Climate Change
Since we started burning fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas) around 1800 to power the Industrial Revolution, which bought many benefits to the world, we have been putting carbon dioxide and other gases into the atmosphere of Earth and they remain trapped there for many years.
Rising levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, such as methane, in the atmosphere create a ‘greenhouse effect’, trapping the Sun’s energy and causing the Earth, and in particular the oceans, to warm. Heating of the oceans accounts for over nine-tenths of the trapped energy. Scientists have known about this greenhouse effect since the 19th Century.
The higher the amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the warmer the Earth becomes. Recent climate change is happening largely as a result of this warming, with smaller contributions from natural influences like variations in the Sun’s output.
Rising levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, such as methane, in the atmosphere create a ‘greenhouse effect’, trapping the Sun’s energy and causing the Earth, and in particular the oceans, to warm. Heating of the oceans accounts for over nine-tenths of the trapped energy. Scientists have known about this greenhouse effect since the 19th Century.
The higher the amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the warmer the Earth becomes. Recent climate change is happening largely as a result of this warming, with smaller contributions from natural influences like variations in the Sun’s output.
These climate stripes were created by Professor Ed Hawkins at the University of Reading in 2018 and provide a visual overview of our current global challenge. Each stripe represents the average temperature for a single year, relative to the average temperature over the period as a whole. Shades of blue indicate cooler-than-average years, while red shows years that were hotter than average. The stark band of deep red stripes on the right-hand side of the graphic show the rapid heating of our planet in recent decades. It runs from 1850 on the left to 2021 on the right.
Although it is clear that the climate is warming in the long-term, note that temperatures aren’t expected to rise every single year. Natural fluctuations will still cause unusually cold years and seasons but these events will become less likely.
Along with warming at the Earth’s surface, many other changes in the climate are occurring:
You can read more about global warming on these websites:
UK Meteorological Office
UK Government
United Nations
We know how to solve this problem but we need global cooperation to achieve it. All levels of society have a part to play.
What we can all do
From cooking a pot roast to jetting away for the weekend, the choices you make in your day-to-day life leave a mark on the environment. A carbon footprint is a simple way to express that impact. The “size” of your carbon footprint depends on multiple factors. The primary one is the amount of greenhouse gas emissions released into the atmosphere by a given activity.
People, products and entire industries have carbon footprints. Your personal footprint includes emissions from a variety of sources — your daily commute, the food you eat, the clothes you buy, everything you throw away ... and more. The larger your footprint, the heavier the strain on the environment.
To halt climate breakdown and avoid its worst impacts, we need to do two things: shift to a low-carbon economy and protect our best natural allies in the fight against climate change — forests, grasslands, wetlands and tidal marshes, which stash away large quantities of carbon.
Drastically cutting greenhouse gas emissions will require, everyone — from individuals to industries to countries — to vastly reduce their carbon footprint.
Here are some websites that will help you get started.
https://www.conservation.org/stories/what-is-a-carbon-footprint
https://www.carbonfootprint.com/
https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/quick-questions/what-is-carbon-footprint.html
https://footprint.wwf.org.uk/#/
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/apr/04/carbon-footprint-calculated
Thank you to Pamela Harling for contributing this page
Although it is clear that the climate is warming in the long-term, note that temperatures aren’t expected to rise every single year. Natural fluctuations will still cause unusually cold years and seasons but these events will become less likely.
Along with warming at the Earth’s surface, many other changes in the climate are occurring:
- warming oceans
- melting polar ice and glaciers
- rising sea levels
- more extreme weather events
You can read more about global warming on these websites:
UK Meteorological Office
UK Government
United Nations
We know how to solve this problem but we need global cooperation to achieve it. All levels of society have a part to play.
What we can all do
From cooking a pot roast to jetting away for the weekend, the choices you make in your day-to-day life leave a mark on the environment. A carbon footprint is a simple way to express that impact. The “size” of your carbon footprint depends on multiple factors. The primary one is the amount of greenhouse gas emissions released into the atmosphere by a given activity.
People, products and entire industries have carbon footprints. Your personal footprint includes emissions from a variety of sources — your daily commute, the food you eat, the clothes you buy, everything you throw away ... and more. The larger your footprint, the heavier the strain on the environment.
To halt climate breakdown and avoid its worst impacts, we need to do two things: shift to a low-carbon economy and protect our best natural allies in the fight against climate change — forests, grasslands, wetlands and tidal marshes, which stash away large quantities of carbon.
Drastically cutting greenhouse gas emissions will require, everyone — from individuals to industries to countries — to vastly reduce their carbon footprint.
Here are some websites that will help you get started.
https://www.conservation.org/stories/what-is-a-carbon-footprint
https://www.carbonfootprint.com/
https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/quick-questions/what-is-carbon-footprint.html
https://footprint.wwf.org.uk/#/
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/apr/04/carbon-footprint-calculated
Thank you to Pamela Harling for contributing this page
