Top Ten Things You Need to Know About Climate Change

Climate change is a huge subject area that can be overwhelming to understand. Since the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) released their fourth assessment report in February 2007 [1], the topic of climate change has taken a front seat in the media and has inspired debate from classrooms and cafes, to the highest levels of government around the planet. Here is a short list of the most important points to focus on when trying to comprehend this vast topic. Each of these points provides a concise summary of how human activities and the environment are connected to each other.

1. There is agreement in the scientific community that abrupt climate change is occurring. Many of the specific impacts are still being studied, but abrupt climate change is currently changing the planet [2].
2. The increased rate of climate change we are presently experiencing is caused by excess greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere, the direct result of anthropogenic (human-made) activities such as burning fossil fuels, raising large numbers of methane-producing livestock, and clearing forests across the planet [3, 4].
3. Average global temperatures have risen dramatically in many areas of the world over the last several decades and will continue to do so unless immediate actions are taken [1].

   Global predictions on how abrupt climate change will impact temperatures. Prepared by Robert Rohde for Global Warming Art.

4. Sea levels are predicted to continue rising each year as snow packs and glaciers around the world melt in warmer climates [1].
5. Climate variability has always occurred but the rate of change we are experiencing today is more like climate disruption [5].
6. The number of severe hurricanes and storms is increasing due to elevated sea surface temperatures in the oceans, affecting millions of people who live in coastal areas and destroying precious coral reef and wetland habitats [6].
7. Climate change is not directly a result of the depleting ozone layer, although they are indirectly related [7].
8. Climate change is contributing to the extinction of many species, with habitats and ecosystems rapidly being altered [8].
9. Disease and pest distributions are changing as a result of rising global temperatures and are having major effects on humans, plants, and animals worldwide [9].
10. The choices that we make everyday in our lives can help reduce the effects of climate change.

This is not an exhaustive list of abrupt climate change topics, just a few that lead to many more. Each of these points is a very quick summary of many people's efforts in understanding how human activities and the environment are connected to each other in past, present and future. Many years of work have contributed to our current understanding of climate change, and there is still much to learn.

Top Ten lesson plan

1. Alley, R., et al., Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis, Summary for Policymakers. 2007, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. p. 18.

2. Oreskes, N., The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change. Science, 2004. 306 (5702): p. 1686.

3. Skutsch, M., et al., Clearing the way for reducing emissions from tropical deforestation. Environmental Science and Policy, 2007. 10 : p. 322-334.

4. DeRamus, A.H., et al., Methane emissions of beef cattle on forages: Efficiency of grazing management systems. Journal of Environmental Quality, 2003. 32 : p. 269-277.

5. Overpeck, J.T. and J.E. Cole, Abrupt change in Earth's climate system. Annual Review of Environmental Resources, 2006. 31 : p. 1-31.

6. Emanuel, K., Increasing destructiveness of tropical cyclones over the past 30 years. Nature, 2005. 436 : p. 686-688.

7. Metz, B., et al., Special report on safeguarding the ozone layer and the global climate system: issues related to hydrofluorocarbons and perfluorocarbons, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

8. Thomas, C.D., et al., Extinction risk from climate change. Nature, 2004. 427 : p. 145-148.

9. Logan, J.A., J. Regniere, and J.A. Powell, Assessing the impacts of global warming on forest pest dynamics. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 2003. 1 (3): p. 130-137.