Climate Change 101

Climate refers to long-term weather patterns (often averaged over 30 years) for a region. Weather is different from climate, as it refers to changes that occur over a short period, such as day-to-day changes in temperature and precipitation patterns.

Climate change refers to changes in long-term weather patterns for a region.

Climate change is caused by natural variations in long-term patterns, as well as human activity. Since the early 20^th century, climate change has primarily been driven by human activity, including fossil fuel use. Fossil fuel burning releases greenhouse gas emissions, which cause temperatures to rise.

Greenhouse gas emissions, or GHGs for short, are gases that absorb heat in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is an example of a GHG that is produced from fossil fuel burning.

There are two strategies to take action against climate change, and the County’s CCCAP includes both.

1. Mitigation refers to reducing greenhouse gas emissions that are contributing to climate change. In other words, mitigation helps address the cause of the problem.
2. Adaptation refers to taking action to prevent, respond to, and recover from the impacts of climate change, such as managing the risks of an extreme weather event.

Resiliency is the ability to anticipate, respond to, and recover from climate change impacts.

The goal of climate adaptation is to be resilient to the impacts of climate change, which means that we are working to prepare for and reduce the harm of anticipated events. For instance, this might include taking action to prevent flooding that could result from increased rainfall.