Before we begin, I’d like to quickly welcome everyone to my series researching climate change, Serene’s Synopsis! In this first edition, I’m just going to review Gale’s introduction to Global Warming and Climate Change. The full citation will be at the end of this post. With that, let’s begin!

Although the terms are often used interchangeably, there is a difference between global warming and climate change: global warming refers specifically to the global rise in temperature, whereas climate change also includes weather patterns and their changes long-term.

Intensive research has been done on global warming, notably the IPCC (International Panel on Climate Change) and their studies on the global rise in temperature. They have stated that we have already seen more common and extreme heatwaves, floods, droughts, and wildfires. These will have serious consequences as people are forced to move from their homes and countries must fight over diminishing resources.

Carbon dioxide is the most famous greenhouse gas, and two hundred billion tons of it are released annually from naturogenic (natural) causes, and seven billion from anthropogenic (human) causes. However, there are other even more potent greenhouse gases, like nitrous oxide and methane. Methane is derived from fossil fuels, livestock, and landfills, and traps about 21 times more heat than CO2. Humans have even created their own greenhouse gases, which can be thousands of times more extreme than carbon dioxide.

Predictions for climate change have varied in the past, estimating both above and below actual results due to a variety of factors, fueling skepticism about climate change. Skeptics are encouraged to deny that global warming is the fault of humans not only in order to avoid responsibility, but also because companies that produce large amounts of greenhouse gases fund the denial of climate change.

Only 64% of Americans consider global warming to be anthropogenic. Even more interesting is the fact that while 88% of Democrats agree, only 32% of Republicans believe that humans cause global warming.

Governments struggle to create a global plan to combat global warming largely due to financial concerns. The Paris Agreement, strongly supported by former president Barack Obama, had the goal of keeping global temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius above levels that were established before the Industrial Revolution. However, former president Donald Trump withdrew the US from the agreement in 2020. President Joe Biden returned the country to the Paris Agreement on his first day taking office.

I expected to enjoy reading this topic overview, and I did, but writing this document was a unique experience that really helped me retain what I learned, especially the smaller details and precise numbers.

Reading these documents is so enriching, as receiving the facts in this straightforward manner is so beneficial. Hearing information from random sources on this topic, like from conversation or in media, often results in uncertainty or contradicting data. Being given the exact information from a credible source clears any misinformation and equips the reader with knowledge to utilize and educate others with.

This overview by Gale helped me by creating a solid foundation of knowledge, establishing a distinction between climate change and global warming and providing an understanding of some basic topics that aren’t always discussed. I had never known how stark the contrast in political parties in America was when it comes to climate change and accountability, and reading about other greenhouse gases was so enlightening because focus is usually directed solely towards CO2. This topic overview did a perfect job at spreading out coverage on multiple aspects of global warming, and I think it was a perfect way to start off this series.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to read this piece, I hope you learned something!

“Global Warming and Climate Change.” Gale Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale, 2021. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/PC3010999211/OVIC?u=ante588&sid=bookmark-OVIC&xid=92c2adcd. Accessed 27 July 2022.