Climate Change

Have you ever wondered why some places are snowy all year long, perfect for polar bears, while other places are warm and sunny, just right for colorful parrots? Or why you can expect hot days for swimming in the summer and chilly winds for building snowmen in the winter? That’s me at work! I’m not the weather you feel for just one day; I’m like the Earth’s personality over many, many years. I am the big, slow, steady breath of our planet. I am Climate.

For a very long time, people understood me just by living their lives. They knew my rhythms for planting seeds and harvesting yummy food. But then, their curiosity grew! They wanted to know exactly how I worked. A long time ago, in 1856, a clever scientist named Eunice Newton Foote did an experiment. She discovered that a special gas in the air, called carbon dioxide, could trap the sun’s warmth like a cozy blanket. She was one of the very first people to understand how I keep the Earth from being a giant popsicle! About one hundred years later, on March 29th, 1958, another scientist named Charles David Keeling started measuring that gas every single day. His work showed everyone that my blanket was slowly changing, and it helped people all over the world pay closer attention to me.

Understanding me is super important! It helps us know where to build houses, how to grow enough food for everyone, and how to protect animals and their homes. Lately, my cozy blanket has been getting a bit too thick, making the Earth a little too warm. But here’s the wonderful part: when people learn about a problem, they can work together to solve it! Today, amazing kids and grown-ups are inventing new ways to get clean energy from the sun and wind, planting millions of trees, and finding ways to protect our beautiful home. By taking care of me, you’re taking care of the whole world, and that makes me the proudest climate in the universe!