Module 1

What is climate change?

In these short videos below, you will learn about climate change, the greenhouse effect and address some common misconceptions about climate change. By the end of this module, you will be able to identify weather versus climate, climate change, the greenhouse effect, and how we know humans are causing climate change. 

Module contents
  1. What is climate change?
  2. What is the greenhouse effect?
  3. Climate change myths
  4. Quick quiz
  5. Learn more

What is climate change?

In this short video, you will learn about the difference between weather and climate, and clues that the climate is changing.

What is the greenhouse effect?

In this short video, you will learn about why the climate is changing and how humans play a role in climate change.

Climate change myths

In this short video, you will learn about common myths related to climate change.

Quick quiz

Take a quick quiz of Learning Module 1 to test your understanding of what you have learned.

Learning Module 1 Quick Quiz

Learning Module 1 Quick Quiz

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Which of the following is an example of climate?
How do we know the climate is changing?
Which of the following is NOT a clue that the climate is changing?
The past eight years have been the hottest on record since 1880.
We don’t need to worry about climate change.
Which of the following is NOT a greenhouse gas?
Which of the following is NOT an example of how humans release greenhouse gases?
Why is it a problem that humans are releasing massive amounts of greenhouse gases?
The greenhouse effect is a natural process or phenomena.
Humans have warmed the Earth by ±1.1 degrees Celsius compared to the 1850-1900 average.

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Learn more

NASA has many online resources to better understand the evidence of climate change. Visit “Global Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet” to learn more about the unequivocal evidence that the earth is warming at an unprecedented rate: https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/

You can also learn about the causes of climate change driven by human activities: https://climate.nasa.gov/causes/

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the most authoritative global resource for assessing and understanding the science related to climate change. The IPCC releases assessments with the contribution of hundreds of leading climate scientists and thousands of sources of scientific research. These assessments are released approximately every 6 years, with the most recent release in stages from 2021-2023. The Sixth Assessment (or “AR6”) includes four reports: 

  • AR6 Synthesis Report: Climate Change 2023
  • AR6 Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change
  • AR6 Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability
  • AR6 Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis

You can find out more on the IPCC Website, including accessing the full reports,  shorter Summaries for Policy Makers, Frequently Asked Questions, Presentations, and Headline Statements.