The climate is all the things that make up the weather- the temperature, amount of rain, snow, sunshine, winds and so on. If one of these things changes, it can affect all of the others and change the whole climate.

When the climate changes, many things that affect the way we live can change too. These include the level of the oceans, the places where we plant crops, the air we breathe and the water we drink. Scientists predict that the Earth's temperature could rise by 1-2°c over the next 100 years. Even such a small change in the Earth's temperature could have a serious effect on the climate. We already know that too many greenhouse gases are causing global warming. How will this increase in temperature affect the rest of the climate?

Well, scientists don't know for sure exactly what changes to the climate global warming will cause. Some of the changes might be good. If you live in a very cold climate, warmer temperatures would be welcome. For example, people might be able to grow better crops than they could before. However, changes in some places will not be very good at all. How could global warming and climate change affect the environment?