Getting your head around climate change can often be a laborious project.
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With so much research and discussion out there, some of the terms can be lost in the noise.
Doing the research for The Examiner's Gauge on Climate series also proved to be a mission - because we had to make sure we understood some of the most common climate change terms.
Here, we are breaking it down for you so you can follow along with us as we move through the debate.
CARBON DIOXIDE
Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, which means it is a heat-trapping gas, which is released through human activities such as deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels for energy.
It is also released through natural processes such as breathing and volcanic eruptions. It is one of the gases that many scientists attribute to climate change because of the "greenhouse effect".
GREENHOUSE GASES/FOSSIL FUELS
Greenhouse gases are those that don't interact with temperature and remain semi-permanently in the environment. Those include carbon dioxide and methane, but there are many others.
Fossil fuels are compounds treated with heat and combustion to create fuel, such as oil and gas. The production of oil and gas creates further greenhouse gases, which are released into the environment.
However, we often see these terms used interchangeably, they are different.
Fossil fuels are also important because they are finite - they are not renewable and don't replenish. Using them will mean that one day we will run out of them and the sources will be depleted.
GREENHOUSE EFFECT
Certain gases in the atmosphere block heat from escaping, and some remain semi-permanently in the atmosphere and don't respond physically or chemically to changes in temperature.
Scientists have observed the warming trend, or the greenhouse effect, since the mid-20th Century.
The greenhouse effect is warming that results when the atmosphere traps heat radiating from Earth towards space, due to the impact of the gases in the environment.
Gases, such as water vapor, which respond physically or chemically to changes in temperature are seen as "feedbacks".
GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS
Greenhouse gas emissions is a measure of the amount of greenhouse gases, such as CO2 is being released into the atmosphere.
According to a report by the Tasmanian Climate Change Office, Tasmania's baseline greenhouse gas emissions were 18.9 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 1989.
In 2015, that had decreased to 0.01 mega-tonnes of CO2-equivalent. This is a reduction of 100 per cent since 1990, which means that Tasmania achieved its target of zero net emissions for the first time in 2016.
ZERO NET EMISSIONS/CARBON NEUTRAL
"Zero net" emissions means the total output of greenhouse gases from human activity is no greater than the emissions we remove, through climate change activities such as planting forests and reducing deforestation.
The term carbon neutral is also used interchangeably to describe zero net emissions because it is a state where human activity doesn't increase or decrease emissions.
RENEWABLE ENERGY
A term that refers to energy that is created from "renewable" sources, as opposed to fossil fuels. Colloquially, renewable energy is used to describe forms of energy generation such as solar and wind power and can also be used to describe tidal and hydro power.
Tasmania mainly uses hydro power, where energy is created using water turbines at pump stations.
However, there has been an increase in the potential for wind power, with several wind farms in the infrastructure pipeline.
In addition, research is being done at the University of Tasmania, the Australian Maritime College and the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies on tidal energy.
- Sources: NASA and the Tasmanian Climate Change Office.