Hey earth muffins! Every once in a while I like to share a more informative post with you all… And today is one of those days. For those of us trying to be more sustainable, it is helpful to understand the major terms used by scientists in the eco space. Today, let’s decipher “what is climate” and discuss what people mean when they talk about “climate change”. 🌎
Time for a Definition!
To me, it seems that a lot of people confuse the terms “weather” and “climate”. The difference comes down to one thing: the time frame. Weather is constantly changing – just look at the daily and hourly forecasts on all weather sites. In contrast, climate is a long-term pattern of weather in a particular area. The “long-term” portion of this definition differs depending on the source, but many agree that it is around 30 years.
Let’s Talk About Climate Change
In the eco community, we hear the term “climate change” a lot. It stems from the definition above and refers to the evolution of climate over time. Most people are talking about a lot longer than 30 years when referencing to how our planet’s weather patterns have changed; but, I think the key distinction here is that we are looking at the change of weather in a particular area over a long span of time.
Climate change does not inherently mean that we have seen an increase in temperature across the board. It just means that weather patterns have changed. Some scientists suggest that with changes over time we will see an increase in severe weather events (such a tornados, hurricanes, droughts, etc.). Global warming does impact the changes of climate as weather differs with an increased temperature. There are plenty of trackers out there that showcase these changes, such as this one from NASA.
I hope this post helped define climate for you all! The definitions are pretty specific and scientific. When scientists refer to this term they are referencing about 30 years of weather patterns. While the global temperature is rising overall, climate change doesn’t always mean that there are increasing temperatures in a particular area. Did you know this definition? Comment below and let me know if posts like these are helpful to your eco journey!
Love,
Jenna ♥
This is such an informative post! It’s definitely strange to see how much climate has changed even in my lifetime so far. There seem to be more extreme events happening where I live. Either heat waves or ice storms.