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A polar bear stands on the shore of the Hudson Bay in North America.
P H OTO G R A P H BY C I N DY C R E I G H TO N , S H U T T E R STO C K
Climate change
What is climate change? What could happen? Get all the facts you need to
know.
B Y A L LY S O N S H AW
A polar bear walks along a rocky shore, looking for food. The bear would
usually be on the sea ice hunting for seals, pouncing when the seal comes
up to breathe. But the ice has started to melt earlier and re-form later than
it has in the past. Without the sea ice, the polar bear must scavenge for
other, less nutritious food.
These changes in polar sea ice are a result of climate change. But this isn’t
just affecting polar bears—climate change affects everyone.
What is climate change?
Weather changes day to day—
sometimes it rains, other days it’s
hot. Climate is the pattern of the
weather conditions over a long
period of time for a large area. And
climate can be affected by Earth’s
atmosphere.
The Earth's atmosphere seen from space
Our Earth is surrounded by an PHOTOGRAPH BY NASA
atmosphere made up of gases.
When sunlight enters our
atmosphere, some of the sun’s heat is trapped by the gas, and some
bounces back out into space. By trapping that heat, our atmosphere keeps
Earth warm enough to live on. Without it, our planet would be very cold,
like Mars.
Earth’s climate has always naturally cycled through change, caused by how
much of the sun’s energy was absorbed by the atmosphere. In fact over the
past 650,000 years, the Earth has gone through seven ice ages and
warming periods.
Steam coming off of factories
P H OTO G R A P H B Y H U YA N G S H U, S H U T T E R S TO C K
What's different now?
But during the past few hundred years, oil, gas, and coal have powered
homes, cars, and factories. These energy sources release a gas called
carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. This gas traps heat that would
otherwise escape Earth’s atmosphere. That increases Earth’s temperature,
which contributes to the planet’s warming.
That’s why many scientists agree that the Earth is now warming because of
human activity. How do they know? Through careful study, they know that
the climate is warming about 10 times faster than the average previous
warming times. They’ve also ruled out the natural factors that caused
warming in the past.
The Earth’s average temperature has increased about 1.5°F in the past
hundred years. It doesn’t sound like much, but scientists think that the
temperature increase has caused melting glaciers, drought, and coral reef
die-off. (Coral can’t survive in water that’s too warm.) They expect the
climate will warm another .5°F to 8.6°F by the year 2100.
What could happen?
Climate change affects more than temperature. Warmer water changes the
patterns of ocean currents, affecting global weather patterns.
Some places will receive more rainfall, which could lead to flooding, while
other places will get less, which might mean drought. Tropical storms could
be stronger, and a continuing rise in sea level due to melting polar ice
might push people out of their homes.
Hundreds of plant and animal
species have already experienced
changes because of climate
change. The American pika, for
example, is a small mammal that
lives in cool mountainous areas in
western North America—in fact, it
can die when exposed to
temperatures warmer than 78˚F. So
as the mountain climate heats up,
the pika climbs the slopes in search
The American pika of cooler habitat. But what
PHOTOGRAPH BY TOM REICHNER,
happens when temperatures at the
SHUTTERSTOCK
top become too warm for the pika?
Other species will benefit from a warmer world—but in some cases that
would be bad news for humans. Because disease-carrying mosquitoes
thrive in warm, wet weather, more people could contract illnesses such as
malaria as the Earth warms.
What can we do about it?
You can do a lot! It’s simple to make a difference to keep the Earth healthy.
Try some of these tips to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide you add to
the atmosphere.
Instead of traveling in a car, use public transportation, walk, or ride
your bike when you can. Biking or walking 10 miles each day instead of
riding in a car can save up to 1.9 tons of carbon dioxide from entering
the atmosphere every year.
Reduce and reuse things as much as possible. Factories emit lots of
carbon dioxide when making new products. (Buying products that are
made with recycled glass and plastic also emits carbon dioxide,
though less so.) Fix your appliances and clothes instead of buying new
products. Good thing holey jeans are back in style!
Wash your clothes in cold water, and hang them to dry.
Electronics use energy even when they’re turned off, so unplug them
when you’re not using them. It could save your family about $200 a
year on its energy bill.
Eat less meat and dairy. Farm animals, er, emit another heat-trapping
gas, methane. And some studies have found that livestock account for
about half of the world’s heat-trapping gas emissions.
Buy locally grown and in-season foods and products to reduce
emissions from transporting products.
Wear a warm sweater at home in the winter instead of turning up the
heat, and open your windows instead of blasting the air conditioning
in the summer.
Talk to your parents and the other adults that you know about climate
change. Send a letter or drawing to your mayor, Senate or House
representative, or even to the president. These leaders can vote to
regulate and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Your everyday actions affect
people, plants, and animals all over
the world—including polar bears!
So be cool by doing your best to
keep Earth well … cool!
Biking can reduce your carbon impact.
PHOTOGRAPH BY MONKEY BUSINESS
IMAGES, SHUTTERSTOCK
GLOSSARY
C L I M AT E : The average pattern of weather conditions over a long
period of time. Climate isn't weather—weather changes daily.
G L O B A L WA R M I N G : The increate in Earth's average
temperature over a long period of time
C A R B O N D I OX I D E : A gas released by the burning of coal,
natural gas, oil, and wood that traps heat in the atmosphere
C A R B O N F O O T P R I N T: The amount of carbon dioxide one
human releases into the environment in a year
F O S S I L F U E L S : Coal, oil, and natural gas, which come from the
breakdown of ancient plants and animals over millions of years
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