One way into discussing climate change as a whole is to refer to the water cycle, because most people learned about it at school.
The water cycle is now supercharged by extra heat in the oceans.
Warmer seas produce more evaporation – and that extra water vapour* carries the extra heat high into the air. The water vapour then releases the extra heat into high-altitude air as it condenses to make clouds. So weather systems are becoming more energetic, more chaotic. Like other aspects of the climate systems, the water cycle seems to be creating more extremes – prolonged droughts, and also sudden huge rainfall events.
*7% more water vapour for each extra 1 C degree of average global temperature, so we’ve added about 10% at this point. Changes of state (such as evaporation and condensation) involve lots of heat – in physics this is called latent heat.
Our system gives no value to global commons such as the atmosphere or the oceans, because they are not seen as “scarce commodities”. One oak tree does not matter, because there are vast numbers of oak trees.
Pumping sewage into the sea doesn’t matter, because the sea is too big for it to matter.
Pumping CO2 into the air doesn’t matter, because the air is limitless.*
This is a mythological view of the world, and generally people prefer myths to facts, because facts don’t obey wishes.
*In fact if there was a lift that could travel vertically at the speed of a fast car, within minutes you’d need breathing equipment.
— Rocky Rex