Global warming and climate change are the most used words around the globe. Unexpected rain increased temperature, and snowfall all are connected with these two words. So we generally find them synonyms. People think that global warming has replaced the word climate change or vice versa. The fact is both are different words that denote different meanings.
The same kind of mistakes people makes with weather and climate. The weather, climate, and global warming are all important topics for us. As humans, we must know about them as they significantly impact our lives and lifestyles. So let’s start to understand more about global warming vs. Climate Change.
Global Warming Vs. Climate Change
We are using ‘Global Warming‘ more frequently for the past few years. For a temperature rise or high snowfall, or high rainfall, we blame global warming. It has become an important topic for group discussions and essay writing. You must have detailed information about global warming and its effects on the climate. If you have read the article with concentration, then you must have observed the use of the word ‘climate.’ So first, let’s understand what climate is;
What is Climate?
According to Climateurope, it is average weather in a given period. It’s different from weather, and it remains present in the area for a more extended period. The climate denotes the average temperature, rainfall, and sunshine in the area. Weather change can be sudden, but climate change is a systematic change. It takes a longer time. According to World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the classical period is 30 years that describe the climate. So don’t confuse climate and weather as both are different. Climate change can happen due to natural processes or humans’ actions.
In the early 20th century the changes are experienced in the Earth’s climate. It was when industries started to rule the world, and more industries mean a more robust economy—the average surface temperature of the earth increases due to fossil fuel burning. Natural processes like cyclical ocean patterns, volcanic activity, Earth’s orbit variation, and change in the Sun’s energy have also contributed a bit to climate change. The Earth experienced climate change earlier as well when the ice age ended. At that time, it happened due to a natural process, but now climate change is experienced due to global warming.
What is Global Warming?
Global warming is one of the most used words by climate activists and ordinary people. The word denotes the long-term heating to Earth’s climate. When the Earth’s average temperature goes up, it can be called global warming. Nasa states that Earth’s climate system’s long-term heating has been observed since the pre-industrial period (between 1850 and 1900). It was due to human activities such as fossil fuel burning. the gasses immersed from the industrial units, heat trapped the level of greenhouse gases in earth atmosphere hence we experience a rise in Earth’s temperature.
Humans are not the only culprits to be blamed for global warming. A few natural events also play their part in this event, but the primary responsibility lies on humans’ shoulders. Due to global warming, climate change occurs. NASA says that since the pre-industrial period, the global temperature has increase about 1 degree Celsius. Per decade the number in temperature is rising by 0.2 degree Celsius. The present activities responsible for global warming are mainly done by humans (more than 95 percent probability). Since 1950, human activities have been responsible for global warming.
Global Warming VS Climate Change
Global warming shows the failure of humans to keep Earth a safer place. Climate change can cause many severe issues for humans and other living things. From most of the international forums, the developed and under-developed countries are bashed by climate activities. You must have listened to how Greta criticized the USA for global warming and climate change.
It has been observed that world leaders or their subordinates have started using the term climate change instead of global warming. Despite knowing the fact that they both are different terms, we use climate change more frequently now. Global warming refers to a long-term rise in Earth’s temperature, and climate change refers to the wide range of changes happening to the Earth.
The Bottom Line
The terms global warming and climate change are interchanged very often, but both are different. In climate change, we can count the events like rising sea levels, accelerating the natural process of ice melting, shrinking mountain glaciers, and many other biological processes that have changed their times. And all these processes are changing due to global warming. Due to the rise in Earth’s temperature, the ice is melting sooner; hence the sea level increases. To conclude the debate of global warming vs. climate change, we can say both words are interconnected but different.
