Climate change skeptics point to colder years, such as 2008, as evidence that the problem is either not real or is going away.
However, such short term effects are simply part of the natural variation in climate patterns: it is the underlying long term trends that are important.
That's the difference between the weather and the climate. The weather is the short term pattern of events that give us our day to day conversational topics. The climate is the longer term trend towards a warming planet, together with the increased frequency of extreme events such as hurricanes.
All the evidence suggests that the long term trend is towards higher mean annual temperatures: global warming and the climate change it brings is indeed very real and is happening now. To find out more about how these impacts are being felt at a UK level visit our Nature's Calendar website.
Most so-called climate change skeptics don't actually dispute change itself, but the causes of that change. This centres the argument on whether human activity is the main driver of change, or whether there is some other cause, such as solar activity (i.e. sun spots).
The majority view is that fossil fuel emissions and the production of other greenhouse gases are exerting a climate forcing effect. Despite the cause, however, there is indisputable evidence that the climate is changing and that we need to act to provide a resilient and robust habitat to provide species with the best possible chance to adapt to the changing conditions ahead.
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