The impact of human activities on climate change
The impact of human activities on climate change
Learn about carbon dioxide and its relationship to warming conditions at Earth's surface, as explained by John P. Rafferty, biological and Earth sciences editor of Encyclopædia Britannica.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Learn about carbon dioxide and its relationship to warming conditions at Earth's surface, as explained by John P. Rafferty, biological and Earth sciences editor of Encyclopædia Britannica.
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Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, Mainz; Thumbnail © Banol2007/Dreamstime.comLearn about the effects of overfishing and climate change on the world's fish supply.
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.An overview of the role greenhouse gases play in modifying Earth's climate.
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Sir David Attenborough might have the most-recognizable voice in the world.
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© MinuteEarth (A Britannica Publishing Partner)Learn about the basic physical and chemical characteristics of Earth's various atmospheric gas molecules. Some of those molecules belong to a category of atmospheric gases called greenhouse gases, whose properties help to slow the emission of heat energy, which was absorbed by Earth's surface during the day, back into space at night.
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Is it just me, or did spring come early this year?
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Overview of the impact on Earth of an increase in global average temperature.
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Scientists believe that human activity is causing Earth's air to become warmer through the production and release of carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases.
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Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, Mainz; Thumbnail © Viktoria Ivanets/Dreamstime.comOverview of the Sahara, including a discussion of the impact of climate change on the desert.
News •
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Deadly November Asian storms 'supercharged' by climate change, researchers say
• Dec. 11, 2025, 1:03 AM ET (Reuters)
Climate Change Supercharged $20 Billion Asia Floods, Study Finds
• Dec. 10, 2025, 12:11 PM ET (Bloomberg.com)
Transcript
Climate change is a change in the atmosphere or change in the typical conditions of the atmosphere over time. Climate change has been studied in its modern form since the 1950s and the 1960s. So what we have now is a long-term data set noting the increase in carbon dioxide concentrations. Carbon dioxide has long been known to be a greenhouse gas. The more carbon dioxide that there is in a volume of air the greater the temperature increase. Since this is happening at a global scale, scientists are concerned that we will experience an increase in global average temperature. This is a topic that will need to be continuing study. However, we do have a pretty good idea that something is happening to the atmosphere based on human activities.
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