III. Choose the word that best fits the blank space in the following passage. (1.5 pts)

Climate change
Climate change is the long-term alteration of temperature and typical weather patterns in a place. Climate change could refer to a particular location or the planet as a (17) _________. Climate change may cause weather patterns to be less predictable. These unexpected weather patterns can make it difficult to maintain and grow crops in regions that rely on farming (18) ___________ expected temperature and rainfall levels can no longer be relied on. Climate change has also been connected with other (19) ____________weather events such as more frequent and more intense hurricanes, floods, downpours, and winter storms.
The cause of current climate change is largely human activity, like burning fossil fuels, like natural gas, oil, and coal. Burning these materials releases (20) __________ are called greenhouse gases into Earth’s atmosphere. There, these gases trap heat from the sun’s rays inside the atmosphere causing Earth’s average temperature (21) __________. Throughout Earth’s history, climate has continually changed. When occurring naturally, this is a slow process that has taken place over hundreds and thousands of years. The human influenced climate change that is happening now is occurring at a (22) _________ faster rate.