Global surface warming
Average global surface temperature in 2011–2020 compared with 1850–1900.
IPCC synthesis report
A personal climate project by Julian Burnley
The climate story is already our story.
Not a distant crisis. Not a single storm. A measurable change touching the water we share, the air we breathe, and the places we call home.
Original editorial image created for this project
Why this exists
Climate change can feel too enormous to hold in one thought. So this story starts with what is known, moves through what is changing, and ends with what remains possible.
This project began as my 2021 CIS133DA final assignment. I rebuilt it as a nontechnical passion project: more careful with evidence, more honest about uncertainty, and more useful to anyone wondering where they fit in the climate story.
What the evidence says
Three numbers. One unmistakable direction.
Climate science is built from many independent observations. These figures are not predictions; they describe changes already measured.
Global sea-level rise
Measured increase between 1901 and 2018, with the rate accelerating over time.
IPCC summaryof a degree matters
Each additional increment of warming intensifies multiple, concurrent hazards.
Read the findingThe IPCC concludes that human activities—principally greenhouse-gas emissions—have unequivocally caused global warming.
A Southwestern lens
Here, climate change arrives through water and heat.
“Close to home” means recognizing that a hotter atmosphere changes the odds before the next drought, wildfire season, or extreme-rain event begins.
NOAA attribution research found that climate change and La Niña together made the 2020–2021 extreme drought in California and Nevada six times more likely. That does not mean climate change acts alone. It means the background conditions have shifted.
Explore NOAA’s attribution researchWhat changes with the climate
Connected systems. Unequal consequences.
Water
Warming intensifies the water cycle, contributing to more severe wet and dry extremes. In arid regions, higher heat also increases water loss from soils and reservoirs.
Extreme weather
A warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture. NOAA reports high confidence that human-caused warming has increased extreme tropical-cyclone rainfall, while trends in storm frequency require more nuance.
Living systems
Rapid changes across the ocean, ice, land, and atmosphere disrupt habitats and seasonal relationships. Species already under pressure often have the least room to adapt.
People
Climate risks are not distributed evenly. Communities with fewer resources—and those that contributed least to warming—often face the greatest exposure and hardest recovery.
Climate briefing
Recent signals from trusted sources.
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Turn concern into practice
Choose a place to begin.
Individual choices are not a substitute for policy or institutional change. They are one way to build momentum, reduce waste, save resources, and make climate action visible to others.
Your starting point
0Choose one action you can realistically repeat. Progress grows through practice.
More actions from the EPAThe thought I want to leave with you
The future is not a place we wait for. It is the result of what societies choose to protect, build, and change.
Read from the beginningSources and transparency
Go beyond this page.
This is an educational passion project, not a scientific assessment. Claims were revised against primary public sources in July 2026. Follow the links to review the evidence and its context.