The battle to fight climate change is a pressing issue that affects us all. Rising temperatures have worsened extreme weather events, chunks of ice in the Antarctic have broken apart, wildfire seasons are months longer, coral reefs have been bleached of their colors, and mosquitoes are expanding their territory, able to spread disease.
It's mainly us. Humans are the main cause of climate change — we burn fossil fuels and chop down forests, causing average temperatures to rise worldwide. That global warming trend is increasingly disrupting our climate — the average weather over many years. Earth has already warmed by about 1 degree Celsius, or 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit, since the 19th century, before industry started to boom.
A warmer world — even by a half-degree Celsius — has more evaporation, leading to more water in the atmosphere. Such changing conditions put our agriculture, health, water supply, and more at risk.
The good news is that we now know exactly what it will take to win the fight against climate change, and we're making measurable, meaningful progress. Game-changing developments in clean energy, electric vehicle technology, and energy efficiency are emerging every single day. And countries are coordinating and cooperating at levels never seen before in order to tackle the most pressing issue of our time.
The solutions include:
Ending our reliance on fossil fuels
Greater energy efficiency
Renewable energy
Sustainable transportation
Sustainable buildings
Better forestry management and sustainable agriculture
Conservation-based solutions
Industrial solutions
Technological solutions
Our choices