Is climate change real?

Yes

Is climate change real? I'll pull the latest scientific evidence to answer.

Yes — climate change is real, and that conclusion is supported by overwhelming scientific evidence and consensus.

Scientific Consensus

> There is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming at an unprecedented rate. Human activity is the principal cause.

•The question of whether climate change is real is no longer a matter of scientific debate. The overwhelming consensus among climate scientists, affirmed by leading scientific organizations worldwide, is that the Earth is warming, and human activity is the dominant cause.

•The body of peer‑reviewed science and major scientific organizations state unequivocally that recent warming is real and that human activity is the primary cause

•Yes, the vast majority of actively publishing climate scientists – 97 percent – agree that humans are causing global warming and climate change.

Most of the leading science organizations around the world have issued public statements expressing this, including international and U.S. science academies, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and a whole host of reputable scientific bodies around the world

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which assesses the science for all 195 member countries, has used its strongest language:

> “It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land… climate change is already affecting many weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe.”

> The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) used its strongest terms yet to assert that humans are causing climate change, with the first line of its report summary reading: "It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land."

According to the IPCC:
> Since systematic scientific assessments began in the 1970s, the influence of human activity on the warming of the climate system has evolved from theory to established fact."

Evidence

NASA and other agencies point to multiple independent lines of evidence collected from natural sources (ice cores, rocks, tree rings) and modern equipment (satellites and instruments) that all show the signs of a changing climate:

•Current warming is happening at a rate not seen in the past 10,000 years.

•The current warming trend is different because it is clearly the result of human activities since the mid-1800s, and is proceeding at a rate not seen over many recent millennia. It is undeniable that human activities have produced the atmospheric gases that have trapped more of the Sun’s energy in the Earth system.

•This ancient, or paleoclimate, evidence reveals that current warming is occurring roughly 10 times faster than the average rate of warming after an ice age. Carbon dioxide from human activities is increasing about 250 times faster than it did from natural sources after the last Ice Age.

Compelling observed changes include:

•Global Temperature Is Rising: The planet's average surface temperature has risen about 2 degrees Fahrenheit (1 degrees Celsius) since the late 19th century, a change driven largely by increased carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere and other human activities.

•Ocean warming, shrinking ice sheets, retreating glaciers, decreasing snow cover, rising sea level, declining Arctic sea ice, more extreme events, and ocean acidification are all documented as part of "The Evidence for Rapid Climate Change Is Compelling"

Citations (2)

1nasa.govGovernment
Climate Change - NASA Science
Backs: “There is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming at an unprecedented rate.”
evidence, article, points to yes. Claim: There is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming at an unprecedented rate and human activity is the principal cause; scientific consensus.
2nasa.govGovernment
Evidence - NASA Science
Backs: “The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) used its strongest terms yet to assert that humans are causing climate change, with the first line of its report summary reading: "It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land.". According to the IPCC: Since systematic scientific…”
evidence, article, points to yes. Claim: IPCC states it is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land; human influence evolved from theory to established fact.