Climate Change is the long-term shift in the weather data for a certain place, at an exact time of year, from one decade to the next. It is not the local weather fluctuations that may cause a warmer or cooler season from year to year. A local area may have a warmer or cooler winter from year to year but that is not what we refer to when discussing climate change. Climate, usually stays pretty much the same for centuries. Current research shows however, that over the last 100 years the climate is changing faster that ever before. One of the most visible impacts of climate change is the melting of glaciers and the Arctic ice.

Scientists believe that greenhouse gas emissions from cars, power plants, and other human activities—rather than natural variations in climate—are the primary cause of climate change today. Natural variations in climate due to the Earth's orbital changes, solar sunspots and air-sea interations are not matching the current climate models for the changes scientist are tracking today.

Due largely to the combustion of fossil fuels, atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2), the principal greenhouse gas, are increasing rapidly. The greenhouse gases from human activities are trapping more of the sun’s heat in the earth’s atmosphere. Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases have always been present in the atmosphere but since the industrial revolution, emissions of these gases from human activity have increased steadily. In 2005, atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations had increased by 35 percent compared to pre-industrial levels.

Over the last century, average global temperatures rose by more than 1°F and some regions warmed by as much as 4°F. This warming has environmental consequences such as; additional sea-level rise from thermal expansion that will gradually inundate coastal areas and increase beach erosion and flooding from coastal storms, changes in rain patterns, increased risk of droughts and floods, threats to wildlife and biodiversity, impacts to farming and food systems and a number of potential challenges for public health with the increased spread of diseases. Increases in atmospheric CO2 is also causing oceans to become more acidic which impacts the natural ecosystems.