You have probably heard the terms climate change and global warming used interchangeably. That’s because both describe changes in earth’s climate. While global warming focuses on the rising average temperature of the planet, climate change usually refers to the shifts in things like precipitation, wind patterns, and temperatures over a given period. Measured changes in climate could last a few years, decades, or even millions of years.

Climate change has occurred for as long as the earth has existed. It happens anytime earth’s climate patterns change and remain in place for a measurable amount of time. This has notably manifested itself in natural cycles of cooling and warming. Before human causes started to shift the global climate, five main factors interacted with one another as climate changes occurred. These five factors include: 

1. Atmosphere (air)
2. Biosphere (living things)
3. Cryosphere (ice and permafrost)
4. Hydrosphere (water)
5. Lithosphere (earth’s crust and upper mantle)