Climate Overview & Information

Climate defines the average of weather in a region over a long period of time, typically 30 years. Weather defines the short term atmospheric conditions over a few hours or days, basically what you get in the local weather forecast for your community. The terms Climate Change and Global Warming are often used interchangeably, but the scientific community prefers Climate Change because some areas are warmer and some are cooler, and some areas have warmer summers but cooler winters. The overall global trend on a statistical basis is one of warming. In this website we have divided Climate into five categories for discussion: Air Pollution, Fossil Fuels, Global Warming, Ozone Layer, Climatic Events and Oceans.

The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is a scientific intergovernmental body set up by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). It’s stated role is “to assess on a comprehensive, objective, open and transparent basis the latest scientific, technical and socio-economic literature produced worldwide relevant to the understanding of the risk of human-induced climate change, its observed and projected impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation.” The IPCC periodically puts out assessment reports, the most recent being the November 2007 report for 2006.

The IPCC reports deserve special mention because they are the most often referenced in articles, speeches, books, and publications by other scientific organizations, scientists, authors and journalists and their websites.