Key Terms

Adaptive Capacity: A system's ability to adjust to climate change (including climate variability and extremes) to mitigate potential damages, capitalize on opportunities, or cope with the consequences.

Carbon Footprint: The total amount of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere each year by an individual, family, building, organization, or company.

Enhanced Greenhouse Effect: A term used to describe the enhancement of the natural greenhouse effect caused by increased atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases (such as CO2 and methane).

Greenhouse Gas (GHG): Any gas that absorbs infrared radiation in the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, chlorofluorocarbons, hydrochlorofluorocarbons, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride.

Resilience: The capacity to foresee, prepare for, respond to, and recover from major multi-hazard threats with the least amount of harm to the environment, the economy, and social cohesion.