What Causes Climate Change?

The atmosphere is like a blanket that surrounds the earth. When we burn fossil fuels like coal and natural gas, we add carbon dioxide to the blanket, making it even thicker. The thicker the blanket, the more heat it traps underneath. Climate change is like a heat-trapping blanket. The effect warms the planet and disrupts the atmospheric balance that keeps the climate stable.

Climate change is a major environmental issue affecting both human health and natural ecosystems. A warmer climate causes dangerous effects such as rising temperatures, warming oceans and rising sea levels, receding ice cover and glaciers, and extreme weather events. Without major change, these trends will continue to worsen across the globe, and are already affecting our region.