What is climate change? - Causes and how the climate is changing

Jul 17, 2026

Climate change describes long-term shifts in weather patterns and expected seasonal conditions around the world. The material distinguishes daily weather from climate, explaining that climate reflects recurring seasonal patterns in a specific place. It notes that scientists observe changing weather patterns, with average global temperatures rising since the early 1900s. The document links this warming to human activities that release gases into the atmosphere, which trap heat and make the planet warmer.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages37

Reading Time1 h 33 min

Weather and Climate

Climate as long-term weather patterns

How is the climate changing?

Rising average temperatures since the 1900s

Human activities releasing warming gases

What is climate change? English What is climate change? Christy Hemphill English Copyright © 2023, Christy Hemphill [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) You are free to make commercial use of this work. You may adapt and add to this work. You must keep the copyright and credits for authors, illustrators, etc. Images from Unsplash , used with permission under the Unsplash License: [https://unsplash.com/license](https://unsplash.com/license) Written in collaboration with SIL Creation Care Unit What is climate change? Many people are worried about climate change. You may have heard about climate change on the news. Maybe you have even noticed some of the e̜ects of climate change where you live. Maybe it is hotter or colder than people expect at certain times of the year. Or maybe it rains too much or it doesn’t rain enough compared to what people remember. What is climate change? What causes it? Weather and Climate First we need to talk about the di̜erence between the weather each day and the weather patterns over long periods of time. Each day, you can notice things about the conditions outside. What was the high temperature and low temperature for the day? Was it sunny? Was it cloudy? Or windy? Did it rain or snow? This is the weather for the day. The seasonal patterns of daily weather that people expect year after year in a certain place is the climate. In some places the climate is hot and dry for a season and then cool and rainy for a di̜erent season. In other places the climate is cold during winter months, which bring ice and snow, but at other times of the year the climate is hot. The world has many di̜erent places with di̜erent climates. The weather can change a lot from day today and be hard to predict. But scientists can usually predict what the climate will be like over time, because seasonal weather patterns are usually similar from year to year. How is the climate changing? Scientists have seen that in many places the patterns of weather they expect are changing compared to the past. Scientists have noticed that the average temperatures around the world have been going up since the beginning of the 1900s. They agree that the temperatures are going up because people have been doing things that release gases into the air, and these gases make the planet warmer.

FAQs

What is the difference between weather and climate?

Weather is the day-to-day conditions you can observe, such as temperature, rain, or wind. Climate is the overall pattern of seasonal weather over long periods of time, repeating year after year in a place.

What causes climate change according to the document?

Scientists agree temperatures are rising because people release gases into the air through their activities. These gases make the planet warmer by influencing the planet’s heat balance.

How do scientists know the climate is changing?

They have seen that expected weather patterns are changing in many places compared with the past. They also observe that average temperatures around the world have been going up since the beginning of the 1900s.

Jul 17, 2026

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