More answers like this
GPT-5Sep 27, 2026openai/gpt-5-2025-08-07
Is climate change real?
Yes. Climate change is real, and the dominant cause of the recent warming is human emissions of greenhouse gases (mainly carbon dioxide and methane).
Why scientists are confident:
•Basic physics: Greenhouse gases trap heat; this has been measured in the lab and from satellites.
•Temperature records: Earth’s surface has warmed by roughly 1.1–1.3°C (2–2.3°F) since the late 1800s.
•Ocean heat: Over 90% of the excess heat is going into the oceans, which are steadily warming.
•Ice and sea level: Glaciers and polar ice are shrinking; global sea level has risen about 8–9 inches since 1880 and is accelerating.
•Weather and ecosystems: Heatwaves, heavy rainfall, and wildfire-friendly conditions are increasing; seasons and species ranges are shifting.
•Fingerprints: Nights warming faster than days, the lower atmosphere warming while the stratosphere cools, and the poles (especially the Arctic) warming faster—all match greenhouse-gas–driven warming and can’t be explained by the Sun or volcanoes.
What’s uncertain isn’t whether it’s happening, but how quickly and severely impacts will unfold in specific places—something that depends on how much we cut emissions and adapt.
If you’d like, tell me where you live or what you care about (health, food, storms, costs), and I can make this more local and practical.