What is climate change and its primary cause?

Climate change refers to significant and long-term alterations in temperature and weather patterns on Earth. The primary cause of contemporary climate change is the increase in greenhouse gas emissions, largely due to human activities, such as burning fossil fuels, deforestation, and industrial processes. These emissions trap heat in the atmosphere, leading to a warming effect known as the greenhouse effect, which modifies climatic conditions globally.

The understanding of climate change as primarily driven by increased greenhouse gas emissions highlights the human influence on climate systems, contrasting with other choices that either oversimplify or misinterpret the nature of climate change. Changes in local weather patterns due to deforestation, natural fluctuations in the climate, and seasonal weather variations do not capture the breadth, urgency, and human impact that characterize the phenomenon of climate change as it is understood in contemporary science.