anecdote for climate change essay

10 Example-Hooks for the Introduction to Climate Change College Essay

An essay is only as strong as its hook. If you can’t grab your reader’s attention right within the first few sentences, you won’t have it throughout the rest of the essay, either. Don’t bore your reader! Instead, use a captivating hook to ensnare them from the first few words.

A hook can be something that is intriguing, hilarious, or even shocking. The goal of a hook is to create a powerful emotional connection with the reader. As the writer, you have a few options. You might consider beginning with a series of questions, a challenging statement, a little-known fact, a quotation, or some fascinating background information. For an essay containing an introduction to climate change, consider a few of the following hooks.

Start with a Quote

Find out a famous person who has touched the discussed issue. Make your audience mull over his/her words as well as provide their own thoughts.

• Start with a quote : “Climate change is happening, humans are causing it, and I think this is perhaps the most serious environmental issue facing us.”-Bill Nye
• Start with a quote : “Humanity faces many threats, but none is greater than climate change. In damaging our climate, we are becoming the architects of our own destruction. We have the knowledge, the tools, and the money (to solve the crisis).”-Prince Charles, U.K.
• Start with a quote : “Global warming isn’t a prediction. It is happening.”- James Hansen

Start with a Fact

Provide some interesting information about the particular issue you disclose. This will make your listeners and readers involved in the problem. Make sure the fact is on point and fresh that no one knows about.

• Start with a fact : “The planet’s average surface temperature has risen by two degrees Fahrenheit since the 1900s. This change is unrivaled by any others in recorded–or estimated–history.”
• Start with a fact : “2016 was the warmest year on record, with eight months setting record temperature highs around the globe.”

Start with a Question

Make your audience discuss the issue. This will help you not only make them interested in the problem but also present their own thoughts that might be also quite catchy to discuss.

• Start with a question : “What have you done lately to help prevent global warming?”
• Start with a question : “Think about how the weather has changed since you were a child. Has the weather gradually turned warmer? Colder? Perhaps you notice more snowfall or hotter summer temperatures. These are all caused directly by climate change and global warming.”
• Start with a question : “How does climate change affect you personally?”

Shock Your Audience

Tell something that will shock your audience. It will make them interested. But again, this has to be a real shock, not something that everyone is talking about for the last three years.

• Start with a shock : “Global sea levels have risen eight inches over the last century. In the last two decades alone, the rate of rise has nearly doubled. This is a direct cause of melting ice caps and increased global temperatures. If this rise continues, entire countries, such as Bangladesh, could be underwater.”
• Start with a shock : “If everyone in the world lives as Americans do, it would take five Earths to produce enough resources. Just five countries, including the United States, contribute to more than 50 percent of the world’s harmful CO2 emissions.”

What do all of these hooks have in common? They tell you just enough information to get you interested but want to learn more at the same time. It is often difficult to write a stellar hook until you have already–or nearly–finished writing your essay. After all, you often don’t know the direction your paper is going to take until it is completed. Many strong writers wait to write the hook last, as this helps guide the direction of the introduction. Consider drafting a few sample hooks and then choose the best. The best essay will be the one that involves revision and updating–keep trying new hooks until you find the perfect, most intriguing, hook of them all.

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9 powerful stories about climate change

By Corinna Keefe — Contributing Writer

Climate change: two small words that represent a radical transformation of our planet, billions of data points, millions of climate scientists and campaigners, and a limitless number of stories from around the world. 

Climate change stories are the best tools we have to help people understand the climate emergency and take action — whether you have research to share, work for a non-profit, or shape government policy to reduce carbon emissions and fossil fuel use.

But we still face the barriers of misinformation, apathy, climate denial, and slow-moving responses. As the effects of climate change begin to be felt, engaging science communication has literally become a matter of life or death. When we tell climate change stories, we need to reach people on an intellectual and emotional level, using all the digital storytelling tricks at our disposal. 

In this piece, we celebrate some of the best climate change stories on the web. We look at what makes them work, and how you can tell stories about our changing climate that will make a difference. 

What do the BBC, Tripadvisor, and Nature have in common? They craft stunning, interactive web content with Shorthand. And so can you! Publish your first story for free — no code or web design skills required. Sign up now.

Storytelling and climate change

Scientists, policy-makers, and campaigners have already learned that the bare facts are not enough. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) climate reports — which model rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions like carbon dioxide to limit warming below two degrees celsius — have been well reported. 

People can be shocked or scared by data — but they are rarely moved, inspired, or excited. 

But climate change stories (with data to back them up) can influence people towards climate action. Engaging feature stories with an emotional appeal and human interest can have real impact.

The vast majority of people these days are aware of global warming, often from seeing the impacts of climate change in their own lives — from heat waves to extreme weather events. They’re just not sure how to respond. When you tell a story about climate action, you offer a guide for people who want to help in the fight against climate change.

Science communication and climate change stories

We’ve known about the climate emergency for decades. But it’s taken some time for science communication and data journalism to catch up. 

A lot of climate research and data remains closed off to the public. It appears behind paywalls, written in complex academic language, and often presented as inaccessible scholarly publications. The science itself might be thrilling — but the communication leaves something to be desired. 

That approach is no longer good enough, for several reasons:

• Most scientific research is ultimately funded by the public. So it should be accessible to the public, too.
• Poor science communication slows down climate action, because people don’t understand the research or simply don’t hear about it. 
• We know that different people process information in different ways — whether they’re visual, aural, or even kinaesthetic learners. Visual storytelling and creative science comms are completely valid ways to present research. “Serious” doesn’t have to mean “Times New Roman, 12pt, black and white”.

When scientists and climate campaigners go the extra mile to tell climate change stories, they get results. Opening up data to the public, using images and video, and finding a human angle to research can all make a big difference.

In an article for The Conversation , communications expert Kamyar Razavi identified several key elements of effective climate change stories.

• Clear communication of the facts about global warming. Data storytelling is a key part of climate stories.
• An appeal to readers’ emotions, both positive and negative. Fear, grief, and anger are all appropriate responses to the climate emergency; but hope, determination, and wonder can be even more motivating. 
• Everyday protagonists that readers can recognise and relate to. Stories about local people taking action on local problems are often the most inspirational.
• Open and honest communication about the impacts of climate change and the challenges ahead. 

With those elements in mind, we’ve picked out 9 climate change stories which are examples of great science comms. They’re taken from news sites, NGOs, universities, and governments. Most importantly, they’re creative, memorable, emotional, and use all the features of digital storytelling to engage readers.

9 powerful climate change stories

Glasgow: the last best hope to fight climate change (BBC)

This article brought the COP26 climate conference into focus by looking at the climate crisis from the perspective of the conference’s host city: Glasgow. The story of this industrial powerhouse is also the story of how human activity has transformed the environment and the climate.

The feature is illustrated with photographs from throughout Glasgow’s history. As you scroll down, black-and-white images from the last century are replaced with colourful images of the city today. Close-ups of antique paintings and modern blueprints show how people have imagined Glasgow’s future over time. 

And, like the most effective climate change stories, the feature offers hope as well as a clear appraisal of the challenges ahead. 

Down under: the community most-exposed to sea-level rise is also one of the poorest (Stuff)

The opening paragraphs of this climate change feature read like a true-crime story. 

And according to some residents of Dunedin, that’s exactly what it is.

Catastrophic flooding in this New Zealand community is the final chapter in a long story of climate change, poor urban planning, and socio-economic deprivation. This is a disaster that didn’t have to happen, and many people share the responsibility.

The mechanics of flooding and sea-level rises can be complex to explain. This reporting uses animated map overlays and diagrams to show the science, matched with photographs and videos from Dunedin residents whose livelihoods have been impacted by the floods. It’s a powerful mix of data and experience that stays with the reader. 

Displaced by the climate (Sky News)

This extensive piece of climate reporting from Sky News focused on how global warming is forcing people to leave their homes, all over the world. 

It starts off on a global scale, with animated maps and charts that focus on data journalism. But then it zooms in on individual communities from Vanuatu to Boston. Each section is illustrated with timelines, photographs, and personal interviews that show the human toll behind the statistics. 

The piece ends with a section titled “What can be done?” This isn’t just passive reporting; this is climate storytelling as a call to action.

Climate stories: meet the people affected by extreme weather (WaterAid)

The title of this collection of climate change stories from WaterAid says it all. Instead of quoting facts and figures, they want you to meet the real people suffering the impacts of global warming, drought, and extreme weather. 

Big, eye-catching images are overlaid with animations and diagrams that show how landscapes are being lost to droughts or flooding. In a reversal of the technique used by Sky News, this climate feature starts with personal stories, and then moves on to statistics and infographics later in the piece. It’s the same mix of scientific data and individual experiences, just presented in a different way to reflect the different aims of the NGO. 

A growing toxic threat — made worse by climate change (NBC News)

Our next climate change story is a piece of investigative journalism from 2020, when scientists and campaigners were raising the alarm about the Trump administration’s approach to climate change in the US. 

At a first glance, the climate feature is laid out like a classic front-page news story. There’s lots of whitespace and a dramatic lede.

But it also mixes in elements of the latest moves in digital publishing. The complex reporting and in-depth data behind the piece is made visible through photographs, animations, and maps and charts which can be toggled to show different data sets.

All the information is there, but it’s been presented in visual, interactive ways that help the reader to process the story on their own terms. 

Meet the family on a mission to restore the desert eco-system (UNSW Sydney)

You can’t get more local than the story of a single family. This climate change story from the University of New South Wales highlights the efforts of two ecologists — and their small children — to reintroduce endangered native species to a degraded desert ecosystem. 

Their work is fascinating in itself. But this article makes it even more gripping by talking about the challenges around their tasks: isolation, accessing medical care, and even finding a playgroup for their kids.

By framing the piece as a 'slice of life' article, the rigorous science and hard work behind the reintroduction project is made accessible and exciting.

The people racing to replant Africa (Pioneers Post)

Many climate change stories focus on what’s happening on the Arctic and Antarctic poles. In this feature , Pioneers Post covers one of the most ambitious but least-known climate change stories: the Great Green Wall of Africa. 

The plan has been in motion for several decades. Governments, NGOs, scientists, and local communities are working together to replant a vast zone across the continent and hold back the tide of desertification. 

It’s a fascinating tale that mixes science, politics, and personal stories. And it’s been illustrated throughout with candid photos and portraits of the people who are responsible for growing the Wall.

What the Olympics could look like in 2048 (WWF)

So far, we’ve seen examples of data journalism, climate change storytelling, and investigative reports. But here’s something a little different: a dispatch from the future.

In this climate change story , the WWF took the Olympics — a cultural reference point that belongs to everyone, all over the world — and imagined how sporting events would look if the climate emergency goes unchecked. 

Glossy photos of pristine swimming pools and sports stadiums are suddenly choked with rubbish or covered by floodwaters. As readers scroll through the article, they see a horrifying glimpse of one potential future. Those images are backed by statistics and evidence from around the world. 

However, we know that just showing the worst side of the climate emergency isn’t always motivating. That’s why the piece ends with a note of hope: an invitation to sign a petition addressed to world leaders and start taking action.

9 things you can do about climate change (Imperial College London)

A lot of climate coverage focuses on the macro, such as the latest IPCC report, the Paris Agreement, or government climate policy. This brief climate feature from Imperial College London isn’t just local, it’s personal. It’s about what you, the reader, can do to reduce global warming. 

Sustainability tips range from leaving the car at home to investing in renewable energy sources, such as solar panels.

The piece goes straight for emotional appeal. It’s written in the second person, addressing readers as directly as possible. Each idea is illustrated with animations and supported with a range of links, so that you can get learning, donating, and campaigning right awa

Corinna Keefe is a freelance writer specialising in tech, heritage and education. Originally from the UK, she has lived and worked in 10 different countries.

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5 stories on climate change you should read this week

Time is running out to stop the effects of climate change. Image:  Unsplash/Kelly Sikkema

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Stay up to date:, climate change.

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• This weekly roundup brings you some key climate change stories from the past seven days.
• Top climate change stories: As heatwaves intensify, cities uncover new ways of coping; How to communicate sustainability messages; Fungal networks and the role they're playing.

1. Heatwaves are intensifying - and cities are finding new ways to cope

New research from a team collaborating for World Weather Attribution has shown how climate change is making heatwaves more frequent and hotter. In June, record-breaking temperatures were recorded across the Northern Hemisphere, with one Japanese city hitting 40.3C, marking the nation's hottest season since records began.

The research found that heatwaves are now peaking at temperatures of 1C higher. Cities are among the worst affected areas, so finding solutions to provide relief is vital to public health. From urban greening to naming and categorizing heatwaves, find out how cities are coping with climate-induced heatwaves.

Climate change poses an urgent threat demanding decisive action. Communities around the world are already experiencing increased climate impacts, from droughts to floods to rising seas. The World Economic Forum's Global Risks Report continues to rank these environmental threats at the top of the list.

To limit global temperature rise to well below 2°C and as close as possible to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, it is essential that businesses, policy-makers, and civil society advance comprehensive near- and long-term climate actions in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change.

The World Economic Forum's Climate Initiative supports the scaling and acceleration of global climate action through public and private-sector collaboration. The Initiative works across several workstreams to develop and implement inclusive and ambitious solutions.

This includes the Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders, a global network of business leaders from various industries developing cost-effective solutions to transitioning to a low-carbon, climate-resilient economy. CEOs use their position and influence with policy-makers and corporate partners to accelerate the transition and realize the economic benefits of delivering a safer climate.

Contact us to get involved.

2. The 7 ways to successfully communicate sustainability

Giorgia Ortolani from the Global Shapers Community explores how misinformation, mistrust and a lack of immediate benefits to the audience make successful sustainability communications challenging.

From being transparent to keeping it simple, discover how we can all talk about sustainability in a more engaging, impactful manner.

3. How fungi are unknown warriors in the fight against climate change

New research shows the role fungi can play in helping forests absorb carbon - none more than a species called mycorrhizal fungi, which grows underground among the roots of trees.

But, fungal networks are threatened by agricultural expansion, the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, deforestation and urbanization. Read here to learn more.

Have you read?

Adapting to climate change may put some animals in a ‘trap’, romantic partners can influence each other’s assumptions and behaviors on climate change, study finds, 4. how engineered crops can help tackle climate change.

Kevin Doxzen , a Hoffmann Fellow at the World Economic Forum, explains how genetically engineered crops using CRISPR technology could be used to enhance photosynthesis, absorbing more carbon from the atmosphere and storing it in the ground.

With global food systems accounting for over one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions , making the industry more climate-friendly is crucial. Researchers at the Innovative Genomics Institute have created plants that were around 40% more productive . Learn more about how engineered crops could be key to solving global warming.

5. Going green could save Europe €1 trillion in fossil fuel costs

In a new report , energy think-tank Ember believe a 95% clean power system in Europe can be achieved by 2035, without impacting the current supply or associated costs. Not only will this switch be key to tackling climate change, but the transition could save Europe €1 trillion in fossil fuel costs.

"It will save money, put Europe on track for its climate commitments and reduce its reliance on imported fossil fuels. Europe should invest now for a huge payback by 2035," explains Chris Rosslowe, Ember's senior energy analyst. Read more on why Europe should increase green energy investment now.

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World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

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By Victoria Seabook, climate reporter

"Climate change is no longer a future problem. It is a now problem," Inger Andersen, executive director of the UN Environment Programme, said when she announced her team's latest annual assessment of countries' promises on cutting emissions. Talking about climate change in abstract terms like "net zero by 2050" and "keep 1.5 degrees alive" can make it "hard for us to relate," says neuroscientist Kris de Meyer from King's College London. But it is a "matter of justice" that the voices of those affected are heard, argues Tasneem Essop, executive director of Climate Action Network (CAN), which represents environmental NGOs (non-governmental organisations) in UN climate talks like COP26 in Glasgow. She says: "It might seem like a distant problem to many and that is because it is often framed as an 'event' that will happen at mid-century or at the end of the century.

"But this is not how climate change works.

"The impacts we are experiencing now is a result of historical emissions that have already been locked in." Here, six people around the world share their experiences of global heating, and how it has changed them.

In 2018, Yurshell Rodríguez and 24 other young people filed a lawsuit against the Colombian government, arguing that failing to stop deforestation in the rainforest was incompatible with its Paris Agreement commitments. People used to ask why she, as an islander from Providencia in the Caribbean, was campaigning to protect the Colombian Amazon, roughly 1,000 miles away. She would tell them: "Saving the Amazon is a part of saving my own island. "All the ecosystems are connected. So if you harm somewhere, if you do something good somewhere, it ripples through the other parts." The prescience of that response was sadly crystallised last year when a Category 4 storm, Hurricane Iota, thundered through the Caribbean and Central America. Most people took refuge in the bathrooms, which tend to be built from concrete and cement rather than the wood of the rest of the house, she explains. She ran to her neighbour's house for safety, as his had two storeys and hers only one. "We were in their for hours," she tells Sky News, and afterwards "everything was gone".

In Providencia, a 17 km² hilly island home to 5,000 people, some 98% of the infrastructure was damaged.

It was the first year since records began that two hurricanes formed in the Atlantic in November, past the normal height of storm season. Warmer seas, driven by climate change, contributed to the strength of the hurricane. Since then, her family has been living in a tent. "It's like being like in a refugee camp," she says.

Yurshell is a Raizal, the indigenous population descended from settlers and enslaved Africans. "We have been living on our island for more than 400 years and we have lived so in harmony [with nature]... but things still are happening to us like hurricanes." It's frustrating, she says, because "we are not the bigger part of the problem that's causing it". CAN's Tasneem Essop says this is the "fundamental climate injustice". "Those living in poverty, suffering inequality, women, indigenous peoples, people with disabilities, children, the elderly - all those who are generally marginalised or vulnerable... bear the brunt of climate impacts that they are least responsible for causing and are least able to recover or rebound."

Ken Donnell, a luthier from Greenville, California, says the devastating Dixie Fire, the largest in the state's history, taught him "the best lesson I ever got". And that's despite it burning everything he owned, including instruments he had inherited from his grandfather and his entire shop, Musicland. Even his getaway car, packed with his most important possessions to aid a swift escape from a fire, did not get away. For on a hot August day this summer, Ken was running an errand out of town, just when the Dixie Fire burned almost the entire historic mining town to the ground.

But, in his soft Texan accent, Ken explains he has "come to realise that that stuff began to own me more than I owned it". "And being free of it just means that I get to go have a new adventure in life, and I have my health and I have my sanity." The drought, combined with hot weather, strong winds, and exceptionally dry vegetational fuelled the fire, allowing it to become at least the second largest single wildfire in California's history. It burned 963,309 acres.

He says he was a happy person before the fire. "And why should I stop being a happy person after the fire?" But, he warns: "Please, wake up. It's going to happen to you soon, one way or another. "Water is going to become scarcer. Storms are going to become stronger."

The Dixie Fire started on 13 July. It was finally contained on 25 October.

Masudio Margaret is on her way to Glasgow to raise the voices of small-scale women farmers from Uganda. Her campaigning has taken her all over Africa but this will be her first time in the UK, to deliver her message to the world at COP26. Women are "the food producers, feeding millions of people, but badly affected" by climate change, she tells Sky News.

Both drought and flooding have hit her home in the Adjumani district of northwest Uganda in recent years, triggering hunger but also associated diseases like malaria. Crops and houses have been washed away by the floods, leaving families living in classrooms with nowhere else to go. "Women are the most affected" by climate change, she says, as the primary labour force on small-scale farms. "When the children cry of hunger, it's the women who hear their cry… when a woman is not healthy, food production is reduced because they are the major source of labour in the field."

Smallholder farmers are one of the most at-risk groups to climate change, along with river and coastal and urban poor communities, according to Nigel Topping, UK High Level Climate Action Champion for the COP26 climate talks. "You can't sugarcoat it," he says. But don't see this as "helpless people standing around waiting for help. There's amazing resourcefulness and resilience, and we need more solidarity". Margaret works with local groups to train farmers on the return to traditional farming methods that are more resistant to weather extremes. She uses organic fertiliser and pesticides and in the dry season mulches her garden so that it's more resilient. She is bringing back indigenous foods which are resilient to climate change and always available to ensure food security. As for what world leaders are doing, that's what she wants to hear from COP26. "To hear what best solution is derived to stop causes of climate change and how the impacts of climate change are going to be financed."

In January 2020, Arnagretta Hunter, a cardiologist in Canberra, Australia, found herself telling patients not to exercise. All her career she'd been telling patients how good it was for their heart, diabetes and mental health. But when the worst bushfire in living memory blanketed huge parts of the country in smoke, suddenly that changed. "We've never experienced bushfire smoke like we had over that summer in Australian history," she says. "It was beyond the imagination of our previous experience. It was something totally new." But where previous fires had burned for a day or so, this one blazed for months. Her photos show the same view from the hospital where she was working on a normal day and during the fire.

A staggering 1.8 million hectares burned in 'high-severity' fires during Australia's 'Black Summer'. The bushfires killed or displaced an estimated three billion animals, scorched rainforests and ruined 3,000 homes.

Climate change had driven record-breaking drought and prime conditions for fires. The blazes released 80% more carbon dioxide than Australia's normal annual fire and fossil fuel emissions. The smoke was "everywhere", says Dr Hunter. "It was as in all the buildings. There was no safe environment." It was even in the hospital, infiltrating ventilation systems and disrupting medical equipment. On New Year's Eve, the MRI machine began to struggle. In almost every patient, she began to notice a "thumbprint, if not a handprint" in their hospital admission from the smoke. Whether a fall, a broken leg, a skin infection or confused spell, "each one of those things was made statistically more likely by the unfolding environmental catastrophe outside," she says.

Tuki Rani left Ghormara, a 1.8 square mile island in the Indian Sundarbans, when she lost her home to rising sea levels. "All our possessions were washed away," says Tuki. She and her husband set up home on Sagar Island, the largest and most populated of the more than 100 islands in the Sundarbans. But now "Sagar Island has also started crumbling", she says.

Global heating has already increased global sea levels by 20cm on average, according to UN scientists on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It expands water as well as melting ice. When it rains, the canals around Tuki's house swell. She shelters under the roof of a nearby school, because it is too dangerous to stay at home with her two daughters, she says. Her husband is a "zero hours" labourer, picking up whatever projects he can find. He moved to Hyderabad on the mainland, as the work on both islands had dried up, Tuki says. She sees him three or four times a year. "When I was young, I dreamt of having a prominent house and very happy family but the river has crushed my house as well as my dreams."

"We no longer hear birds in the trees and cicadas," says Rula Manti, and she no longer meets her neighbours in the streets of Varybombi, Attica, northeast of Athens. Many people have left the area since their houses burnt down this summer in Greece's devastating wildfires. "And many of them couldn't bear to live here anymore," she says. At 1.15pm on 3 August it was about 43C when the fire broke out, about 200 metres from the home she shares with her partner Sotiris Bardis. It wasn't that strong and there was no wind, so they thought it would quickly be put out. But the fire burned in her hometown for three days, taking the vegetable shop Sortiris runs in the main square.

On 4 August another fire broke out, which "destroyed what was left from the first wildfire", says Rula.

This was not the only wildfire Greece suffered this season amid its worst heatwave in decades. Though fires are a part of the ecosystem, climate breakdown is bringing hotter, drier weather, making fires burn more intensely and quickly and harder to extinguish. British firefighters were sent Greece to help battle the fires. Rula explains: "It was a big shock for all of us because we never thought that this wonderful forest would, literally, vanish. "It is very difficult to describe the emotions after the fire. "The route I took to get to Varybombi was in a dense green forest. "Now to come to my house I drive through a deserted area where you see only burnt trees, burnt houses, cars and no more green. Our everyday life changed from colourful to black and white within a few hours. "Of course, afterwards, we saw that we were in a way the lucky ones, because half of Attica was eventually burnt."

Reporting: Victoria Seabrook Additional reporting: Katerina Vittozzi Designers: Arianne Cantwell and Celt Iwan With thanks to: Oxfam, Climate Action Network Picture credits: Google Streetview

Argumentative Essay Writing

Argumentative Essay About Climate Change

Make Your Case: A Guide to Writing an Argumentative Essay on Climate Change

Published on: Mar 2, 2023

Last updated on: Jan 31, 2024

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With the issue of climate change making headlines, it’s no surprise that this has become one of the most debated topics in recent years. 

But what does it really take to craft an effective argumentative essay about climate change? 

Writing an argumentative essay requires a student to thoroughly research and articulate their own opinion on a specific topic. 

To write such an essay, you will need to be well-informed regarding global warming. By doing so, your arguments may stand firm backed by both evidence and logic. 

In this blog, we will discuss some tips for crafting a factually reliable argumentative essay about climate change!

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What is an Argumentative Essay about Climate Change?

The main focus will be on trying to prove that global warming is caused by human activities. Your goal should be to convince your readers that human activity is causing climate change.

To achieve this, you will need to use a variety of research methods to collect data on the topic. You need to make an argument as to why climate change needs to be taken more seriously. 

Argumentative Essay Outline about Climate Change

An argumentative essay about climate change requires a student to take an opinionated stance on the subject. 

The outline of your paper should include the following sections: 

Argumentative Essay About Climate Change Introduction

The first step is to introduce the topic and provide an overview of the main points you will cover in the essay. 

This should include a brief description of what climate change is. Furthermore, it should include current research on how humans are contributing to global warming.

An example is:

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Thesis Statement For Climate Change Argumentative Essay

The thesis statement should be a clear and concise description of your opinion on the topic. It should be established early in the essay and reiterated throughout.

For example, an argumentative essay about climate change could have a thesis statement such as:

Climate Change Argumentative Essay Conclusion

The conclusion should restate your thesis statement and summarize the main points of the essay. 

It should also provide a call to action, encouraging readers to take steps toward addressing climate change. 

For example, 

How To Write An Argumentative Essay On Climate Change 

Writing an argumentative essay about climate change requires a student to take an opinionated stance on the subject. 

Following are the steps to follow for writing an argumentative essay about climate change

Do Your  Research

The first step is researching the topic and collecting evidence to back up your argument. 

You should look at scientific research, articles, and data on climate change as well as current policy solutions. 

Pick A Catchy Title

Once you have gathered your evidence, it is time to pick a title for your essay. It should be specific and concise. 

Outline Your Essay

After selecting a title, create an outline of the main points you will include in the essay. 

This should include an introduction, body paragraphs that provide evidence for your argument, and a conclusion. 

Compose Your Essay

Finally, begin writing your essay. Start with an introduction that provides a brief overview of the main points you will cover and includes your thesis statement. 

Then move on to the body paragraphs, providing evidence to back up your argument. 

Finally, conclude the essay by restating your thesis statement and summarizing the main points. 

Proofread and Revise

Once you have finished writing the essay, it is important to proofread and revise your work. 

Check for any spelling or grammatical errors, and make sure the argument is clear and logical. 

Finally, consider having someone else read over the essay for a fresh perspective. 

By following these steps, you can create an effective argumentative essay on climate change. Good luck! 

Examples Of Argumentative Essays About Climate Change 

Climate Change is real and happening right now. It is one of the most urgent environmental issues that we face today. 

Argumentative essays about this topic can help raise awareness that we need to protect our planet. 

Below you will find some examples of argumentative essays on climate change written by CollegeEssay.org’s expert essay writers.

Argumentative Essay About Climate Change And Global Warming

Persuasive Essay About Climate Change

Argumentative Essay About Climate Change In The Philippines

Argumentative Essay About Climate Change Caused By Humans

Geography Argumentative Essay About Climate Change

Check our extensive blog on argumentative essay examples to ace your next essay!

Good Argumentative Essay Topics About Climate Change 

Choosing a great topic is essential to help your readers understand and engage with the issue.

Here are some suggestions: 

• Should governments fund projects that will reduce the effects of climate change? 
• Is it too late to stop global warming and climate change? 
• Are international treaties effective in reducing carbon dioxide emissions? 
• What are the economic implications of climate change? 
• Should renewable energy be mandated as a priority over traditional fossil fuels? 
• How can individuals help reduce their carbon footprint and fight climate change? 
• Are regulations on industry enough to reduce global warming and climate change? 
• Could geoengineering be used to mitigate climate change? 
• What are the social and political effects of global warming and climate change? 
• Should companies be held accountable for their contribution to climate change? 

Check our comprehensive blog on argumentative essay topics to get more topic ideas!

We hope these topics and resources help you write a great argumentative essay about climate change. 

Now that you know how to write an argumentative essay about climate change, it’s time to put your skills to the test.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is a good introduction to climate change.

An introduction to a climate change essay can include a short description of why the topic is important and/or relevant. 

It can also provide an overview of what will be discussed in the body of the essay. 

The introduction should conclude with a clear, focused thesis statement that outlines the main argument in your essay. 

What is a good thesis statement for climate change?

A good thesis statement for a climate change essay should state the main point or argument you will make in your essay. 

You could argue that “The science behind climate change is irrefutable and must be addressed by governments, businesses, and individuals.”

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The Climate Stories Our World Needs Now

S o often, articles and essays such as this begin with a gathering of unnerving statistics. Most of us don’t need those anymore: changes brought about by the climate crisis are becoming more tangible with the passing of each year. We smell it in the smoke-tinged air . We feel it in the seasons gone askew.

We exist in a place where all the problems of the universe are present. And the problems we have today really can seem too great to surmount. Too vast for any of us to do anything about. But that’s just it. We think only of the inadequacy of what we alone can do. This is partly because, over the past several generations, we’ve been taught to think of ourselves as individuals—pitted against one another to take what we can, while we can.

A poll conducted by Yale and George Mason University researchers in December 2022 found that nearly 70% of Americans were worried about climate change, and 35% described themselves as “angry” about it. But if we channel our anger into the decision to pursue transformational change, it can infuse us with meaning and possibility. Shifting toward the realization that we—having invented all of the ways we go about modern life—can change those systems, we arguably make a sustainable future more likely. Conversely, the opposite is true. If we believe staving off catastrophe is futile, that belief infuses our thinking, paralyzing our decisions. In other words, if we think we can’t, or think we can, we are right.

And we can, because alongside all the problems that exist only here on earth, there also sit, conveniently, all the solutions we need. While so many of us argue about whose version of the climate story is “right,” others are just quietly problem-solving the myriad issues we face in practical terms, one by one.

There is a scene in the film 1917 in which a soldier on a solitary, highly classified mission gets a lift in a truck with a group of weary fellow soldiers. Their truck gets stuck in the mud after a few miles. The exhausted soldiers in the vehicle are resigned to this fate and seemingly indifferent to their new circumstances. But there is a desperate, pleading urgency in the eyes of the soldier on the mission. As a result, something changes: grasping the importance of the moment, despite not knowing the details, the tired troops suddenly pitch in with everything they have to free the truck. And they succeed.

Right now, when it comes to real climate action, the majority of us are stuck in the mud. We are the soldiers beaten weary by the chaos of our lives, with no room to fit the massiveness of a world-size problem. We feel left out or apathetic because we don’t see where we fit into any “climate community,” or don’t know what we could realistically do as an individual to make a difference . We worry that any necessary changes in behavior would involve a sacrifice, or that we’d lose face by betraying one tribe to go to the “other side.” These problems require story-based solutions.

This moment in history could be the moment when we flick the switch to change tracks—a moment when those with the privilege and agency to do so decide that we’re going to create a new story for today: a story of possibility, opportunity, hope, empathy, and connection. A story that includes everyone. A story in which now is a turning point.

There are hundreds, thousands, millions of brave individuals, communities, companies, and activists already shaping a regenerative future . Getting out of the way of their own egos. Perhaps you are one of them! These are the people, like the soldier on that mission, with the glint in their eyes and the most seductive calls to action—because they’re already taking it.

The results of their courageous efforts are palpable. Despite the many headlines of doom, 2023 has been an astounding year for progress on climate solutions. The inexorable, exponential shift from fossil-fueled power to renewable power has passed a positive tipping point. Same goes for the shift from internal-combustion engines to electric vehicles . Both are epoch-defining success stories for human and planetary health. Solutions exist all around us.

What the world needs is a collective agreed-upon urgency that celebrates our capacity to collaborate. With this comes renewed purpose.

If we root our despair in climate change, then we must root our hopes in its solutions. It’s time to intentionally put our efforts into creating and sharing stories of what is possible. Stories that bring out the most extraordinary aspects of humanity: compassion, kindness, ingenuity, and creativity. These are the stories we can choose to tell. And we must choose to tell them together.

Rivett-Carnac, a member of the TIME CO2 Advisory Council, is an environmental strategist and podcaster. Jeffers is an artist and writer

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Stories of our changing environment

Blogs, papers, videos and experiences of climate change..

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We all have stories about how our changing environment is affecting us; no matter which place is home. We are also starting to create the stories of how we are responding to these changes and troubles. As humans, it is through stories that we create and share understandings of our world.

Here are some experiences of climate change in Australia and the Pacific, and reflections on the solutions we are finding.

A changing climate

In 2020, the Australian Museum published interviews with a variety of people to answer 3 questions: What is climate change? What are the impacts of climate change? What are the solutions to climate change?

Not surprisingly, these questions revealed a wide range of answers.

Interviewees were:

• Varsha Yajman, Spokesperson, Schools Strike 4 Climate
• Dr Tim Flannery, Distinguished Fellow in Climate Change, Australian Museum
• Tommy Esau, Leader, Kwaio people, Malaita, Solomon Islands
• Charlie Prell, Farmer, Crookwell. Deputy chair, Farmers for Climate Action
• Dr Chris Reid, Research Scientist, Entomology, Australian Museum Research Institute
• Nyimirr (Fleur Magick Dennis) and Millmullian (Laurance Magick Dennis), Cultural Educators, Milan Dhiiyaan
• Dr Kim Loo, General Practitioner, Carlingford. Member of Doctors for the Environment Australia
• Dr Peter Lawrence, Climate and Global Dynamics Laboratory, National Centre for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Colorado, USA

What is climate change?

What are the impacts of climate change?

What are some solutions to climate change?

From the blog

Moving south: how fishes are adapting to climate change

Moving south may be the best protection for marine fish in the face of rising ocean temperatures, but how far south can they go?

Bushfires and our changed country

The Australian Museum, through its research and engagement with Australia’s people and biodiversity, will be continuing to deepen understandings of how best to respond to the challenges of living with climate crisis.

Silent nights: frogs, drought and fire

It’s now more important than ever to monitor Australia’s frogs.

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July 18, 2021, by Brigitte Nerlich

When climate change hits home: A personal story

This month, Alice Bell has published an important book entitled Our Biggest Experiment: A History of the Climate Crisis . In it, she takes us “back to climate change science’s earliest steps in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, through the point when concern started to rise in the 1950s and right up to today, where the ‘debate’ is over and the world is finally starting to face up to the reality that things are going to get a lot hotter, a lot drier (in some places), and a lot wetter (in others), with catastrophic consequences for most of Earth’s biomes.”

I was just starting to read this book when climate change stared me in the face and said, ‘got you’. The catastrophic floods in Western Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, struck right at the heart of my childhood home and the region I know so well. I grew up in Zweifall, a little village that is now part of Stolberg. The house I grew up in is situated beside a benign little creek, the Hasselbach, which further down merges with the Vichtbach (Zwei-fall).

In the centre of my village

When the storm struck, both creeks became torrents and the Vichtbach tore through the village of Vicht and then the city of Stolberg, destroying everything in its path. Look at this video! . I crossed that bridge every day when I went to high school there fifty or so years ago.

Fortunately, the house where my father, aged 93, has been living for more than 60 years, is still standing, but the basement area has been destroyed. Many friends in Vicht have been affected and I actually still haven’t heard from them. I also have only indirect news of my father, who is doing ok, despite lack of electricity and drinking water – thanks to many kind friends.

Since around 2011, climate change and extreme weather events, droughts, floods, heatwaves, wildfires have preoccupied me, academically as well as personally.

In one of my first blog posts from 2012 I wrote: “The debate about links between extreme weather events and climate change has been going on for at least a decade. Most recently, the IPCC published a draft report on extreme weather and climate adaptation at the end of 2011, a year marked by a series of extreme weather events which affected my sister (wildfires and evacuation) […] and one of my students (floods and evacuation), and therefore brought thoughts about issues related to climate change closer to home.” If only I had known!

After that, I wrote numerous posts on extreme weather , one called ‘making weather personal’, which was on weather and climate metaphors. I asked whether extreme weather events were turning climate change from an  un-situated into a situated risk ? When I was writing this, many articles on climate change still argued that people saw climate change as a distant threat, both in time and in space.

I also published an article with Rusi Jaspal on imagery around extreme weather events . We studied images used in news articles in order to illustrate coverage of the IPCC report on extreme events. We used visual thematic analysis to examine the way these images might symbolise certain emotional responses, such as compassion, fear, guilt, vulnerability, helpless, courage or resilience. We found that many of the images of flooding depicted people in the developing world ‘getting on with it’, of individuals seemingly accustomed to flooding and extreme weather. All this portrayed flooding as still quite far away and exotic.

Now, ten years later, in 2021, climate change or rather, as I call it climate chaos, and with it, extreme weather events, have hit home. They have arrived in parts of the world that everybody thought were ‘safe’. But nowhere is safe anymore, from Australia to Siberia, from Germany to Canada, from California to Bangladesh and so on. The list is getting ever longer.

You will probably all have seen pictures from Erftstadt and Ahrweiler and Hagen and so on . When you put ‘German floods’ into Google images, you can see picture after picture of total destruction. There are almost no pictures of people though – also here in this Guardian article . As Saffron O’Neill would say : This fits “a ‘disaster’ framing …, which might up salience (feelings of issue importance) but decreases self-efficacy (sense of being able to act)”. There are a few images, though, of a certain politician, namely Armin Laschet.

If not now, when?

Laschet, premier of North Rhine-Westphalia, and the candidate for chancellor in Germany’s national election in September, is from the centre-right CDU/CSU and has a position on climate change that is close to that of so-called climate sceptics. He came to visit my hometown, Stolberg, and in particular its most devastated part, Vicht. During his tour of devastated areas, he made some half-hearted references to climate change and then he said : “You don’t change policy just because now we have a day like this”!

This reminded me of Scott Morrison, Premier Minister of Australia, saying during Australia’s most recent devastating wildfires that it was not the time to talk about climate change, and that those who did were merely trying to score political points.

I thought this was wrong then and I think arguing like that is wrong now. As Alice Bell and many others in the wake of this most recent climate disaster have shown, we have known about climate change for decades, if not centuries, including about the changes in ‘weather’ that this might bring about.

A few days ago, Peter Broks retweeted a programme broadcast by the ZDF in 1978 in which the presenter talks very clearly about climate change and its impacts. I remember that clip! And I remember the time when, in 1988, climate change became finally, I thought, climate politics . But nothing has really happened since then. Will the German floods be a wake-up call? They certainly have kept me awake for days!

I would like to thank all those who helped my father and me in these difficult times: the friends and relatives in Germany, the Twitter community, and in particular the liveblog of the Aachener Zeitung which kept me always right up to date and provided useful information, including telephone numbers and so on that I could use or pass on!

Here are some pictures of Stolberg after the flood: https://www.reddit.com/r/germany/comments/om0nsv/stolberg_after_the_flood/

Image : Zweifall in better times

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Hoping that you father and the rest of the area are safe and able to return–almost said to ‘normal’–but that’s the point isn’t it? What is normal in times of rapid change, and is it desirable?

Today, one week after the disaster, electricity is back but still no way of phoning him directly. So I only get indirect reports. But fortunately quite a few of them. and he is ok. Getting there is another matter, especially with the covid pandemic in the UK being out of control. There are so many extreme weather disasters round the world now, it is unbelievable … and still nothing is done.

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6.4 Annotated Student Sample: “Slowing Climate Change” by Shawn Krukowski

Learning outcomes.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Identify the features common to proposals.
• Analyze the organizational structure of a proposal and how writers develop ideas.
• Articulate how writers use and cite evidence to build credibility.
• Identify sources of evidence within a text and in source citations.

Introduction

The proposal that follows was written by student Shawn Krukowski for a first-year composition course. Shawn’s assignment was to research a contemporary problem and propose one or more solutions. Deeply concerned about climate change, Shawn chose to research ways to slow the process. In his proposal, he recommends two solutions he thinks are most promising.

Living by Their Own Words

A call to action.

student sample text The earth’s climate is changing. Although the climate has been changing slowly for the past 22,000 years, the rate of change has increased dramatically. Previously, natural climate changes occurred gradually, sometimes extending over thousands of years. Since the mid-20th century, however, climate change has accelerated exponentially, a result primarily of human activities, and is reaching a crisis level. end student sample text

student sample text Critical as it is, however, climate change can be controlled. Thanks to current knowledge of science and existing technologies, it is possible to respond effectively. Although many concerned citizens, companies, and organizations in the private sector are taking action in their own spheres, other individuals, corporations, and organizations are ignoring, or even denying, the problem. What is needed to slow climate change is unified action in two key areas—mitigation and adaptation—spurred by government leadership in the United States and a global commitment to addressing the problem immediately. end student sample text

annotated text Introduction. The proposal opens with an overview of the problem and pivots to the solution in the second paragraph. end annotated text

annotated text Thesis Statement. The thesis statement in last sentence of the introduction previews the organization of the proposal and the recommended solutions. end annotated text

Problem: Negative Effects of Climate Change

annotated text Heading. Centered, boldface headings mark major sections of the proposal. end annotated text

annotated text Body. The three paragraphs under this heading discuss the problem. end annotated text

annotated text Topic Sentence. The paragraph opens with a sentence stating the topics developed in the following paragraphs. end annotated text

student sample text For the 4,000 years leading up to the Industrial Revolution, global temperatures remained relatively constant, with a few dips of less than 1°C. Previous climate change occurred so gradually that life forms were able to adapt to it. Some species became extinct, but others survived and thrived. In just the past 100 years, however, temperatures have risen by approximately the same amount that they rose over the previous 4,000 years. end student sample text

annotated text Audience. Without knowing for sure the extent of readers’ knowledge of climate change, the writer provides background for them to understand the problem. end annotated text

student sample text The rapid increase in temperature has a negative global impact. First, as temperatures rise, glaciers and polar ice are melting at a faster rate; in fact, by the middle of this century, the Arctic Ocean is projected to be ice-free in summer. As a result, global sea levels are projected to rise from two to four feet by 2100 (U.S. Global Change Research Program [USGCRP], 2014a). If this rise actually does happen, many coastal ecosystems and human communities will disappear. end student sample text

annotated text Discussion of the Problem. The first main point of the problem is discussed in this paragraph. end annotated text

annotated text Statistics as Evidence. The writer provides specific numbers and cites the source in APA style. end annotated text

annotated text Transitions . The writer uses transitions here (first, as a result , and second in the next paragraph) and elsewhere to make connections between ideas and to enable readers to follow them more easily. At the same time, the transitions give the proposal coherence. end annotated text

student sample text Second, weather of all types is becoming more extreme: heat waves are hotter, cold snaps are colder, and precipitation patterns are changing, causing longer droughts and increased flooding. Oceans are becoming more acidic as they increase their absorption of carbon dioxide. This change affects coral reefs and other marine life. Since the 1980s, hurricanes have increased in frequency, intensity, and duration. As shown in Figure 6.5, the 2020 hurricane season was the most active on record, with 30 named storms, a recording-breaking 11 storms hitting the U.S. coastline (compared to 9 in 1916), and 10 named storms in September—the highest monthly number on record. Together, these storms caused more than $40 billion in damage. Not only was this the fifth consecutive above-normal hurricane season, it was preceded by four consecutive above-normal years in 1998 to 2001 (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2020). end student sample text

annotated text Discussion of the Problem. The second main point of the problem is discussed in this paragraph. end annotated text

annotated text Visual as Evidence. The writer refers to “Figure 6.4” in the text and places the figure below the paragraph. end annotated text

annotated text Source Citation in APA Style: Visual. The writer gives the figure a number, a title, an explanatory note, and a source citation. The source is also cited in the list of references. end annotated text

Solutions: Mitigation and Adaptation

annotated text Heading. The centered, boldface heading marks the start of the solutions section of the proposal. end annotated text

annotated text Body. The eight paragraphs under this heading discuss the solutions given in the thesis statement. end annotated text

student sample text To control the effects of climate change, immediate action in two key ways is needed: mitigation and adaptation. Mitigating climate change by reducing and stabilizing the carbon emissions that produce greenhouse gases is the only long-term way to avoid a disastrous future. In addition, adaptation is imperative to allow ecosystems, food systems, and development to become more sustainable. end student sample text

student sample text Mitigation and adaptation will not happen on their own; action on such a vast scale will require governments around the globe to take initiatives. The United States needs to cooperate with other nations and assume a leadership role in fighting climate change. end student sample text

annotated text Objective Stance. The writer presents evidence (facts, statistics, and examples) in neutral, unemotional language, which builds credibility, or ethos, with readers. end annotated text

annotated text Heading. The flush-left, boldface heading marks the first subsection of the solutions. end annotated text

annotated text Topic Sentence. The paragraph opens with a sentence stating the solution developed in the following paragraphs. end annotated text

student sample text The first challenge is to reduce the flow of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The Union of Concerned Scientists (2020) warns that “net zero” carbon emissions—meaning that no more carbon enters the atmosphere than is removed—needs to be reached by 2050 or sooner. As shown in Figure 6.6, reducing carbon emissions will require a massive effort, given the skyrocketing rate of increase of greenhouse gases since 1900 (USGCRP, 2014b). end student sample text

annotated text Synthesis. In this paragraph, the writer synthesizes factual evidence from two sources and cites them in APA style. end annotated text

annotated text Visual as Evidence. The writer refers to “Figure 6.5” in the text and places the figure below the paragraph. end annotated text

student sample text Significant national policy changes must be made and must include multiple approaches; here are two areas of concern: end student sample text

annotated text Presentation of Solutions. For clarity, the writer numbers the two items to be discussed. end annotated text

student sample text 1. Transportation systems. In the United States in 2018, more than one-quarter—28.2 percent—of emissions resulted from the consumption of fossil fuels for transportation. More than half of these emissions came from passenger cars, light-duty trucks, sport utility vehicles, and minivans (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [EPA], 2020). Priorities for mitigation should include using fuels that emit less carbon; improving fuel efficiency; and reducing the need for travel through urban planning, telecommuting and videoconferencing, and biking and pedestrian initiatives. end student sample text

annotated text Source Citation in APA Style: Group Author. The parenthetical citation gives the group’s name, an abbreviation to be used in subsequent citations, and the year of publication. end annotated text

student sample text Curtailing travel has a demonstrable effect. Scientists have recorded a dramatic drop in emissions during government-imposed travel and business restrictions in 2020. Intended to slow the spread of COVID-19, these restrictions also decreased air pollution significantly. For example, during the first six weeks of restrictions in the San Francisco Bay area, traffic was reduced by about 45 percent, and emissions were roughly a quarter lower than the previous six weeks. Similar findings were observed around the globe, with reductions of up to 80 percent (Bourzac, 2020). end student sample text

annotated text Source Citation in APA Style: One Author. The parenthetical citation gives the author’s name and the year of publication. end annotated text

student sample text 2. Energy production. The second-largest source of emissions is the use of fossil fuels to produce energy, primarily electricity, which accounted for 26.9 percent of U.S. emissions (EPA, 2020). Fossil fuels can be replaced by solar, wind, hydro, and geothermal sources. Solar voltaic systems have the potential to become the least expensive energy in the world (Green America, 2020). Solar sources should be complemented by wind power, which tends to increase at night when the sun is absent. According to the Copenhagen Consensus, the most effective way to combat climate change is to increase investment in green research and development (Lomborg, 2020). Notable are successes in the countries of Morocco and The Gambia, both of which have committed to investing in national programs to limit emissions primarily by generating electricity from renewable sources (Mulvaney, 2019). end student sample text

annotated text Synthesis. The writer develops the paragraph by synthesizing evidence from four sources and cites them in APA style. end annotated text

student sample text A second way to move toward net zero is to actively remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Forests and oceans are so-called “sinks” that collect and store carbon (EPA, 2020). Tropical forests that once made up 12 percent of global land masses now cover only 5 percent, and the loss of these tropical forest sinks has caused 16 to 19 percent of greenhouse gas emissions (Green America, 2020). Worldwide reforestation is vital and demands both commitment and funding on a global scale. New technologies also allow “direct air capture,” which filers carbon from the air, and “carbon capture,” which prevents it from leaving smokestacks. end student sample text

student sample text All of these technologies should be governmentally supported and even mandated, where appropriate. end student sample text

annotated text Synthesis. The writer develops the paragraph by synthesizing evidence from two sources and cites them in APA style. end annotated text

annotated text Heading. The flush-left, boldface heading marks the second subsection of the solutions. end annotated text

student sample text Historically, civilizations have adapted to climate changes, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. Our modern civilization is largely the result of climate stability over the past 12,000 years. However, as the climate changes, humans must learn to adapt on a national, community, and individual level in many areas. While each country sets its own laws and regulations, certain principles apply worldwide. end student sample text

student sample text 1. Infrastructure. Buildings—residential, commercial, and industrial—produce about 33 percent of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide (Biello, 2007). Stricter standards for new construction, plus incentives for investing in insulation and other improvements to existing structures, are needed. Development in high-risk areas needs to be discouraged. Improved roads and transportation systems would help reduce fuel use. Incentives for decreasing energy consumption are needed to reduce rising demands for power. end student sample text

student sample text 2. Food waste. More than 30 percent of the food produced in the United States is never consumed, and food waste causes 44 gigatons of carbon emissions a year (Green America, 2020). In a landfill, the nutrients in wasted food never return to the soil; instead, methane, a greenhouse gas, is produced. High-income countries such as the United States need to address wasteful processing and distribution systems. Low-income countries, on the other hand, need an infrastructure that supports proper food storage and handling. Educating consumers also must be a priority. end student sample text

annotated text Source Citation in APA Style: Group Author. The parenthetical citation gives the group’s name and the year of publication. end annotated text

student sample text 3. Consumerism. People living in consumer nations have become accustomed to abundance. Many purchases are nonessential yet consume fossil fuels to manufacture, package, market, and ship products. During World War II, the U.S. government promoted the slogan “Use It Up, Wear It Out, Make It Do, or Do Without.” This attitude was widely accepted because people recognized a common purpose in the war effort. A similar shift in mindset is needed today. end student sample text

student sample text Adaptation is not only possible but also economically advantageous. One case study is Walmart, which is the world’s largest company by revenue. According to Dearn (2020), the company announced a plan to reduce its global emissions to zero by 2040. Among the goals is powering its facilities with 100 percent renewable energy and using electric vehicles with zero emissions. As of 2020, about 29 percent of its energy is from renewable sources. Although the 2040 goal applies to Walmart facilities only, plans are underway to reduce indirect emissions, such as those from its supply chain. According to CEO Doug McMillon, the company’s commitment is to “becoming a regenerative company—one that works to restore, renew and replenish in addition to preserving our planet, and encourages others to do the same” (Dearn, 2020). In addition to encouraging other corporations, these goals present a challenge to the government to take action on climate change. end student sample text

annotated text Extended Example as Evidence. The writer indicates where borrowed information from the source begins and ends, and cites the source in APA style. end annotated text

annotated text Source Citation in APA Style: One Author. The parenthetical citation gives only the year of publication because the author’s name is cited in the sentence. end annotated text

Objections to Taking Action

annotated text Heading. The centered, boldface heading marks the start of the writer’s discussion of potential objections to the proposed solutions. end annotated text

annotated text Body. The writer devotes two paragraphs to objections. end annotated text

student sample text Despite scientific evidence, some people and groups deny that climate change is real or, if they admit it exists, insist it is not a valid concern. Those who think climate change is not a problem point to Earth’s millennia-long history of changing climate as evidence that life has always persisted. However, their claims do not consider the difference between “then” and “now.” Most of the change predates human civilization, which has benefited from thousands of years of stable climate. The rapid change since the Industrial Revolution is unprecedented in human history. end student sample text

student sample text Those who deny climate change or its dangers seek primarily to relax or remove pollution standards and regulations in order to protect, or maximize profit from, their industries. To date, their lobbying has been successful. For example, the world’s fossil-fuel industry received $5.3 trillion in 2015 alone, while the U.S. wind-energy industry received $12.3 billion in subsidies between 2000 and 2020 (Green America, 2020). end student sample text

Conclusion and Recommendation

annotated text Heading. The centered, boldface heading marks the start of the conclusion and recommendation. end annotated text

annotated text Conclusion and Recommendation. The proposal concludes with a restatement of the proposed solutions and a call to action. end annotated text

student sample text Greenhouse gases can be reduced to acceptable levels; the technology already exists. But that technology cannot function without strong governmental policies prioritizing the environment, coupled with serious investment in research and development of climate-friendly technologies. end student sample text

student sample text The United States government must place its full support behind efforts to reduce greenhouse gasses and mitigate climate change. Rejoining the Paris Agreement is a good first step, but it is not enough. Citizens must demand that their elected officials at the local, state, and national levels accept responsibility to take action on both mitigation and adaptation. Without full governmental support, good intentions fall short of reaching net-zero emissions and cannot achieve the adaptation in attitude and lifestyle necessary for public compliance. There is no alternative to accepting this reality. Addressing climate change is too important to remain optional. end student sample text

Biello, D. (2007, May 25). Combatting climate change: Farming out global warming solutions. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/combating-climate-change-farming-forestry/

Bourzac, K. (2020, September 25). COVID-19 lockdowns had strange effects on air pollution across the globe. Chemical & Engineering News. https://cen.acs.org/environment/atmospheric-chemistry/COVID-19-lockdowns-had-strange-effects-on-air-pollution-across-the-globe/98/i37

Dearn, G. (2020, September 21). Walmart said it will eliminate its carbon footprint by 2040 — but not for its supply chain, which makes up the bulk of its emissions. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-targets-zero-carbon-emissions-2040-not-suppliers-2020-9

Green America (2020). Top 10 solutions to reverse climate change. https://www.greenamerica.org/climate-change-100-reasons-hope/top-10-solutions-reverse-climate-change.

Lomborg, B. (2020, July 17). The alarm about climate change is blinding us to sensible solutions. The Globe and Mail. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-the-alarm-about-climate-change-is-blinding-us-to-sensible-solutions/

Mulvaney, K. (2019, September 19). Climate change report card: These countries are reaching targets. National Geographic . https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/09/climate-change-report-card-co2-emissions/

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (2020, November 24). Record-breaking Atlantic hurricane season draws to an end. https://www.noaa.gov/media-release/record-breaking-atlantic-hurricane-season-draws-to-end

Union of Concerned Scientists (2020). Climate solutions. https://www.ucsusa.org/climate/solutions

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2020). Sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Greenhouse Gas Emissions. https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions

U.S. Global Change Research Program (2014a). Melting ice. National Climate Assessment. https://nca2014.globalchange.gov/report/our-changing-climate/melting-ice

U.S. Global Change Research Program (2014b). Our changing climate. National Climate Assessment. https://nca2014.globalchange.gov/highlights/report-findings/our-changing-climate#tab1-images

annotated text References Page in APA Style. All sources cited in the text of the report—and only those sources—are listed in alphabetical order with full publication information. See the Handbook for more on APA documentation style. end annotated text

The following link takes you to another model of an annotated sample paper on solutions to animal testing posted by the University of Arizona’s Global Campus Writing Center.

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News • December 28, 2016

These Are the 10 Most Important Climate Stories of 2016

By Brian Kahn

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This year is likely to remembered as a turning point for climate change. It’s the year the impacts of rising carbon pollution became impossible to ignore. The world is overheating and vast swaths of the planet have suffered the consequences. At the same time, it’s also a year where world leaders crafted and agreed on a number of plans to try to turn the tide of carbon pollution and move toward a clean energy future. It’s clear 2016 was a year where planetary peril and human hope stood out in stark contrast. Here are the 10 most important climate milestones of the year.

The world struck an airline carbon pollution deal

The friendly skies got slightly friendlier. Air travel counts for about 7 percent of carbon emissions globally. That number will need to come down in the coming decades, and the International Civil Aviation Organization, the world’s governing body for airlines, put a plan in place to start that transition. The plan, which was signed off on by 191 countries, is focused on letting airlines buy credits that will help fund renewable energy projects to offset airplane emissions. It isn’t a perfect solution since it doesn’t directly reduce carbon pollution from air travel, but it’s a first step for an industry that will have to find novel, carbon-free ways to produce the fuel needed to fly you home for Christmas vacation.

An extremely potent greenhouse gas is also on its way out

Hydrofluorocarbons are the chemicals in your air conditioner that help keep you cool in the summer (and the food in your refrigerator cool year round). Ironically, they’re also a greenhouse gas that’s thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide when it comes to trapping heat in the atmosphere. Reducing them is critical to keep the planet from heating up much more and in October, international negotiators struck a deal to do phase them out. Countries still have to ratify the agreement — and it could face a major roadblock in the U.S. Senate — in order for it to take effect, but if approved, it will provide strong targets and a timetable to find replacement chemicals to keep you cool in a warming world.

July was the hottest month ever recorded. Then August tied it

The Arctic had a crazy heat wave this winter, but the planet as a whole really roasted through July and August. The summer is usually the warmest time of the year by dint of the fact that there’s more land in the northern hemisphere. But this summer was something else. July was the hottest month ever recorded, and it was followed by an August — usually a bit cooler than July — that was just as scorching. Those epically hot months helped set this year up for record heat (but more on that in a bit).

Arctic sea ice got weird. Really weird

The Arctic was probably the weirdest place on the planet this year. It had a record-low peak for sea ice in the winter and dwindled to its second-lowest extent on record. The Northwest Passage also opened in August, allowing a luxury cruise ship to pass through. Those milestones themselves are a disconcerting harbinger of a warming world, but November brought an even more bizarre event. Normally it’s a time when night blankets the region and temperatures generally plummet to allow the rapid growth of ice. But a veritable heat wave ratcheted temperatures 27°F above normal, hitting pause on ice growth and even causing ice loss for a few days. December has seen a similar warm spell that scientists have found would be virtually impossible if it wasn’t for climate change. The Arctic is the most rapidly warming region on the planet and 2016 served as a reminder that the region is being dramatically reshaped by that warming.

Divestment and clean energy investments each hit a record

Climate change is a huge, pressing economic issue as countries will have to rejigger their economies to run on renewables and not fossil fuels. Investors are attacking that switch at both ends, and 2016 stands out for the record pace at which they’re doing it. On the fossil fuel side, investors representing $5.2 trillion in assets have agreed to divest from fossil fuels. That includes massive financial firms, pension funds, cities and regional governments, and a host of wealthy individuals. Not bad for a movement that only got its start in 2011. On the flip side, a report showed that investors poured $288 billion into new renewable projects in 2015, also a record. That’s helping install 500,000 solar panels a day around the world and ensuring that 70 percent of all money invested into energy generation is going to renewables.

The Great Barrier Reef was decimated by warm waters

Coral has had a rough go of it around the world for the past three years . El Niño coupled with climate change has caused a massive coral bleaching event around the globe. Nowhere have the impacts been more stark than the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Up to 93 percent of the reef was rocked by coral bleaching as record-warm waters essentially boiled coral to death. A third of the reef — including some of the most protected areas — are now dead. Researchers found that climate change made the record heat up to 175 times more likely , offering a glimpse into the dystopian future reefs face. A 1.5°C rise in the global average temperature would essentially mean game over for corals around the world.

The world breached the 1.5°C climate threshold

So about 1.5°C. It’s a threshold that’s crucial for low-lying island states to continue their existence (to say nothing of Miami or other coastal cities). Passing it would mean essentially issuing a death sentence for these places, corals and Arctic sea ice and other places around the world. The globe got its first glimpse of 1.5°C in February and March this year . Climate change, riding on the back of a super El Niño, helped crank the global average temperature to 1.63°C above normal in February and 1.54°C above normal in March compared to pre-industrial times. While the abnormal heat has since subsided a bit, it’s likely that 1.5°C will be breached again and again in the coming years and could become normal by 2025-30.

Carbon dioxide hit 400 ppm. Permanently

Scientists measure carbon dioxide in parts per million and in 2016, and it hit a not-so-nice round number at the Earth’s marquee carbon observatory: 400 ppm. Despite the seasonal ebb and flow, there wasn’t a single week where carbon dioxide levels dipped below 400 ppm. It’s the first time on record that’s happened. Because carbon pollution continues to rise, the world isn’t going to see carbon dioxide dip below 400 ppm again in our lifetimes (and likely a lot longer than that). Carbon dioxide also breached the 400 ppm threshold in Antarctica , the first time that’s happened in human history (and likely a lot longer). And in a report that was published this year , the World Meteorological Organization revealed that carbon dioxide passed the 400 ppm milestone globally in 2015. So yeah, 400 ppm was kind of a thing this year.

The Paris Agreement got real

The world got together to deliver the Paris Agreement in 2015 , but the rubber really hit the road in 2016. Nearly 120 countries have ratified the agreement, putting it into force on Nov. 4. That includes big carbon pollution emitters like China, the U.S. and the European Union, and tiny ones like Mongolia, the Cook Islands and Sierra Leone. While there’s concern that President-elect Trump could pull the U.S. out of the agreement, signatories have stressed that they’ll go forward to meet their pledges regardless. With the rubber on the road, the next step is to get the wheels spinning.

It was the hottest year on record. Again

In case it wasn’t clear, the clearest sign of climate change is heat. And this year had lots of it. Hot Arctic, hot summer, hot water, and so it’s only fitting that the biggest climate milestone of the year (in a year that itself is a milestone) is record heat . Of course, that was the biggest story in 2014 . And 2015 for that matter . This year marks the third year in a row of record-setting heat, an unprecedented run. It’s a reminder that we’ve entered a new era, where our actions have changed the world we call home. We also have the ability to decide what comes next.

You May Also Like: The U.S. Has Been Overwhelmingly Hot This Year Warming is Sending Mountain Glaciers ‘Off a Cliff’ Temperatures Are Soaring at the North Pole . . . Again Obama Bars Arctic Drilling Ahead of Trump Inauguration

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Home / Personal Climate Stories Can Persuade

Peer-Reviewed Article · Aug 11, 2020

Personal climate stories can persuade, by abel gustafson , matthew ballew , matthew goldberg , matthew cutler , seth rosenthal and anthony leiserowitz, filed under: messaging and audiences.

We are pleased to announce the publication of a new research article “Personal Stories Can Shift Climate Change Beliefs and Risk Perceptions: The Mediating Role of Emotion” in the journal Communication Reports .

A key challenge in climate change communication is that many people perceive the impacts of climate change to be far away in time and space. Therefore, it is important to emphasize that climate change impacts are here and now, and already harming people and local ecosystems. One way to do this is to share the personal stories of people who have experienced the effects of climate change. Our own climate news service Yale Climate Connections , broadcasts a new story each weekday on more than 600 radio stations and frequencies nationwide, featuring diverse voices telling their own stories of local climate impacts and solutions.

In this study, we tested the persuasive effects of one such radio story in two experiments. The story features Richard Mode, a North Carolina sportsman, who describes his emotional response to the impacts of climate change on his favorite places to hunt and fish.

We found that listening to this radio story had significant positive effects on the climate change beliefs and risk perceptions of both conservatives in the U.S. (Study 1) and moderates and conservatives in six southeastern U.S. states (Study 2).

Prior research has found that emotions can play an important role in the persuasiveness of climate change messages. So, in our second experiment, we examined whether the persuasive effects of this radio story could be explained by the activation of feelings of worry and compassion. The results indicate that activated feelings of worry and compassion accounted for much of the story’s effects—i.e., that the more people felt worry and/or compassion in response to the story, the more they changed their climate change beliefs and risk perceptions.

Together, these findings highlight the importance of sharing personal stories about how climate change is affecting people and ecosystems, and underscore the importance of emotion as well as facts in climate change communication.

The full article is available here to those with a subscription to Communication Reports . If you would like to request a copy, please send an email to [email protected] with the subject line: Request Personal Stories of Climate Impacts paper.

Gustafson, A., Ballew, M., Goldberg, M., Rosenthal, S., & Leiserowitz, A. (2020). Personal stories can shift climate change beliefs and risk perceptions: The mediating role of emotion. Yale University and George Mason University. New Haven, CT: Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.

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December 27, 2023

The Most Important Climate Stories of 2023 Aren’t All Bad News

In 2023 climate news was a mixed bag: we saw unrelenting heat but also glimmers of hope of progress toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions

By Andrea Thompson

A person rides a bicycle as heat waves shimmer, causing visual distortion, as people walk in “the Zone,” Phoenix, Ariz.’s largest homeless encampment, amid the city’s worst heat wave on record on July 25, 2023.

Mario Tama/Getty Images

To say the year in climate has been a mixed bag is an understatement. There have been glimmers of hope alongside stark reminders of the peril we all face if we don’t quickly slash greenhouse gas emissions.

Early in the year the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released the final installment of its Sixth Assessment Report, which was, as United Nations secretary-general António Guterres put it, “a how-to guide to defuse the climate time-bomb .” As 2023 came to a close, there was some encouraging, if modest, movement forward on international and U.S. climate action. But this will also be the hottest year on record, driving home how inadequate that action has been to date.

Here, Scientific American rounds up this year’s biggest climate stories.

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“Gobsmackingly Bananas” Heat

Record-shattering extreme heat was a constant in the news this year. There were numerous record-breaking heat waves around the world, from the U.S. Southwest to Europe to China. There were even summerlike temperature during winter in South America . Researchers concluded several heat waves were made many times more likely by climate change—some would have even been “virtually impossible” without global warming . Extreme heat is particularly dangerous for the very old, the very young and low-income communities that may not have access to air-conditioning. In some places, such as Europe, punishing summer heat stretched hospital capacity to COVID-era levels.

Every month from June to November was the hottest such month on record. Even more stunning, July was the hottest month ever recorded on the planet—and likely the hottest in at least 120,000 years—by a wide margin of 0.2 degree Celsius (about 0.4 degree Fahrenheit). And September was the most anomalously warm month , measuring about 0.5 degree C (0.9 degree F) hotter than the previous hottest September in 2020. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), climate scientist Zeke Hausfather called that record “ absolutely gobsmackingly bananas .”

Though a burgeoning El Niño , part of a natural climate cycle, has contributed a little heat to the planet, the exceptional global temperatures in 2023 are largely driven by the 1.2 degrees C (2.2 degrees F) of warming since preindustrial times. This year should serve as a warning of the future we face if we don’t take rapid, ambitious action to cut emissions generated by burning fossil fuels. “This is what the world looks like when it’s 1.5 degrees [C] hotter in a year, and it’s terrible,” climate scientist Kate Marvel told Scientific American .

Success or a COP-Out?

The international climate summit that convenes every year to hash out how the world will address the climate crisis is always subject to lofty goals but frequently ends with little concrete accomplishment. In November this year’s event—the 28th Conference of the Parties, or COP28—took some steps toward action to prevent warming of more than 1.5 degrees C above preindustrial levels yet still left many climate experts and environmental advocates cold.

The massive conference (with some 100,000 attendees) opened with the approval of a fund to compensate communities for unavoidable climate change —referred to as a “loss and damage” fund in U.N. parlance—something many developing countries have been advocating for years. These countries shoulder a disproportionate burden of climate change’s effects despite having contributed very little to global warming . Several countries, including COP28’s controversial host nation, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), pledged tens of millions of dollars to the fund. The U.S. pledged only $17.5 million. Though welcome, the funding is well short of what is needed —something it has in common with most other funding slated to help countries adapt to climate change and develop renewable energy sources.

Activists protest against fossil fuels on day 10 of the COP28 climate conference in Dubai on December 10, 2023. Credit: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

The nonbinding deal that emerged from the conference included historic language on “transitioning away from fossil fuels,” the first time those fuels were explicitly singled out. Previous deals discussed reducing emissions but not how those reductions should come about, which left the door open for participants to continue to burn fossil fuels and either capture the emitted carbon (a technology that is not yet fully developed to run at scale) or offset the emissions with sometimes dubious carbon credit schemes.

While the new agreement acknowledged the need to stop burning coal, oil and gas, it still sanctioned the use of those fuels during the transition to clean energy and was gaveled in before some countries who did not fully support the text could enter the room. And the language stands in contrast to the billions of dollars that countries such as the UAE, the U.S. and China have slated to develop further fossil fuel resources .

Insurance Underwater

Homeowners and businesses often pay for insurance policies so that they can be financially protected in the event of disaster, whether it’s a tornado or inundation by muck-filled floodwaters . But this year it became very clear that climate change is catching up with the insurance industry .

Climate change is exacerbating many natural hazards, from flood-causing extreme downpours to damaging thunderstorms to devastating wildfires . The onslaught of such disasters in recent years has left insurers in California, Florida and Louisiana with huge losses and several bankruptcies. Some insurance companies have said they will not sell or renew policies in California and Florida because of high risks from extreme events. Other insurers have raised their premiums, which can make the policies unaffordable for some people. This year the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced a plan to require 213 large insurers to provide information on what policies they sell and where so that the government can glean if particularly vulnerable communities are underinsured.

Without private insurance, more people will rely on public insurance programs or postdisaster funds, which don’t always have adequately robust coffers. In early 2023 Florida’s public insurer warned earlier that Hurricane Ian had “significantly depleted” its reserves, which might mean it will have to increase fees for policyholders And as of that time, a state-run plan in California had a $332-million deficit. Additionally, postdisaster funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency are limited in scope and subject to budget battles in Congress .

Such developments in the insurance industry this year—which set a record for the number of billion-dollar disasters in the U.S. —could be a harbinger of the physical and financial risks that lie ahead.

Biden’s Ambition

In 2023 the Biden administration continued to plug away on rulemaking, executive action and international diplomacy to help reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions (which were projected to fall by 3 percent this year ). Its efforts only mark a beginning, and they are somewhat counteracted by practices such as continuing to hold auctions for leases to develop fossil fuels. But nevertheless, they are by far the most ambitious climate actions the country has ever taken.

At the COP28 climate meeting, the Environmental Protection Agency announced its finalized rule to significantly cut methane emissions from the oil and gas industry, in part by addressing leaks in pipelines and other infrastructure. For the first time ever, such rules cover facilities built before 2015.

And the U.S.’s frosty relations with China thawed a bit, at least on the climate front, with an agreement between the world’s two largest emitters to grow renewable energy and develop carbon capture technologies.

The administration also expanded environmental justice protections and authorized the creation of an American Climate Corps , which, following in the footsteps of the New Deal–era Civilian Conservation Corps, will hire thousands of young people to work on wind and solar energy projects, make homes more energy-efficient and restore ecosystems.

The durability of this progress made under Biden will depend in large part on how the 2024 election shakes out because Republican candidates have vowed to try to undo many of his efforts. But if all goes right, the country could still meet his goal of reducing U.S. emission by half .

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Essay on Climate Change

Climate Change Essay - The globe is growing increasingly sensitive to climate change. It is currently a serious worldwide concern. The term "Climate Change" describes changes to the earth's climate. It explains the atmospheric changes that have occurred across time, spanning from decades to millions of years. Here are some sample essays on climate change.

100 Words Essay on Climate Change

200 words essay on climate change, 500 words essay on climate change.

The climatic conditions on Earth are changing due to climate change. Several internal and external variables, such as solar radiation, variations in the Earth's orbit, volcanic eruptions, plate tectonics, etc., are to blame for this.

There are strategies for climate change reduction. If not implemented, the weather might get worse, there might be water scarcity, there could be lower agricultural output, and it might affect people's ability to make a living. In order to breathe clean air and drink pure water, you must concentrate on limiting human activity. These are the simple measures that may be taken to safeguard the environment and its resources.

The climate of the Earth has changed significantly over time. While some of these changes were brought on by natural events like volcanic eruptions, floods, forest fires, etc., many of the changes were brought on by human activity. The burning of fossil fuels, domesticating livestock, and other human activities produce a significant quantity of greenhouse gases. This results in an increase of greenhouse effect and global warming which are the major causes for climate change.

Reasons of Climate Change

Some of the reasons of climate change are:

Deforestation

Excessive use of fossil fuels

Water and soil pollution

Plastic and other non biodegradable waste

Wildlife and nature extinction

Consequences of Climate Change

All kinds of life on earth will be affected by climate change if it continues to change at the same pace. The earth's temperature will increase, the monsoon patterns will shift, the sea level will rise, and there will be more frequent storms, volcano eruptions, and other natural calamities. The earth's biological and ecological equilibrium will be disturbed. Humans won't be able to access clean water or air to breathe when the environment becomes contaminated. The end of life on this earth is imminent. To reduce the issue of climate change, we need to bring social awareness along with strict measures to protect and preserve the natural environment.

A shift in the world's climatic pattern is referred to as climate change. Over the centuries, the climate pattern of our planet has undergone modifications. The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has significantly grown.

When Did Climate Change Begin

It is possible to see signs of climate change as early as the beginning of the industrial revolution. The pace at which the manufacturers produced things on a large scale required a significant amount of raw materials. Since the raw materials being transformed into finished products now have such huge potential for profit, these business models have spread quickly over the world. Hazardous substances and chemicals build up in the environment as a result of company emissions and waste disposal.

Although climate change is a natural occurrence, it is evident that human activity is turning into the primary cause of the current climate change situation. The major cause is the growing population. Natural resources are utilised more and more as a result of the population's fast growth placing a heavy burden on the available resources. Over time, as more and more products and services are created, pollution will eventually increase.

Causes of Climate Change

There are a number of factors that have contributed towards weather change in the past and continue to do so. Let us look at a few:

Solar Radiation |The climate of earth is determined by how quickly the sun's energy is absorbed and distributed throughout space. This energy is transmitted throughout the world by the winds, ocean currents etc which affects the climatic conditions of the world. Changes in solar intensity have an effect on the world's climate.

Deforestation | The atmosphere's carbon dioxide is stored by trees. As a result of their destruction, carbon dioxide builds up more quickly since there are no trees to absorb it. Additionally, trees release the carbon they stored when we burn them.

Agriculture | Many kinds of greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere by growing crops and raising livestock. Animals, for instance, create methane, a greenhouse gas that is 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide. The nitrous oxide used in fertilisers is roughly 300 times more strong than carbon dioxide.

How to Prevent Climate Change

We need to look out for drastic steps to stop climate change since it is affecting the resources and life on our planet. We can stop climate change if the right solutions are put in place. Here are some strategies for reducing climate change:

Raising public awareness of climate change

Prohibiting tree-cutting and deforestation.

Ensure the surroundings are clean.

Refrain from using chemical fertilisers.

Water and other natural resource waste should be reduced.

Protect the animals and plants.

Purchase energy-efficient goods and equipment.

Increase the number of trees in the neighbourhood and its surroundings.

Follow the law and safeguard the environment's resources.

Reduce the amount of energy you use.

During the last few decades especially, climate change has grown to be of concern. Global concern has been raised over changes in the Earth's climatic pattern. The causes of climate change are numerous, as well as the effects of it and it is our responsibility as inhabitants of this planet to look after its well being and leave it in a better condition for future generations.

Explore Career Options (By Industry)

• Construction
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• Information Technology

Data Administrator

Database professionals use software to store and organise data such as financial information, and customer shipping records. Individuals who opt for a career as data administrators ensure that data is available for users and secured from unauthorised sales. DB administrators may work in various types of industries. It may involve computer systems design, service firms, insurance companies, banks and hospitals.

Bio Medical Engineer

The field of biomedical engineering opens up a universe of expert chances. An Individual in the biomedical engineering career path work in the field of engineering as well as medicine, in order to find out solutions to common problems of the two fields. The biomedical engineering job opportunities are to collaborate with doctors and researchers to develop medical systems, equipment, or devices that can solve clinical problems. Here we will be discussing jobs after biomedical engineering, how to get a job in biomedical engineering, biomedical engineering scope, and salary. 

Ethical Hacker

A career as ethical hacker involves various challenges and provides lucrative opportunities in the digital era where every giant business and startup owns its cyberspace on the world wide web. Individuals in the ethical hacker career path try to find the vulnerabilities in the cyber system to get its authority. If he or she succeeds in it then he or she gets its illegal authority. Individuals in the ethical hacker career path then steal information or delete the file that could affect the business, functioning, or services of the organization.

GIS officer work on various GIS software to conduct a study and gather spatial and non-spatial information. GIS experts update the GIS data and maintain it. The databases include aerial or satellite imagery, latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates, and manually digitized images of maps. In a career as GIS expert, one is responsible for creating online and mobile maps.

Data Analyst

The invention of the database has given fresh breath to the people involved in the data analytics career path. Analysis refers to splitting up a whole into its individual components for individual analysis. Data analysis is a method through which raw data are processed and transformed into information that would be beneficial for user strategic thinking.

Data are collected and examined to respond to questions, evaluate hypotheses or contradict theories. It is a tool for analyzing, transforming, modeling, and arranging data with useful knowledge, to assist in decision-making and methods, encompassing various strategies, and is used in different fields of business, research, and social science.

Geothermal Engineer

Individuals who opt for a career as geothermal engineers are the professionals involved in the processing of geothermal energy. The responsibilities of geothermal engineers may vary depending on the workplace location. Those who work in fields design facilities to process and distribute geothermal energy. They oversee the functioning of machinery used in the field.

Database Architect

If you are intrigued by the programming world and are interested in developing communications networks then a career as database architect may be a good option for you. Data architect roles and responsibilities include building design models for data communication networks. Wide Area Networks (WANs), local area networks (LANs), and intranets are included in the database networks. It is expected that database architects will have in-depth knowledge of a company's business to develop a network to fulfil the requirements of the organisation. Stay tuned as we look at the larger picture and give you more information on what is db architecture, why you should pursue database architecture, what to expect from such a degree and what your job opportunities will be after graduation. Here, we will be discussing how to become a data architect. Students can visit NIT Trichy , IIT Kharagpur , JMI New Delhi . 

Remote Sensing Technician

Individuals who opt for a career as a remote sensing technician possess unique personalities. Remote sensing analysts seem to be rational human beings, they are strong, independent, persistent, sincere, realistic and resourceful. Some of them are analytical as well, which means they are intelligent, introspective and inquisitive. 

Remote sensing scientists use remote sensing technology to support scientists in fields such as community planning, flight planning or the management of natural resources. Analysing data collected from aircraft, satellites or ground-based platforms using statistical analysis software, image analysis software or Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a significant part of their work. Do you want to learn how to become remote sensing technician? There's no need to be concerned; we've devised a simple remote sensing technician career path for you. Scroll through the pages and read.

Budget Analyst

Budget analysis, in a nutshell, entails thoroughly analyzing the details of a financial budget. The budget analysis aims to better understand and manage revenue. Budget analysts assist in the achievement of financial targets, the preservation of profitability, and the pursuit of long-term growth for a business. Budget analysts generally have a bachelor's degree in accounting, finance, economics, or a closely related field. Knowledge of Financial Management is of prime importance in this career.

Underwriter

An underwriter is a person who assesses and evaluates the risk of insurance in his or her field like mortgage, loan, health policy, investment, and so on and so forth. The underwriter career path does involve risks as analysing the risks means finding out if there is a way for the insurance underwriter jobs to recover the money from its clients. If the risk turns out to be too much for the company then in the future it is an underwriter who will be held accountable for it. Therefore, one must carry out his or her job with a lot of attention and diligence.

Finance Executive

Product manager.

A Product Manager is a professional responsible for product planning and marketing. He or she manages the product throughout the Product Life Cycle, gathering and prioritising the product. A product manager job description includes defining the product vision and working closely with team members of other departments to deliver winning products.  

Operations Manager

Individuals in the operations manager jobs are responsible for ensuring the efficiency of each department to acquire its optimal goal. They plan the use of resources and distribution of materials. The operations manager's job description includes managing budgets, negotiating contracts, and performing administrative tasks.

Stock Analyst

Individuals who opt for a career as a stock analyst examine the company's investments makes decisions and keep track of financial securities. The nature of such investments will differ from one business to the next. Individuals in the stock analyst career use data mining to forecast a company's profits and revenues, advise clients on whether to buy or sell, participate in seminars, and discussing financial matters with executives and evaluate annual reports.

A Researcher is a professional who is responsible for collecting data and information by reviewing the literature and conducting experiments and surveys. He or she uses various methodological processes to provide accurate data and information that is utilised by academicians and other industry professionals. Here, we will discuss what is a researcher, the researcher's salary, types of researchers.

Welding Engineer

Welding Engineer Job Description: A Welding Engineer work involves managing welding projects and supervising welding teams. He or she is responsible for reviewing welding procedures, processes and documentation. A career as Welding Engineer involves conducting failure analyses and causes on welding issues. 

Transportation Planner

A career as Transportation Planner requires technical application of science and technology in engineering, particularly the concepts, equipment and technologies involved in the production of products and services. In fields like land use, infrastructure review, ecological standards and street design, he or she considers issues of health, environment and performance. A Transportation Planner assigns resources for implementing and designing programmes. He or she is responsible for assessing needs, preparing plans and forecasts and compliance with regulations.

Environmental Engineer

Individuals who opt for a career as an environmental engineer are construction professionals who utilise the skills and knowledge of biology, soil science, chemistry and the concept of engineering to design and develop projects that serve as solutions to various environmental problems. 

Safety Manager

A Safety Manager is a professional responsible for employee’s safety at work. He or she plans, implements and oversees the company’s employee safety. A Safety Manager ensures compliance and adherence to Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) guidelines.

Conservation Architect

A Conservation Architect is a professional responsible for conserving and restoring buildings or monuments having a historic value. He or she applies techniques to document and stabilise the object’s state without any further damage. A Conservation Architect restores the monuments and heritage buildings to bring them back to their original state.

Structural Engineer

A Structural Engineer designs buildings, bridges, and other related structures. He or she analyzes the structures and makes sure the structures are strong enough to be used by the people. A career as a Structural Engineer requires working in the construction process. It comes under the civil engineering discipline. A Structure Engineer creates structural models with the help of computer-aided design software. 

Highway Engineer

Highway Engineer Job Description:  A Highway Engineer is a civil engineer who specialises in planning and building thousands of miles of roads that support connectivity and allow transportation across the country. He or she ensures that traffic management schemes are effectively planned concerning economic sustainability and successful implementation.

Field Surveyor

Are you searching for a Field Surveyor Job Description? A Field Surveyor is a professional responsible for conducting field surveys for various places or geographical conditions. He or she collects the required data and information as per the instructions given by senior officials. 

Orthotist and Prosthetist

Orthotists and Prosthetists are professionals who provide aid to patients with disabilities. They fix them to artificial limbs (prosthetics) and help them to regain stability. There are times when people lose their limbs in an accident. In some other occasions, they are born without a limb or orthopaedic impairment. Orthotists and prosthetists play a crucial role in their lives with fixing them to assistive devices and provide mobility.

Pathologist

A career in pathology in India is filled with several responsibilities as it is a medical branch and affects human lives. The demand for pathologists has been increasing over the past few years as people are getting more aware of different diseases. Not only that, but an increase in population and lifestyle changes have also contributed to the increase in a pathologist’s demand. The pathology careers provide an extremely huge number of opportunities and if you want to be a part of the medical field you can consider being a pathologist. If you want to know more about a career in pathology in India then continue reading this article.

Veterinary Doctor

Speech therapist, gynaecologist.

Gynaecology can be defined as the study of the female body. The job outlook for gynaecology is excellent since there is evergreen demand for one because of their responsibility of dealing with not only women’s health but also fertility and pregnancy issues. Although most women prefer to have a women obstetrician gynaecologist as their doctor, men also explore a career as a gynaecologist and there are ample amounts of male doctors in the field who are gynaecologists and aid women during delivery and childbirth. 

Audiologist

The audiologist career involves audiology professionals who are responsible to treat hearing loss and proactively preventing the relevant damage. Individuals who opt for a career as an audiologist use various testing strategies with the aim to determine if someone has a normal sensitivity to sounds or not. After the identification of hearing loss, a hearing doctor is required to determine which sections of the hearing are affected, to what extent they are affected, and where the wound causing the hearing loss is found. As soon as the hearing loss is identified, the patients are provided with recommendations for interventions and rehabilitation such as hearing aids, cochlear implants, and appropriate medical referrals. While audiology is a branch of science that studies and researches hearing, balance, and related disorders.

An oncologist is a specialised doctor responsible for providing medical care to patients diagnosed with cancer. He or she uses several therapies to control the cancer and its effect on the human body such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiation therapy and biopsy. An oncologist designs a treatment plan based on a pathology report after diagnosing the type of cancer and where it is spreading inside the body.

Are you searching for an ‘Anatomist job description’? An Anatomist is a research professional who applies the laws of biological science to determine the ability of bodies of various living organisms including animals and humans to regenerate the damaged or destroyed organs. If you want to know what does an anatomist do, then read the entire article, where we will answer all your questions.

For an individual who opts for a career as an actor, the primary responsibility is to completely speak to the character he or she is playing and to persuade the crowd that the character is genuine by connecting with them and bringing them into the story. This applies to significant roles and littler parts, as all roles join to make an effective creation. Here in this article, we will discuss how to become an actor in India, actor exams, actor salary in India, and actor jobs. 

Individuals who opt for a career as acrobats create and direct original routines for themselves, in addition to developing interpretations of existing routines. The work of circus acrobats can be seen in a variety of performance settings, including circus, reality shows, sports events like the Olympics, movies and commercials. Individuals who opt for a career as acrobats must be prepared to face rejections and intermittent periods of work. The creativity of acrobats may extend to other aspects of the performance. For example, acrobats in the circus may work with gym trainers, celebrities or collaborate with other professionals to enhance such performance elements as costume and or maybe at the teaching end of the career.

Video Game Designer

Career as a video game designer is filled with excitement as well as responsibilities. A video game designer is someone who is involved in the process of creating a game from day one. He or she is responsible for fulfilling duties like designing the character of the game, the several levels involved, plot, art and similar other elements. Individuals who opt for a career as a video game designer may also write the codes for the game using different programming languages.

Depending on the video game designer job description and experience they may also have to lead a team and do the early testing of the game in order to suggest changes and find loopholes.

Radio Jockey

Radio Jockey is an exciting, promising career and a great challenge for music lovers. If you are really interested in a career as radio jockey, then it is very important for an RJ to have an automatic, fun, and friendly personality. If you want to get a job done in this field, a strong command of the language and a good voice are always good things. Apart from this, in order to be a good radio jockey, you will also listen to good radio jockeys so that you can understand their style and later make your own by practicing.

A career as radio jockey has a lot to offer to deserving candidates. If you want to know more about a career as radio jockey, and how to become a radio jockey then continue reading the article.

Choreographer

The word “choreography" actually comes from Greek words that mean “dance writing." Individuals who opt for a career as a choreographer create and direct original dances, in addition to developing interpretations of existing dances. A Choreographer dances and utilises his or her creativity in other aspects of dance performance. For example, he or she may work with the music director to select music or collaborate with other famous choreographers to enhance such performance elements as lighting, costume and set design.

Social Media Manager

A career as social media manager involves implementing the company’s or brand’s marketing plan across all social media channels. Social media managers help in building or improving a brand’s or a company’s website traffic, build brand awareness, create and implement marketing and brand strategy. Social media managers are key to important social communication as well.

Photographer

Photography is considered both a science and an art, an artistic means of expression in which the camera replaces the pen. In a career as a photographer, an individual is hired to capture the moments of public and private events, such as press conferences or weddings, or may also work inside a studio, where people go to get their picture clicked. Photography is divided into many streams each generating numerous career opportunities in photography. With the boom in advertising, media, and the fashion industry, photography has emerged as a lucrative and thrilling career option for many Indian youths.

An individual who is pursuing a career as a producer is responsible for managing the business aspects of production. They are involved in each aspect of production from its inception to deception. Famous movie producers review the script, recommend changes and visualise the story. 

They are responsible for overseeing the finance involved in the project and distributing the film for broadcasting on various platforms. A career as a producer is quite fulfilling as well as exhaustive in terms of playing different roles in order for a production to be successful. Famous movie producers are responsible for hiring creative and technical personnel on contract basis.

Copy Writer

In a career as a copywriter, one has to consult with the client and understand the brief well. A career as a copywriter has a lot to offer to deserving candidates. Several new mediums of advertising are opening therefore making it a lucrative career choice. Students can pursue various copywriter courses such as Journalism , Advertising , Marketing Management . Here, we have discussed how to become a freelance copywriter, copywriter career path, how to become a copywriter in India, and copywriting career outlook. 

In a career as a vlogger, one generally works for himself or herself. However, once an individual has gained viewership there are several brands and companies that approach them for paid collaboration. It is one of those fields where an individual can earn well while following his or her passion. 

Ever since internet costs got reduced the viewership for these types of content has increased on a large scale. Therefore, a career as a vlogger has a lot to offer. If you want to know more about the Vlogger eligibility, roles and responsibilities then continue reading the article. 

For publishing books, newspapers, magazines and digital material, editorial and commercial strategies are set by publishers. Individuals in publishing career paths make choices about the markets their businesses will reach and the type of content that their audience will be served. Individuals in book publisher careers collaborate with editorial staff, designers, authors, and freelance contributors who develop and manage the creation of content.

Careers in journalism are filled with excitement as well as responsibilities. One cannot afford to miss out on the details. As it is the small details that provide insights into a story. Depending on those insights a journalist goes about writing a news article. A journalism career can be stressful at times but if you are someone who is passionate about it then it is the right choice for you. If you want to know more about the media field and journalist career then continue reading this article.

Individuals in the editor career path is an unsung hero of the news industry who polishes the language of the news stories provided by stringers, reporters, copywriters and content writers and also news agencies. Individuals who opt for a career as an editor make it more persuasive, concise and clear for readers. In this article, we will discuss the details of the editor's career path such as how to become an editor in India, editor salary in India and editor skills and qualities.

Individuals who opt for a career as a reporter may often be at work on national holidays and festivities. He or she pitches various story ideas and covers news stories in risky situations. Students can pursue a BMC (Bachelor of Mass Communication) , B.M.M. (Bachelor of Mass Media) , or  MAJMC (MA in Journalism and Mass Communication) to become a reporter. While we sit at home reporters travel to locations to collect information that carries a news value.  

Corporate Executive

Are you searching for a Corporate Executive job description? A Corporate Executive role comes with administrative duties. He or she provides support to the leadership of the organisation. A Corporate Executive fulfils the business purpose and ensures its financial stability. In this article, we are going to discuss how to become corporate executive.

Multimedia Specialist

A multimedia specialist is a media professional who creates, audio, videos, graphic image files, computer animations for multimedia applications. He or she is responsible for planning, producing, and maintaining websites and applications. 

Quality Controller

A quality controller plays a crucial role in an organisation. He or she is responsible for performing quality checks on manufactured products. He or she identifies the defects in a product and rejects the product. 

A quality controller records detailed information about products with defects and sends it to the supervisor or plant manager to take necessary actions to improve the production process.

Production Manager

A QA Lead is in charge of the QA Team. The role of QA Lead comes with the responsibility of assessing services and products in order to determine that he or she meets the quality standards. He or she develops, implements and manages test plans. 

Process Development Engineer

The Process Development Engineers design, implement, manufacture, mine, and other production systems using technical knowledge and expertise in the industry. They use computer modeling software to test technologies and machinery. An individual who is opting career as Process Development Engineer is responsible for developing cost-effective and efficient processes. They also monitor the production process and ensure it functions smoothly and efficiently.

AWS Solution Architect

An AWS Solution Architect is someone who specializes in developing and implementing cloud computing systems. He or she has a good understanding of the various aspects of cloud computing and can confidently deploy and manage their systems. He or she troubleshoots the issues and evaluates the risk from the third party. 

Azure Administrator

An Azure Administrator is a professional responsible for implementing, monitoring, and maintaining Azure Solutions. He or she manages cloud infrastructure service instances and various cloud servers as well as sets up public and private cloud systems. 

Computer Programmer

Careers in computer programming primarily refer to the systematic act of writing code and moreover include wider computer science areas. The word 'programmer' or 'coder' has entered into practice with the growing number of newly self-taught tech enthusiasts. Computer programming careers involve the use of designs created by software developers and engineers and transforming them into commands that can be implemented by computers. These commands result in regular usage of social media sites, word-processing applications and browsers.

Information Security Manager

Individuals in the information security manager career path involves in overseeing and controlling all aspects of computer security. The IT security manager job description includes planning and carrying out security measures to protect the business data and information from corruption, theft, unauthorised access, and deliberate attack 

ITSM Manager

Automation test engineer.

An Automation Test Engineer job involves executing automated test scripts. He or she identifies the project’s problems and troubleshoots them. The role involves documenting the defect using management tools. He or she works with the application team in order to resolve any issues arising during the testing process. 

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The Era of Climate Change Has Created a New Emotion

What word might describe losing your home while staying in one place?

From above, an open-cut coal mine looks like some geological aberration, a sort of man-made desert, a recent volcanic eruption, or a kind of terra forming. When the Australian philosopher Glenn Albrecht first gazed at a series of such mines while driving through his home region in southeast Australia, he stopped and got out of his car, overcome “at the desolation of this once beautiful place,” he wrote in his book, Earth Emotions .

As a scholar, Albrecht was drawn to pondering language about and human relationships to the natural world. As a person, he also cared deeply for this place, which had been his home since 1982—Australia’s Hunter Region, a sublime area of dairy farms, wineries, and wallabies. The valley here offers a stopover along a flyway that runs from Alaska and Siberia all the way to New Zealand, and Albrecht’s enthusiasm for bird conservation led him to understand how coal mining was threatening the well-being of the valley’s feathered and human residents. From 1981 to 2012, the amount of land occupied by open-cut mines in the Hunter, akin to the mountaintop-removal mining that has devastated Appalachian landscapes, had increased almost twentyfold. The process leaves a permanent and raw scar, devoid of topsoil. Such mines can also discharge toxic metals into water supplies.

Albrecht understood all of this in the abstract, but witnessing it directly was more visceral—“an acute traumatic event of environmental destruction,” he wrote, air “thick with dust” and the smell of coal, a “dull roar” from a mine detonation, a “cloud of orange smoke.”

The coal industry, Albrecht felt, was wrecking his home. His observations marked the beginning of his relentless inquiry into what it means when the places we call home are remade or altered, sometimes violently.

Over a period of decades, Albrecht has devoted himself to searching for language that might describe a type of sadness, shock, and loss that now seems more and more common—grief of displacement, unease with our surroundings, a sense that damage and disaster might lie just down the road. He would feel the same rush of grief and concern in 2009 when he moved to the Perth metropolitan area in Western Australia, where he had grown up. There, thanks partly to the early impacts of climate change, regional rainfall had dropped by about 15 to 20 percent since the 1970s, and the jarrah trees he had loved since he was a child—eucalypts with lustrous wood—were dying en masse.

As he studied his own and others’ emotional responses to such damages, he was on the cusp of something, a sentiment that now might easily define our time: We live in an era of radical change, when it feels like everything is being remade and altered. What do we call this unprecedented moment of home instability?

In moments of collective distress, people have tried to name the pain that comes from the disruption of home: a complex set of feelings that includes longing, love, grief, existential angst, and even a lurking sense of dread. Loss of home can evoke the pain of dispossession, profound cultural and personal disorientation, and righteous anger, all of which can haunt a society for generations.

After the English invaded Wales in the 1200s, the word hiraeth (pronounced “here-eyeth”) became a fixture in the Welsh language, in part to express the societal disruption of living under colonial rule . “Hiraeth is a protest,” writes the essayist Pamela Petro. “It’s a sickness [that comes on] because home isn’t the place it should have been.” In 1688, Johannes Hofer, then a medical student at the University of Basel in Switzerland, assembled a set of case studies to document the pain of home disruption. Hofer was born in southern Alsace two decades after the Thirty Years’ War—a conflict that turned the region into “a smoldering land, amputated of half its population,” writes the historian Thomas Dodman, and left this part of Europe in a state of economic stagnation and political instability. Later, Hofer’s hometown became a sanctuary to refugees fleeing religious persecution in France. At the time, young Swiss mercenaries, hired out across Western Europe, reportedly suffered a common, chronic heartbreak , la maladie du pays , literally “the disease of the country” in French, or Heimweh , “home-woe” in Swiss German. Hofer gave a scientific name to the pain of home loss that he had witnessed throughout his life. He called it nostalgia, derived from Greek, “composed of two sounds, the one of which is Nosos [now more often spelled nostos ], return to the native land; the other, Algos , signifies suffering or grief,” he wrote.

To Hofer, nostalgia was also a medical condition whose symptoms included fever, nausea, sleep disturbance, fatigue, and respiratory problems, along with “palpitations of the heart, frequent sighs, also stupidity of the mind.” Untreated, it could be fatal, and there were documented deaths among Swiss soldiers attributed to this malady. By the 19th century, the symptoms of nostalgia included “tachycardia, skin rashes, hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating), hearing difficulties, convulsions, heartburn, vomiting, diarrhea, and any rales or wheezing that a stethoscope might pick up in the chest,” according to Dodman. We would probably now attribute many of these symptoms to other psychological ailments, such as post-traumatic stress disorder.

Read: The West has never felt so small

In the 20th century, the meaning of nostalgia became more detached from home; instead, it signified a longing for the real or imagined comforts of the past.

But in discarding the original notion of nostalgia, we may have underestimated the impact that place and home have on the human body and our ability to navigate our lives. Having a home is part of human well-being; when home is disrupted, it can make us literally sick. It is a kind of trauma. The social psychiatrist Mindy Fullilove has described the pain felt by displaced communities—especially Black communities uprooted because of gentrification, discrimination, and urban development—as “root shock,” or “the traumatic stress reaction to the loss of some or all of one’s emotional ecosystem.” In an era of climate crisis, we will have to reckon with new complexities in our relationships to home, and even more people will experience the shock of being uprooted. In the long run, if we fail to address the crisis, hardly any safe refuge will be left.

Like Hofer, Albrecht thought it would be useful to name the experience of watching one’s home environment unravel. Around the turn of the millennium, he decided to coin his own word. (There are words in Indigenous languages that could have filled the gap, but none had yet migrated into the English language.) “With my wife Jill, I sat at the dining table at home and explored numerous possibilities. One word, ‘nostalgia,’ came to our attention as it was once a concept linked to … homesickness,” he wrote. Hunter Region residents were homesick, but they hadn’t gone anywhere—the place they lived in just no longer offered the kind of comfort, solace, or safety one would expect from home. Albrecht came up with the word solastalgia , using the suffix - algia , meaning “pain,” and the same Latin root in the words solace , console , and desolation . In Latin, solacium means “comfort,” and desolare , “to leave alone,” so the word solastalgia suggested the loss of comfort, the loneliness of being estranged from home. He published the first academic paper on the idea in 2005.

Some neologisms never make it out of the realm of private conversation, and some molder in the corners of academic journals as useless jargon. But occasionally a word like this catches a bit of zeitgeist, like wind, and gets borne aloft into the culture at large.

Over the next several years, Albrecht’s mellifluous word seemed to tap into a kind of angst about life on a warming planet. A British trip-hop band produced an instrumental track called “Solastalgia,” and a Slovenian artist recorded an album also called Solastalgia . At the beginning of 2010, The New York Times Magazine ran a profile of Albrecht and commissioned the sculptor Kate MacDowell to create a porcelain representation of solastalgia—a brain full of delicate trees and Australian wildlife.

The neologism also offered a useful means of describing and studying how the impacts of climate change reach beyond tangible, physical, and economic damages. A team of social scientists identified feelings of solastalgia among people from rural northern Ghana, a region devastated by climate change–related drought and crop failure. A collaboration of environmental scientists and public-health researchers observed solastalgia in communities affected by hurricanes and oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico. A Los Angeles physician named David Eisenman stumbled across the idea of solastalgia when interviewing survivors of the 2011 Wallow Fire, the largest wildfire on record in Arizona. Over and over, he heard them express “the sense that they were grieving [for the landscape] like for a loved one.” He and his team found that the more uneasy they felt about the landscape itself, the more at risk they were for other kinds of psychological distress.

Writers, artists, and scholars are now talking more openly about the emotions of the climate crisis. We have even more ways to name the experiences of people living through mega-disasters and the slow attrition of beloved places—including climate grief , ecological grief , and environmental melancholia . In a 2020 survey by the American Psychological Association, more than two-thirds of American adults said they’d experienced “eco-anxiety.” We are moving into an era defined by homesickness.

Does it matter if we name or even notice this kind of angst?

Recent years have made it abundantly clear how much our actual, physical homes and lives are at risk, all over the world. In 2019 alone, 24.9 million people around the globe were effectively evicted from their homes by natural disasters and climate-change impacts. Communities that survive disasters, both large and small, face damage that is hard to even tally. Various economists have tried to estimate the harm of climate change to our societies in monetary terms. Others have made calculations of potential economic losses based on factors such as wage-earning potential and gross domestic product. The world could lose up to 18 percent of GDP by 2050 if nothing is done about climate change. But such calculations strike me as profound underestimates of a phenomenon that could easily tear apart the basic fabric of our societies, economically and physically.

In the past several years, a whole field of study has emerged to quantify the intangible losses associated with climate change. Losses related to culture, identity, heritage, emotional well-being, and the sacredness or spirituality of people’s relationship to a place or a community—not to mention experiences such as the joy, love, beauty, or inspiration found in a cherished landscape—are nearly impossible to quantify in economic terms. So scholars of intangible loss are now trying to find other ways to account for them, formally, for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. “We have to find a better way to make visible what is often overlooked, ridiculed, dismissed as too personal, not generalizable, not quantifiable,” says Petra Tschakert, who is a geography professor at Curtin University, in Australia, and who has also studied solastalgia in Ghana.

Read: Why do we remember floods and forget droughts?

Even these measures, though, do not quite capture what I have long wondered: Have we failed in some more personal realm? Have too many of us convinced ourselves for too long that climate change is the problem of others and that the storms will never rattle our own roof? And if we all faced our grief, would we find the collective will to take the kind of drastic action required to stanch the destruction?

In 2013, I met Glenn Albrecht while I was on a writing fellowship in Perth, a city of Spanish-style architecture, white-sand beaches, brightly colored wild cockatoos, and some of the most profuse biodiversity of any city in the world. He had moved back to the country’s west coast in 2009 to take a post as a professor of sustainability at Murdoch University and was living with and caring for his elderly mother in a house about 30 miles outside Perth that they had nicknamed Birdland. He had also broadened his work beyond solastalgia and was creating an entire lexicon of polysyllabic words related to climate change. At a seminar at a local university, I watched him—a gangly, energetic man—urge the few dozen people in the room to pronounce several other neologisms, waving his arms like a drum major as we sounded out in unison “SUM-BI-OS-IT-Y,” sumbiosity , which refers to a utopian-sounding state in which people live in balance with Earth. (I had doubts about whether this word would catch on, though I appreciated the sentiment.)

Meanwhile, the idea of solastalgia has taken on a life of its own, and in the Hunter, the concept had been used in a 2013 court ruling to stop the expansion of a coal mine by the company Rio Tinto: The solastalgic pain of local residents was named as one of several reasons to halt the project. Albrecht had testified on the negative impacts on citizens and how the project would likely make one village unlivable. It was maybe the first time that something as intangible as love of home had nearly as much legal standing as pure economics. The decision was overturned again in 2015, but the community group there has continued to try to fight the mine.

After Albrecht’s mother died, he returned to southeastern Australia full-time in 2014—to a place at the edge of the Hunter Region that he and his wife named Wallaby Farm, where they could live nearly off the grid with solar power and a farm full of fruits, herbs, and vegetables. But in 2019, wildfires raged around his property—part of the massive outbreak of flames called the Black Summer that would devastate much of Australia and draw international attention. One fire ignited about a mile from Albrecht’s house. Albrecht wore a face mask much of that season to cope with the searing smoke. He kept watch for any embers that might drift through the air and alight on his property. When I spoke with him not long thereafter, he said, “ We’re actually in the process of trying to sell it and move. We’re being driven out by climate change.” (I later heard that he and his wife had stayed put.)

In our interview—just after the explosion of the coronavirus outbreak worldwide—he took the same slightly detached, professorial tone that I had always heard from him. I couldn’t hear his emotion in his voice. “The bushfires were a massive psychoterratic experience,” he observed, drawing on another Latinate word he had coined. I asked him about a post he had placed on Facebook during the height of the fires. It was full of expletives and occupied some space between humor and rage. “The land that we love is being fried … because the joint is getting fucking hotter,” he had proclaimed. This post was, he said, an expression of his anger in the Australian vernacular.

When I read it, it was like hearing a battle cry in the distance—a roar about everything we love, everything we are losing, everything we must try to defend.

This article was adapted from Madeline Ostrander’s forthcoming book At Home on an Unruly Planet: Finding Refuge on a Changed Earth . ​​When you buy a book using a link on this page, we receive a commission. Thank you for supporting The Atlantic .

​When you buy a book using a link on this page, we receive a commission. Thank you for supporting The Atlantic.

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We Don’t See What Climate Change Is Doing to Us

By R. Jisung Park

Dr. Park is an environmental and labor economist and assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania and author of “Slow Burn: The Hidden Costs of a Warming World.”

Many of us realize climate change is a threat to our well being. But what we have not yet grasped is that the devastation wreaked by climate change is often just as much about headline-grabbing catastrophes as it is about the subtler accumulation of innumerable slow and unequal burns that are already underway — the nearly invisible costs that may not raise the same alarm but that, in their pervasiveness and inequality, may be much more harmful than commonly realized. Recognizing these hidden costs will be essential as we prepare ourselves for the warming that we have ahead of us.

Responsibility for mitigating climate change on the local level lies in part with public institutions — not only in encouraging emissions reductions, but also in facilitating adaptation. Public discourse around climate change too often misses the central role that local institutions play in this latter function, how much of the realized pain locally depends not simply on the physical phenomena of climate change per se but also how they interact with human systems — economic, educational, legal and political.

Let’s start with heat, which is killing more people than most other natural disasters combined. Research shows that record-breaking heat waves are only part of the story. Instead, it may be the far more numerous unremarkably hot days that cause the bulk of societal destruction, including through their complex and often unnoticed effects on human health and productivity. In the United States, even moderately elevated temperatures — days in the 80s or 90s — are responsible for just as many excess deaths as the record triple-digit heat waves, if not more, according to my calculations based on a recent analysis of Medicare records.

In some highly exposed and physically demanding industries, like mining, a day in the 90s can increase injury risk by over 65 percent relative to a day in the 60s. While some of these incidents involve clear cases of heat illness, my colleagues and I have found that a vast majority appear to come from ostensibly unrelated accidents, like a construction worker falling off a ladder, or a manufacturing worker mishandling hazardous machinery. In California, our research shows that heat may have routinely caused 20,000 workplace injuries per year, only a tiny fraction of which were officially recorded as heat-related.

A growing body of literature links temperature to cognitive performance and decision-making. Research shows that hotter days lead to more mistakes, including among professional athletes ; more local crime ; and more violence in prisons , according to working papers. They also correspond with more use of profanity on social media , suggesting that even an incrementally hotter world is likely to be a nontrivially more irritable, error-prone and conflictual one.

Children are not immune. In research using over four million student test scores from New York City, I found that, from 1999 to 2011, students who took their high school Regents exams on a 90-degree day were 10 percent less likely to pass their subjects relative to a day in the 60s. In other research, my colleagues Joshua Goodman, Michael Hurwitz, Jonathan Smith and I found that across the country, hotter school years led to slower gains on standardized exams like the Preliminary SAT exams. It may not seem a huge effect on average: roughly 1 percent of learning lost per one-degree-hotter school year temperatures. Probably hardly noticeable in any given year. But because these learning effects are cumulative, they may have significant consequences.

And that’s just heat. Researchers are bringing to light the more subtle yet cumulatively damaging effects of increased wildfires and other natural disasters. The hidden consequences of wildfire smoke may cut even deeper than the more visible death and destruction caused by the flames. Tallying the downstream economic and health costs of smoke exposure, researchers have estimated in a not-yet-published paper that increased wildfire smoke due to climate change may cause more than 20,000 additional deaths per year nationwide by 2050. Very few of these will be officially categorized as having been caused by wildfires, because they will have been the result of the cumulative influence of worsened air quality and weakened health over the course of many weeks and months. Research now suggests that wildfire smoke can adversely affect fetal health , student learning and workers’ earnings as well.

Since even “noncatastrophic” climate change may be more subtly damaging and inequality amplifying than we used to think, local interventions are essential to help us prepare for the warming that is to come.

At present, our social and economic systems are not well prepared to adjust to the accumulating damage wreaked by climate change, even though much of what determines whether climate change hurts us depends on the choices we make as individuals and as a society. Whether a hot day leads to mild discomfort or widespread mortality comes down to human decisions — individual decisions such as whether to install and operate air-conditioning, and collective decisions around the pricing and availability of insurance, the allocation of hospital beds, or the procedures and norms governing how and when workers work.

Recent research indicates that how temperature affects human health depends greatly on the adaptations that happen to be at play locally. For instance, a day above 85 degrees in the coldest U.S. ZIP codes has nearly 10 times the effect on elderly mortality relative to in the warmest ZIP codes. In other words, a string of such days in a place like Seattle will lead to a much higher increase in the mortality rate than in a place like Houston, even though both places have similar income levels. In rural India , institutional factors like access to banking may affect how many lives are ultimately lost due to heat; heat can reduce crop yields, leaving subsistence farmers dependent on financing sources to keep them afloat.

In our research of heat and learning , we find that the adverse effects of a one-degree-hotter school year are two to three times larger for Black and Hispanic students, who are less likely to have working air-conditioning at school or at home even within a given city, and are virtually nonexistent in schools and neighborhoods with high levels of home and school air-conditioning. We estimate that hotter temperatures may already be responsible for 5 percent of racial academic achievement gaps. Without remedial investments, climate change is likely to widen these gaps further. With a shift in focus to these subtler social costs, we can devise and carry out more effective strategies. But right now, adaptation efforts remain highly fragmented and are often focused on more visibly salient climate hazards, like storm surges .

And, of course, an empirically nuanced understanding of climate damages makes it even clearer that reducing emissions aggressively makes cost-benefit sense, not only because we want to insure against total ecological breakdown (cue “extinction rebellion” and “tipping points”), but also because the economic costs of even “noncatastrophic” warming may be considerable. Recent Environmental Protection Agency estimates that incorporate just some of these cumulative impacts suggest that a single ton of carbon dioxide sets in motion $190 worth of future social costs, which means that technologies that can reduce such emissions at a lower per-ton cost are most likely worth pursuing.

Climate change is a complex phenomenon whose ultimate costs will depend not only on how quickly we transition away from fossil fuels but also on how well we adapt our social and economic systems to the warming we have in store. A proactive stance toward adaptation and resilience may be useful from the standpoint of safeguarding one’s own physical and financial security, whether as a homeowner or the head of a Fortune 500 company. It may be vital for ensuring that the ladders of economic opportunity are not fraying for those attempting to climb its lower rungs.

R. Jisung Park is an environmental and labor economist and assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania and author of “Slow Burn: The Hidden Costs of a Warming World.”

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• Published: 04 April 2024

Climate chronicles

Global carbon emissions in 2023

• Zhu Liu   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-8968-7050 1 , 2 , 3 ,
• Zhu Deng   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6409-9578 1 , 2 , 4 ,
• Steven J. Davis   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-9338-0844 5 &
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Nature Reviews Earth & Environment volume  5 ,  pages 253–254 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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Global CO 2 emissions for 2023 increased by only 0.1% relative to 2022 (following increases of 5.4% and 1.9% in 2021 and 2022, respectively), reaching 35.8 Gt CO 2 . These 2023 emissions consumed 10–66.7% of the remaining carbon budget to limit warming to 1.5°C, suggesting permissible emissions could be depleted within 0.5–6 years (67% likelihood).

Data from the Carbon Monitor indicate 35.8 Gt CO 2 were emitted globally in 2023.

Although the trend is upwards, the pace of growth has been slowing, suggesting global emissions might have plateaued.

India overtook the EU as the third highest emitter globally.

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Annual global CO 2 emissions dropped markedly in 2020 owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, decreasing by 5.8% relative to 2019 (ref. 1 ). There were hopes that green economic stimulus packages during the COVD crisis might mark the beginning of a longer-term decrease in global emissions toward net-zero emissions, but instead emissions rebounded and quickly exceeded pre-pandemic levels by 2021. However, year-on-year growth has slowed, with 5.4% increases in 2021 (ref. 2 ) (reaching 35.1 Gt CO 2 ) and 1.9% increases in 2022 (ref. 3 ) (reaching 35.7 Gt CO 2 ), rapidly using up the remaining carbon budget. Here, we outline global CO 2 emissions (encompassing fossil fuel combustion and cement production) from the Carbon Monitor project ( https://carbonmonitor.org ) for the year 2023.

Global CO 2 emissions in 2023

Overall, global CO 2 emissions in 2023 reached 35.8 ± 0.3 Gt CO 2 , an all-time high (Fig.  1 ). Total emissions were 35.3, 33.3, 35.1 and 35.7 in 2019–2022, meaning year-on-year changes of –5.8% from 2019 to 2020, 5.4% from 2020 to 2021, 1.9% from 2021 to 2022 and 0.1% from 2022 to 2023. This slight increase of 0.1% (–0.6 to + 1.1%) from 2022 to 2023 is less than the 1.1 ± 1.0% increase forecast by the Global Carbon Project (GCP) 4 . Although difficult to predict, the continued deceleration in growth rates might signal a plateauing or peaking of global CO 2 emissions in 2023, as has been suggested by the International Energy Agency (IEA) 5 . The trajectory of emissions in 2024 will offer further evidence.

Historical CO 2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion and the process of cement production (‘Fossil CO 2 ’) 8 coloured by industry sector, and those with land-use change (LUC) emissions 4 (‘Fossil + LUC’). International bunkers describe emissions from international aviation and international shipping. The inset displays daily near-real-time CO 2 emissions since 2019 from the Carbon Monitor 1 initiative and year-on-year percent changes. Note that total emissions and percent changes have been revised slightly from earlier estimates 2 , 3 owing to revised data and updated methodologies 9 , 10 . Global CO 2 emissions continued to grow after a brief decline in 2020, but the rate of that growth slowed in 2023; if these progressions continue, the remaining 1.5 °C carbon budget could be used within 0.5–6 years.

The sectoral contributions to these emissions are broadly similar to previous years. The power sector accounted for 38.4% of global CO 2 emissions, industry for 29.0%, ground transportation for 18.6%, residential for 9.4%, international bunkers (international aviation and shipping) for 3.5%, and domestic aviation for 1.0%. Moreover, the pattern of decelerating growth of 2023 global emissions is also evident at the sectoral level. For instance, year-on-year changes in power sector emissions went from + 0.9% in 2022 to –0.2% in 2023, industry emissions from + 1.6% to –0.8%, residential emissions from + 0.9% to –5.5%, and international bunkers from + 18.1% to + 8.9%. However, there were exceptions: ground transportation growth increased from + 2.5% in 2022 to + 3.1% in 2023, while domestic aviation rebounded from –1.0% in 2022 to + 14.0% in 2023. Nevertheless, both domestic and international aviation remain below pre-pandemic levels (2023 emissions were –1.9% and –9.6% less than 2019, respectively).

At the country level, combined emissions from the top five emitters remain similar to previous years. In descending order, China, the United States, India, the European Union (excluding the UK), and Russia collectively accounted for 64% of global emissions, or 23.0 Gt CO 2 . However, interannual fluctuations are apparent when comparing 2022 and 2023, making it difficult to predict long time trends toward zero emissions. For instance, emissions from China (the largest emitter) decreased by 1.9% to 11.0 Gt CO 2 in 2022 but rebounded + 2.9% to 11.3 Gt CO 2 in 2023. By contrast, other regions have maintained earlier increases. Emissions from India, for example, surged by 6.9% to 2.6 Gt CO 2 in 2022 and by another 4.4% to 2.8 Gt CO 2 in 2023; in doing so, India surpassed the EU to become the third highest emitter. Russia exhibited a similar increase, whereby emissions increased by 1.0% to 1.5 Gt CO 2 in 2022 and grew by 2.4% to 1.6 Gt CO 2 in 2023. Meanwhile, emissions began to decrease in other regions. In the United States, emissions increased by 3.0% to 5.0 Gt CO 2 in 2022 but decreased by 2.4% to 4.9 Gt CO 2 in 2023. Similarly, the European Union’s emissions increased by 0.3% to 2.8 Gt CO 2 in 2022 but decreased by 6.2% to 2.6 Gt CO 2 in 2023.

Carbon budget countdown

Global CO 2 emissions are rapidly depleting reported carbon budgets — that is, the amount of carbon that can be released while limiting anthropogenic warming to 1.5 °C and 2 °C above pre-industrial temperatures, as outlined by the Paris Agreement. At 67% likelihood, the IPCC set this budget (starting from 2020 and assuming no overshoot) at 400 Gt CO 2 for 1.5 °C warming 6 . The years 2020, 2021 and 2022 depleted the budget by 9.4% (38 Gt CO 2 ), 9.9% (39 Gt CO 2 ) and 10.0% (40 Gt CO 2 ), respectively, with 2023 emissions using a further 10% (40 Gt CO 2 ). A total of 243 Gt CO 2 remain, which could be exhausted within 6.1 years unless emissions fall sharply. At 83% likelihood, the post-2020 budget to avoid 1.5 °C is only 300 Gt CO 2 . In this case, 2023 emissions depleted 13.3% of the budget, with the remaining 143 Gt CO 2 potentially exhausted within 3.6 years. The carbon budgets for 2 °C warming are larger. At 67% likelihood, the 2°C budget is 1,150 Gt CO 2 , 3.5% of which was used in 2023; the remaining 993 Gt CO 2 could be exhausted within 24.8 years unless growth rates fall. At 83% likelihood, the 2 °C budget is 900 Gt CO 2 , 4.4% of which was used in 2023; 743 Gt CO 2 remains that could be used within 18.6 years.

Other estimates of the remaining carbon budget imply much lower permissible emissions 7 . Under those tighter constraints, only 250 Gt CO 2 or 60 Gt CO 2 remain from January 2023 to achieve the 1.5 °C target at 50% and 66% likelihood, respectively. Accordingly, they convey a more dire timeline. Focusing on the 66% scenario to facilitate comparison with the IPCC likelihoods above, 2023 emissions used 66.7% of the budget, leaving only 20 GtCO 2 ; at the current pace, the entire 1.5 °C target could be depleted halfway through 2024. By comparison, 1,200 Gt CO 2 or 940 Gt CO 2 remains to constrain warming to 2 °C at 50% and 66% likelihood, respectively. For the 66% scenario, 2023 emissions used 4.2% of the budget, leaving 900 Gt CO 2 , which could be diminished within 22.6 years.

Detailed and near-real-time monitoring of CO 2 emissions since 2019 has enabled timely insights into changes in CO 2 emissions worldwide. In 2023, global annual emissions reached an all-time high of 35.8 Gt CO 2 , which reflects a very slight increase of 0.1% year-on-year. While these estimates indicate that post-pandemic emissions growth is slowing, there is not yet convincing evidence of a peak in global emissions — CO 2 emissions continue to rise, particularly in China, India and Russia. Given dwindling carbon budgets to constrain warming to 1.5 °C — the threshold above which climate impacts will become even more disastrous — the absence of a clear downward trend in emissions is troubling. The window of opportunity to meet the most ambitious international climate goals is rapidly closing. Meeting such goals would entail nations accelerating their decarbonization efforts and embracing the consensus from COP28 to “transition away from all fossil fuels in energy systems” as quickly as possible. This call to action is particularly pressing for countries with energy systems heavily reliant on coal, like China, India and Russia, where power generation accounts for approximately half of national carbon emissions. Transitioning these countries’ power sectors away from coal is critical for international climate mitigation efforts. Continued monitoring of global and national carbon emissions could be instrumental in evaluating the efficacy of these efforts.

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Institute for Climate and Carbon Neutrality, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

Zhu Liu & Zhu Deng

Department of Geography, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

Alibaba Cloud, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China

Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

Steven J. Davis

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Liu, Z., Deng, Z., Davis, S.J. et al. Global carbon emissions in 2023. Nat Rev Earth Environ 5 , 253–254 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-024-00532-2

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False claim 'climate crisis hoax' statement signed by thousands of scientists | Fact check

The claim: Thousands of scientists sign 'climate crisis hoax' document

A Sept. 14 article ( direct link , archive link ) circulating on Facebook claims a large group of scientists downplayed the dangers of climate change in a signed declaration.

"Thousands of Scientists Unite to Expose ‘Climate Crisis’ Hoax," reads the headline of the article, which was published on the website News Addicts.

The article was shared more than 400 times in six weeks on Facebook, according to Crowdtangle, a social media analytics tool.

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Thousands of scientists did not sign the document referenced in the article. The document lists only around 1,600 purported signatories, the vast majority of whom have no listed expertise in climate science. Hundreds of the purported signatories are not listed as being scientists of any kind, according to a USA TODAY count.

'Declaration' signed by engineers, medical workers and wine steward

While the article's headline references "thousands of scientists," the article's text states that only 1,609 scientists "gathered together to  sign a declaration , proclaiming that 'there is no climate emergency.'"

The document , published by the Global Climate Intelligence Group in August, describes the purported signatories as "scientists and professionals," not just "scientists." USA TODAY found hundreds of examples of listed signatories that were not described as scientists − including engineers, medical workers, psychologists, lawyers, architects, philosophers, teachers and information technology and business professionals.

The intelligence group did not respond to USA TODAY questions about the number of scientists and climate and atmospheric scientists, specifically, who signed the document.

USA TODAY found around 100 purported signatories listed as having college degrees in the fields of climate science, climatology, meteorology, paleoclimatology, environmental science, atmospheric science or atmospheric physics or as being scientists in those fields.

More than a dozen additional signatories were listed as "climate researchers." Many of these individuals were also listed as retired from other, unrelated professions or were listed as "independent."

Other signatories listed credentials far outside climate science. Titles listed include:

• Senior ship designer
• Financial advice specialist
• Leadership development and coaching
• Sculptor, designer and innovator
• Commercial fisherman
• Airline pilot
• Historical linguist
• Lifetime explorer of truth
• IT professional
• PhD in mental health

AFP analyzed a version of the document last year , when it had around 1,200 purported signatories. At that time, six of the listed individuals were deceased, AFP reported.

Fact check : Global warming is affecting Antarctica, but image of flowers is from elsewhere

Reality of climate change supported by thousands of peer-reviewed papers

Modern global warming − which is causing polar ice melt , sea level rise , and increased heat wave frequency − has been documented by multiple independent research organizations . The warming is caused by an increase in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations due to human behavior .

These facts are supported by the 2021 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report , which investigated and outlined the most contemporary climate and climate change science available .

"It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land," reads the report . "Human-induced climate change is already affecting many weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe. Evidence of observed changes in extremes such as heatwaves, heavy precipitation, droughts and tropical cyclones, and, in particular, their attribution to human influence, has strengthened."

The report cites nearly 13,000 peer-reviewed papers as well as hundreds of technical reports and books, according to a 2023 analysis from the climate change panel . Taken collectively, these citations include the work of around 39,000 unique authors , Sarah Connors, who co-authored the analysis and now works for the European Space Agency, told USA TODAY.

Most of the citations − more than 9,000 − are from the fields of earth and planetary science (which include climate science and atmospheric science disciplines) and environmental science. The rest are related to agricultural science, biological science, biochemistry, genetics, molecular biology, energy, the social sciences and medicine, are considered "multidisciplinary" or are undefined by the analysis.

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USA TODAY reached out News Addicts for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

The claim was also debunked by PolitiFact and Climate Feedback

Our fact-check sources:

• Sarah Connors , Oct. 27, Email exchange with USA TODAY
• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Sixth Assessment Report, 2021, Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis
• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Sixth Assessment Report, 2021, Summary for policymakers
• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, accessed Oct. 25, About the IPCC
• Carbon Brief, March 16, Guest post: What 13,500 citations reveal about the IPCC’s climate science report
• NASA Earth Observatory, accessed Oct. 25, World of Change: Global Temperatures
• NASA Vital Signs of the Planet, accessed Oct. 25, Causes
• NASA Vital Signs of the Planet, accessed Oct. 25, Ice sheets
• NASA Vital Signs of the Planet, accessed Oct. 25, Sea level
• Environmental Protection Agency, July 2022, Climate Change Indicators: Heat Waves
• AFP, Sept. 9, 2022, Climate 'declaration' recirculates debunked claims

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