Climate Change*
Climate change is a shift in the statistical distribution of weather over periods of time. These periods can range from decades to millions of years. It can be a change in the average weather or a change in the distribution of weather events around an average – for example, greater or fewer extreme weather events. Climate change may be limited to a specific region, or may occur across the whole Earth.
In recent usage, climate change usually refers to changes in modern climate (see global warming). This is especially true in the context of environmental policy. For information on temperature measurements over various periods and the data sources available, see temperature record. For attribution of climate change over the past century, see attribution of recent climate change.
Find out more about Climate Change here.
Global Warming*
Global warming is the increase in the average temperature of the Earth's near-surface air and oceans since the mid-20th century and its projected continuation. Global surface temperature increased 0.74 ± 0.18 °C (1.33 ± 0.32 °F) between the start and the end of the 20th century.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concludes that most of the observed temperature increases since the middle of the 20th century was caused by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases. These gases are the result of human activity such as fossil fuel burning and deforestation. The IPCC also concludes that most of the warming from pre-industrial times to 1950 was caused by variations in natural phenomena such as solar radiation and volcanoes that had a small cooling effect afterward. These basic conclusions have been endorsed by more than 40 scientific societies and academies of science. These include all of the national academies of science of the major industrialized countries.
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Sustainability*
Sustainability, in a broad sense, is the capacity to endure. In ecology, the word describes how biological systems remain diverse and productive over time. For humans it is the potential to maintain wellbeing in the long term. This in turn depends on the wellbeing of the natural world and the responsible use of natural resources.
Sustainability has become a wide-ranging term. It can be applied to almost every facet of life on Earth, from a local to a global scale and over various time periods. Long-lived and healthy wetlands and forests are examples of sustainable biological systems. Invisible chemical cycles redistribute water, oxygen, nitrogen and carbon through the world's living and non-living systems. These cycles have sustained life for millions of years. As the earth’s human population has increased, natural ecosystems have declined. Changes in the balance of natural cycles have had a negative impact on humans and other living systems.
There is now abundant scientific evidence that humanity is living unsustainably. Returning human use of natural resources to sustainable levels will require a major collective effort. More sustainable living can take many forms; from reorganising living conditions (e.g., eco-villages, eco-municipalities and sustainable cities), reappraising economic sectors (green building, sustainable agriculture), or work practices (sustainable architecture), using science to develop new technologies (green technologies, renewable energy), to adjustments in individual lifestyles.
* Thanks to Wikipedia.