Climate Change

Greenhouse gases form an invisible “blanket” around earth, their molecular structure traps heat and keeps the planet warm. However, increasing emissions are making the “blanket” hotter than we are prepared to handle.

NASA-JPL/Caltech

The Baltimore Harbor landscape of today is very different from that of 1812, The Civil War, or even World War I. Over 200 years of deforestation, development, agriculture and overfishing have shaped the modern landscapes and waterways of the Chesapeake region. The water-front position of the Fort McHenry provides experiences that offer a fun and informative glimpse into the past, but these experiences are further threatened by climate change. Some of the threats created by climate change include sea level rise, storm surge, extreme weather, rising temperatures, increasing precipitation, changes in wildlife and damage to infrastructure.

What is climate change?

Climate change refers to the alteration of climatic conditions from historic norms and the associated threats to environments and society. These threats take different forms depending on location but include more frequent and severe storms, droughts, floods, wildfires, storm surge, sea level rise, ocean acidification, increasing temperatures, changes in seasonality, animal behavior and disease transmission.

 

Fossil fuel combustion is increasing atmospheric CO2 levels at an unprecedented rate and must be curbed to prevent worsening climate change

Data: Luthi, D., et al.. 2008; Etheridge, D.M., et al. 2010; Vostok ice core

Why is our climate changing?

Earth has always experienced cycles of global climatic change, alternating between periods of high and low temperatures. These shifts are driven by a variety of natural processes and slowly occur over tens of thousands of years. They are characterized by the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) present in the atmosphere. CO2 is a greenhouse gas, meaning it contributes to the warming of the planet by trapping heat in earth’s atmosphere. This phenomenon is called the greenhouse effect and is necessary to keeping earth surface at inhabitable temperatures. Generally, lower atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations mean lower temperatures, and higher concentrations mean higher temperatures.

Today, when we refer to climate change, we are not referring to the natural cycles of the planet but to anthropogenic or “human caused” climate change. Since the industrial revolution, humans have contributed to climate change by emitting immense amounts of CO2 and other greenhouse gases via the burning of fossil fuels. Pre-industrial concentrations of atmospheric CO2 hovered around 280 parts per million (ppm), current concentrations measure nearly 420 ppm the highest they’ve been in nearly 3 million years. This rapid increase in greenhouse gas emissions is trapping heat in our atmosphere causing global climates to change very drastically very quickly. These changes pose many threats that are manifesting more quickly than we can adapt to meet them.

 

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