Climate change is the long-term change in weather patterns and temperatures. Climate change used to happen naturally through events like volcanic eruptions, but since the Industrial Revolution in the 1800's, climate change has been mainly caused by human activity. This unnaturally rapid rate of climate change is also known as the climate crisis, or the climate emergency.

Climate change and global warming are two different things. Global warming is the rapid increase of temperatures around the world, while climate change is a broader term that refers to the change of Earth's climates. Global warming is included in climate change.