Global Warming: As already pointed out under Climate Change, global warming precedes and fuels climate change, which is thus its logical and worrisome consequence. First the world's average temperature(s) begin to rise and keep on rising, and then local and regional climate systems begin to change in manifest and quantifiable ways.
Global warming is itself the direct effect of greenhouse gas emissions -- particularly the emission of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. These emissions are caused by modern industrial and agricultural production and related human activity, which trace back historically to the (English) Industrial Revolution of the 19th century. This simmering climate change has been noticed increasingly by experts since the 1950s. The emissions have mostly occurred in the 'industrialized' parts of the world, but endanger the entire planet.
One of the greatest challenges for humanity today is how to reverse the on-going process of global warming. Certainly, that is not an end in itself. The underlying and hugely consequential purpose is to arrest and even reverse the trends in climate change that we already see. We need to do so in order to save ourselves, as only we can, from its dire consequences. Evidence of these consequences continue to pile up (see CONCEPT: Climate Change).
Climate Change: The concepts of climate change and global warming are, though distinct, frequently used interchangeably -- and perhaps too frequently. In reality, global warming precedes climate change, which is its logical and worrisome consequence. First the world's average temperature(s) begin to rise and gradually keep on rising, and then local and regional climate systems begin to change in manifest and quantifiable ways.
Climate change has a wide-range of consequences. Its impact is already being felt in a growing number of the world's economies, and more specifically in agricultural production (and related food-security concerns). It is likewise felt in terms of measurable degradation in general human health, the environment, and the social fabrics of vulnerable communities and societies around the world. Sites of great historical and cultural significance to many countries, and to humanity in general, are increasingly under threat as well. Alarm bells are already ringing, but there are still many skeptics -- and many who are not quite alarmed yet, or alarmed but powerless to act in any collective sort of way.
[READ: "Concept: Global Warming"]
Selected Readings on the Consequences of Climate Change:
1. Scott, M.J., et al (1990) "Consequences of climatic change for the human environment"
2. UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (nd) Climate Change: Impacts, Vulnerabilities and Adaptation in Developing Countries
3. Wikipedia, Global Warming
4. Yambo, Mauri (2015), "Climate Change: Rising Sea Levels May Be More Dangerous than Previously Calculated, NASA Reports"
UPDATED: March 7, 2018
