Hello there and welcome to Climate Spot. We’re here to raise awareness and provide information about climate change, our environment and the natural world at large with science-based facts, analysis and commentary. Climate change and environmental issues are very broad and far reaching in terms of its impacts. Hence, we also aim to discuss related topics such as socioeconomics, renewable energy and technology as well as any relevant effects to our day-to-day lives. There’s already a ton of websites out there that promote climate change awareness and its dangerous consequences and that’s all very good but we feel what is missing is the layman’s explanation for the average person and especially for climate change skeptics or people who are sitting on the fence. We try to explain things in a way that is accessible for the general public and challenge misconceptions and trust structures that may be holding people back from accepting the reality that is climate change and how our natural world functions.
Whatever the level of your current understanding, whether you have no idea about climate change, have some idea but don’t really buy it or think global warming is all a hoax, we sincerely hope you take the time to read our articles and form new factual and informed opinions about climate change. We aren’t here to “win an argument” or demean opposing views but rather to reach out to everyday people and explain, through science, what it all means. Much like it is commonly accepted that drinking water is needed to stay alive, or our wide adoption and use of technology such as the Internet, computers and smart phones, climate change should have the same level of comprehension and acceptance. We want to emphasise that climate change is not a politically motivated, left or right wing issue but rather a science issue that impacts our environment, way of life and ultimately, our survival.
While you’re still here on this page, here are some facts about climate change to get you up to speed:
• There is at least 97% consensus within the global scientific community that humans are the direct cause of global warming and climate change, as a result of industrial greenhouse gas emissions. In 2013, concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reached 400 parts per million (ppm) which is 100 ppm more than any time during Earth’s last 1 million years.
• Since 1880, global average temperature has increased by 0.8 ℃ where two thirds of this increase has occurred since 1975. Temperatures are projected to increase at about 0.15 ℃ to 0.3 ℃ each decade, subject to future global emission levels.
• Sea levels are rising at an increasing rate of approximately 3 cm per decade since 1992 which is significantly higher than any other time over the last 2000 years. This is caused by thermal expansion of water and melting glaciers and polar ice caps which is a direct result of global warming.