Global warming or climate change?

Global warming and climate change are terms used by climate scientists (climatologists) to describe a phenomenon of warmth on the surface of the earth.

According to Climate Reality, “You can call it global warming or climate change, but it’s the biggest crisis that humanity has ever faced.”

Climate change includes warming and the “side effects” of warming, like melting glaciers, heavier rainstorms, or more frequent drought.

In other words, global warming is one symptom of the much larger problem of human-caused climate change.

Climate change is a broader term that reflects the fact that carbon pollution does more than just warm our planet.

Carbon pollution is also changing rain and snow patterns and increasing the risk of intense storms and droughts. You would by now have realised that climate change is somewhat broader than global warming.

In the 4.5 billion existence of the earth, it has always warmed and cooled. The difference this time is the rate at which the earth is warming, which speaks volumes about the actions of man.

Global warming is a phenomenon that arises as a result of increased earth temperature caused by increase in the release of greenhouse gases by human action such as burning of fossil fuel.

Climate change, on the other hand, encompasses every cause of warming, both human-made and natural. This explains why climate change is used more often than global warming.

Today’s global warming is an unprecedented type of climate change, and it is driving a cascade of side effects in our climate system.

It’s these side effects, such as changes in sea level along heavily populated coastlines and the worldwide retreat of mountain glaciers that millions of people depend on for drinking water and agriculture, that are likely to have a much greater impact on society than temperature change alone.

So, what role do we play in all of this? We shouldn’t be gullible to think climate change is a hoax, far from it!

Picture a very wealthy man who decided to kill the hen that lays the golden egg, or a thirsty little boy in a desert who eventually found a shallow pit of water. He gulped enough and polluted the rest.

If adequate understanding of our environment is lost on us, abuse will definitely linger. Despite my passion towards promoting awareness of environmental issues, one major challenge I have faced is defining what role I can play in alleviating the problem and helping others define theirs.

But not anymore: there are various things we can do to curb climate change as individuals. We only need to raise our consciousness of how we treat the environment.

• Ogunjobi Oluwamuyiwa

Port Harcourt,

 Rivers State