactics used in climate change denial to
attempt to legitimize political and public controversy disputing this consensus.
[1]
 Conspiracy theorists typically allege that, through worldwide acts of professional and
criminal misconduct, the science behind global warming has been invented or distorted
for ideological or financial reasons
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming_conspiracy_theory
Anthropogenic global warming is a theory explaining today's long-term increase
in the average temperature of Earth's atmosphere as an effect of human industry and
agriculture. For well over a century, scientists have been concerned that as the
concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere increases, so will the planet's
capacity to retain heat.
https://www.sciencealert.com/anthropogenic-global-warming
Global Warming
The globe is heating up. Both land and oceans are warmer now than they were
when record keeping began, in 1880, and temperatures are still ticking upward. This
rise in heat is global warming, in a nutshell. This rise in heat is caused by humans. The
burning of fossil fuels has released greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, which trap
warmth from the sun and drive up surface and air temperatures. 
https://www.livescience.com/37003-global-warming.html
 Global warming is the long-term rise in the average temperature of the Earth's
climate system. It is a major aspect of climate change and has been demonstrated by
direct temperature measurements and by measurements of various effects of the
warming. Global warming and climate change are often used interchangeably
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming

Global warming occurs when carbon dioxide (CO2) and other air pollutants and
greenhouse gases collect in the atmosphere and absorb sunlight and solar radiation
that have bounced off the earth’s surface. Normally, this radiation would escape into
space—but these pollutants, which can last for years to centuries in the atmosphere,
trap the heat and cause the planet to get hotter. That's what's known as the greenhouse
effect. In the United States, the burning of fossil fuels to make electricity is the largest
source of heat-trapping pollution, producing about two billion tons of CO2 every year.
Coal-burning power plants are by far the biggest polluters. The country’s second-largest
source of carbon pollution is the transportation sector, which generates about 1.7 billion
tons of CO2 emissions a year.
https://www.nrdc.org/stories/global-warming-101

Impact of Climate Change

The global increase in temperatures can influence the physical, biological and

human systems.
First, variations in the physical systems of the planet can be observed in the
melting of the poles, which at the same time cause glacial regression, snow melting,
warming and thawing of permafrost, flooding in rivers and lakes, droughts in rivers and
lakes, coastal erosion, sea level rise and extreme natural phenomena.
In the biological systems, there is death of flora and fauna in terrestrial and marine
ecosystems, wildfires and flora and fauna displacement searching for better life
conditions.
In human systems, climate change affects and destroys crops and food production,
causes disease and death, destruction and loss of economic livelihoods
and migrations of climate refugees.
https://www.activesustainability.com/climate-change/impacts-climate-change/
Climate change is already having a significant impact on ecosystems, economies
and communities.
Rising average temperatures do not simply mean balmier winters. Some regions
will experience more extreme heat while others may cool slightly. Flooding, drought and
intense summer heat could result. Violent storms and other extreme weather events
could also result from the increased energy stored in our warming atmosphere.
One of the most serious impacts of climate change is how it will affect water resources
around the world. Water is intimately tied to other resource and social issues such as
food supply, health, industry, transportation and ecosystem integrity.
The impacts of climate change are already being observed across Canada’s diverse
geographic regions. Canada’s forests are expected to be among the most vulnerable in
the world to climate change. These forests support countless species and
ecosystems and are among the many examples of at-risk habitat. The global meltdown
of ice sheets and alpine glaciers represents another, taking an immense toll on Arctic
ecosystems.
https://davidsuzuki.org/what-you-can-do/impacts-climate-change/

Climate Change Mitigation

Climate Change Mitigation refers to efforts to reduce or prevent emission of

greenhouse gases. Mitigation can mean using new technologies and renewable
energies, making older equipment more energy efficient, or changing management
practices or consumer behavior. It can be as complex as a plan for a new city, or as a
simple as improvements to a cook stove design. Efforts underway around the world
range from high-tech subway systems to bicycling paths and walkways.
https://www.unenvironment.org/explore-topics/climate-change/what-we-
do/mitigation
 Mitigating climate change is about reducing the release of greenhouse gas
emissions that are warming our planet. Mitigation strategies include retrofitting buildings
to make them more energy efficient; adopting renewable energy sources like solar, wind
and small hydro; helping cities develop more sustainable transport such as bus rapid
transit, electric vehicles, and biofuels; and promoting more sustainable uses of land and
forests.  About 1.4 billion people around the world rely on traditional fuels like coal and
wood to meet their basic energy needs. This is not only harmful to the environment; it
can also lead to premature deaths for millions of people, especially women and
children. By 2035, global energy demand is projected to grow by more than 50 percent,
and even faster in developing countries. All these new consumers need clean energy
that will not hurt them or the environment. 
https://www.thegef.org/topics/climate-change-mitigation

The Kyoto Protocol was adopted on 11 December 1997. Owing to a complex

ratification process, it entered into force on 16 February 2005. Currently, there are 192
Parties to the Kyoto Protocol. In short, the Kyoto Protocol operationalizes the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change by committing industrialized
countries to limit and reduce greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions in accordance with
agreed individual targets. The Convention itself only asks those countries to adopt
policies and measures on mitigation and to report periodically. The Kyoto Protocol is
based on the principles and provisions of the Convention and follows its annex-based
structure. It only binds developed countries, and places a heavier burden on them under
the principle of “common but differentiated responsibility and respective capabilities”,
because it recognizes that they are largely responsible for the current high levels of
GHG emissions in the atmosphere.
https://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol
 The Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty which extends the 1992 United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits state
parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the scientific consensus that
(part one) global warming is occurring and (part two) it is extremely likely that human-
made CO2 emissions have predominantly caused it. The Kyoto Protocol was adopted
in Kyoto, Japan, on 11 December 1997 and entered into force on 16 February 2005.
There are currently 192 parties (Canada withdrew from the protocol, effective December
2012)[4] to the Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol implemented the objective of the UNFCCC
to reduce the onset of global warming by reducing greenhouse gas concentrations in
the atmosphere to "a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference
with the climate system" (Article 2). The Kyoto Protocol applies to the six greenhouse
gases listed in Annex A: Carbon dioxide (CO2), Methane (CH4), Nitrous oxide (N2O),
Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), Perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and Sulphur hexafluoride (SF6).[6]
The Protocol is based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities: it
acknowledges that individual countries have different capabilities in combating climate
change, owing to economic development, and therefore puts the obligation to reduce
current emissions on developed countries on the basis that they are historically
responsible for the current levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_Protocol

Geoengineering
Climate geoengineering refers to large-scale schemes for intervention in the
earth’s oceans, soils and atmosphere with the aim of reducing the effects of climate
change, usually temporarily.
The main categories of proposed geoengineering techniques are:
 SOLAR RADIATION MANAGEMENT: SRM techniques attempt to reflect
sunlight back into space, and include a range of ideas, from orbiting mirrors, tonnes of
sulphates sprayed into the stratosphere, and modifying clouds, plants and ice to
make them more reflect more sunlight.
 CARBON DIOXIDE REMOVAL: These proposals posit that it’s possible to suck
carbon out of the atmosphere on a massive scale, using a combination of biological
 and mechanical methods, from seeding the ocean with iron pellets to create plankton
blooms to creating forests of mechanical “artificial trees”.
 EARTH RADIATION MANAGEMENT: ERM proponents suggest that negative
effects of climate change can be offset by allowing heat to escape into space – for
example, by thinning cirrus clouds.
http://www.geoengineeringmonitor.org/what-is-geoengineering/

Geoengineering
Geoengineering (literally "Earth-engineering") is the currently fashionable term
for making large-scale interventions in how the planet works to slow down or reverse
the effects of climate change. In theory, the word "geoengineering" could be used to
describe almost any large-scale scheme for tackling climate change. For example, if
millions of people in China all planted a tree on the same day to capture carbon dioxide
(CO2) from the atmosphere, that might alter the planet enough to be considered
geoengineering. If everyone switched to using recycled paper simultaneously, that could
(indirectly) be construed as geoengineering too—since it would drastically reduce the
number of trees being felled. And building thousands of new wind farms (or
even nuclear power plants) could also be described as geoengineering of a kind.
https://www.explainthatstuff.com/geoengineering.html

How climate change affects extreme weather around the world

In the early 2000s, a new field of climate science research emerged that began
to explore the human fingerprint on extreme weather, such as floods, heatwaves,
droughts and storms. Known as “extreme event attribution”, the field has gained
momentum, not only in the science world, but also in the media and public
imagination because of the power it has to link the seemingly abstract concept of
climate change with our own tangible experiences of the weather. Scientists have
published more than 230 peer-reviewed studies looking at weather events around
the world, from Hurricane Katrina to Russia’s 2010 heatwave. The result is mounting
evidence that human activity is raising the risk of some types of extreme weather,
especially those linked to heat.
https://www.carbonbrief.org/mapped-how-climate-change-affects-extreme-
weather-around-the-world

One of the most visible consequences of a warming world is an increase in the

intensity and frequency of extreme weather events. The National Climate
Assessment finds that the number of heat waves, heavy downpours, and major
hurricanes has increased in the United States, and the strength of these events has
increased, too. A measure of the economic impact of extreme weather is the increasing
number of billion-dollar disasters, which is shown below. The map shows all types of
weather disasters, some of which are known to be influenced by climate change (floods,
tropical storms) and some for which a climate influence is uncertain (tornadoes).
https://www.c2es.org/content/extreme-weather-and-climate-change/

La Niña
La Niña is a climate pattern that describes the cooling of surface ocean waters
along the tropical west coast of South America. La Nina is considered to be the
counterpart to El Nino, which is characterized by unusually warm ocean temperatures in
the equatorial region of the Pacific Ocean.  La Niña events sometimes follow El Niño
events, which occur at irregular intervals of about two to seven years. The local effects
on weather caused by La Niña ("little girl" in Spanish) are generally the opposite of
those associated with El Niño ("little boy" in Spanish). For this reason, La Niña is also
called anti-El Niño and El Viejo (the old man in Spanish).  La Niña is caused by a build-
up of cooler-than-normal waters in the tropical Pacific, the area of the Pacific Ocean
between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. Unusually strong, eastward-
moving trade winds and ocean currents bring this cold water to the surface, a process
known as upwelling. 
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/la-nina/

La Niña (/lɑːˈniːnjə/, Spanish pronunciation: [la ˈniɲa]) is a coupled ocean-

atmosphere phenomenon that is the colder counterpart of El Niño, as part of the
broader El Niño–Southern Oscillation climate pattern. The name La Niña originates
from Spanish, meaning "the little girl", analogous to El Niño meaning "the little boy". It
has also in the past been called anti-El Niño,[1] and El Viejo (meaning "the old man").
[2]
 During a period of La Niña, the sea surface temperature across the equatorial Eastern
Central Pacific Ocean will be lower than normal by 3 to 5 °C (5.4 to 9 °F).
An appearance of La Niña persists for at least five months. It has extensive effects on
the weather across the globe, particularly in North America, even affecting
the Atlantic and Pacific hurricane seasons, in which more tropical cyclones in the
Atlantic basin due to low wind shear and warmer sea surface temperatures, while
reducing tropical cyclogenesis in the Pacific Ocean during a La Niña.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Ni%C3%B1a

El Niño (/ɛl ˈniːn.joʊ/; Spanish: [el ˈniɲo]) is the warm phase of the El Niño–

Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and is associated with a band of warm ocean water that
develops in the central and east-central equatorial Pacific (between approximately
the International Date Line and 120°W), including the area off the Pacific coast of South
America. The ENSO is the cycle of warm and cold sea surface temperature (SST) of the
tropical central and eastern Pacific Ocean. El Niño is accompanied by high air
pressure in the western Pacific and low air pressure in the eastern Pacific. El Niño
phases are known to occur close to four years, however, records demonstrate that the
cycles have lasted between two and seven years. During the development of El Niño,
rainfall develops between September–November.[1] The cool phase of ENSO is La Niña,
with SSTs in the eastern Pacific below average, and air pressure high in the eastern
Pacific and low in the western Pacific. The ENSO cycle, including both El Niño and La
Niña, causes global changes in temperature and rainfall.[2][3]
Developing countries that depend on their own agriculture and fishing,
particularly those bordering the Pacific Ocean, are usually most affected. In American
Spanish, the capitalized term El Niño means "the boy". In this phase of the Oscillation,
the pool of warm water in the Pacific near South America is often at its warmest
about Christmas.[4] The original phrase, El Niño de Navidad, arose centuries ago,
when Peruvian fishermen named the weather phenomenon after the newborn Christ.[5]
[6]
 La Niña, chosen as the "opposite" of El Niño, is American Spanish for "the girl".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Ni%C3%B1o

El Niño
El Niño is a climate cycle in the Pacific Ocean with a global impact on weather
patterns. The cycle begins when warm water in the western tropical Pacific Ocean shifts
eastward along the equator toward the coast of South America. Normally, this warm
water pools near Indonesia and the Philippines. During an El Niño, the Pacific's
warmest surface waters sit offshore of northwestern South America.
Forecasters declare an official El Niño when they see both ocean temperatures
and rainfall from storms veer to the east. Experts also look for prevailing trade winds to
weaken and even reverse direction during the El Niño climate phenomenon. These
changes set up a feedback loop between the atmosphere and the ocean that boosts El
Niño conditions. The El Niño forecast for 2015 is expected to be one of the strongest on
record, according to Mike Halpert, the deputy director of the Climate Prediction Center,
part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
"We don't want to see just the warming in the ocean. We want to see the
atmosphere above the ocean respond to the changes," said Michelle L'Heureux, a
climate scientist and lead for the El Niño forecasting team at the Climate Prediction
Center. Scientists do not yet understand in detail what triggers an El Niño cycle. Not all
El Niños are the same, nor do the atmosphere and ocean always follow the same
patterns from one El Niño to another.
"There isn't one big cause, which is one of the reasons why we can't predict this
thing perfectly," L'Heureux said. "There is some predictability in the common features
that arise with El Nino, which is why we can make forecasts of it. But it won't be exactly
the same every time."

https://www.livescience.com/3650-el-nino.html