Global warming

Global warming projection visualized by U.S. Geological Survey, based on the famous graph by Ed Hawkins. Source: Jay Alder/USGS
Global warming projection visualized by U.S. Geological Survey, based on the famous graph by Ed Hawkins. Source: Jay Alder/USGS

Global warming is usually the same thing as climate change, see this word for a longer explanation.

A scientific study of tweets showed differences between global warming and climate change. Twitter mosaic by Joe Lazarus (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Global warming analyzed in tweets. Picture: Joe Lazarus (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

The one difference we want to highlight is that the two terms are used by different people. People who refuse the scientific evidence about climate change (“climate skeptics/deniers”) more often use the term global warming than others. People who work to combat climate change, or people who are concerned about climate change more often use the term climate change. Source: “Climate Change Sentiment on Twitter: An Unsolicited Public Opinion Poll.” by Emily M. Cody, Andrew J. Reagan, Lewis Mitchell, Peter Sheridan Dodds, and Christopher M. Danforth
PLoS ONE 10(8): e0136092; 2015.