Key Points in this Chapter

KEY POINTS IN THIS CHAPTER

• Climate involves sustained changes in environmental and weather-related conditions in an area around the world.

• There are many factors affecting climate, including orbital factors, oceanic factors, internal factors, and human factors.

• There are cyclical changes in the climate predicted by aberrations in the earth's orbit.

• Natural factors affect the climate, such as volcanic eruptions.

• Humans change the climate through many behaviors ranging from livestock management to carbon emissions to our usage of the soil and water for our own purposes.

• Some global warming is going to keep occurring, even if we limit fossil fuel consumption.

• Weather extremes due to global warming include increased storm intensities, more droughts, and more heat waves.