Weather stations, balloons, ocean buoys, and satellites tell us the Earth’s temperature today. Ice cores, sediment layers, and tree rings tell us about what the Earth’s climate has been like in the past. With this evidence, scientists are learning how climate changes over time.

Climate is the long-term average of a region's weather events lumped together. Climate change represents a change in these long-term weather patterns. They can become warmer or colder. Annual amounts of rainfall or snowfall can increase or decrease. Human activities are increasing greenhouse gas concentrations and trapping more heat. The Earth’s climate is predicted to change due to the buildup of greenhouse gases; the associated rate of temperature cha

Global warming may also increase the risk of some infectious diseases, particularly those diseases that only appear in warm areas.

Oceanfront property would be affected by flooding, and beach erosion could leave structures even more vulnerable to storm waves. Whether we move back from the water or build barricades in the face of a rising sea, it could cost billions of dollars to adapt to such change. Coastal flooding also may reduce the quality of drinking water in coastal areas.

How people and nature adapt to climate change will determine how seriously it impacts human health. Some people and places are likely to be affected more than others. Generally, poor people and poor countries are less likely to have the money and resources they need to cope with preventing and treating health problems. Very young children and the elderly adults will run the highest risks.

At the national level, the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) coordinates the world's most extensive research effort on climate change. In addition, the Clinton Administration is actively engaging the private sector, states, and localities in partnerships based on a win-win philosophy and aimed at addressing the challenge of global warming while, at the same time, strengthening the economy.

Warmer temperatures may decrease the number of people who die each year from cold weather. However, in the United States, only 1000 people die from the cold each year, while twice that many die from the heat. Moreover, of the ten states with the greatest number of cold-related deaths, Alaska and Illinois are the only northern states. For the most part, cold-related deaths occur during occasional cold spells in areas with mild winters where people prepare less for the cold, or during extreme events like the severe snow storm that struck Colorado in November of 1997. Global warming is unlikely to reduce either of these situations. Finally, deaths due to the heat are more sensitive to temperature changes than deaths due to the cold; the difference between -20°F and -15°F, for example, has a much smaller impact than an increase from 95°F to 100°F.

Some topics in this essay:
Delaware Chesapeake, Colorado November, Scientists Earth, North America, Industrial Revolution, , Climate Change, Chicago Studies, Change IPCC, Clinton Administration, global warming, climate change, greenhouse gases, human health, human activities, climate changes, greenhouse gas, gases atmosphere, fossil fuels, warmer temperatures, natural greenhouse effect, global warming bring, global warming changing, warming changing climate, climate climate changes,