What is it?
Climate change refers to a broad range of global phenomena created predominantly by burning fossil fuels, which add heat-trapping gases to Earth’s atmosphere. Currently Earth is going through a long term warming trend known as global warming starting in the 1970s due to the burning of fossil fuels creating toxic fossil fuel emissions produced by industrialized nations. The impact of climate change has been studied by various global private and government sponsored research entities, most notably the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which issued a report on the impact on civilization from an increase in global temperature of 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Current Efforts to Address Climate Change
Various policies, ranging from the Green New Deal to carbon tax have been proposed to address climate change. While the United States has withdrawn from the Paris Agreement (although such withdrawal is not official until November 4, 2020), many states, and the District of Columbia, have put in place their own policies to address climate change, such as adopting certain greenhouse gas reduction targets. A new plan in NJ requires builders seeking government approval of their projects to consider impact to climate change.