Climate Change – An Overview
![](https://cichprofile.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/6.4.1_Climate_Change_an_Overview.png)
Climate change is unequivocal – the earth’s temperature is rising, causing changes in weather patterns and meteorological events of increased frequency and intensity.1
Effects of climate change have already been seen and felt throughout Canada and worldwide.2
As some greenhouse gases remain in the atmosphere for hundreds or thousands of years, greenhouse gas emissions will drive climate change indefinitely.2
1 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). 2013: Summary for Policymakers. In: Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group 1 to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Stocker, T.F., D. Qin, G.-K. Plattner, M. Tignor, S.K. Allen, J. Boschung, A. Nauels, Y. Xia, V. Bex and P.M. Midgley (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA. http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar5/wg1/WG1AR5_SPM_FINAL.pdf– accessed March 12th, 2017.
2Lemmen, D.S., Warren, F.J., Lacroix, J., and Bush, E., editors (2008): From Impacts to Adaptation: Canada in a Changing Climate 2007: Government of Canada, Ottawa, ON, 448 p. http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/sites/www.nrcan.gc.ca/files/earthsciences/pdf/assess/2007/pdf/full-complet_e.pdf– accessed March 12th, 2017.
Implications
Because the climate in which we live impacts many aspects of human life, climate change will undoubtedly affect the health and well-being of Canada’s young children.
As a result, today’s children and future generations will experience the effects of climate change to a greater degree than will today’s adults.