Climate Change
Introduction to Climate Change
What can we do
Across the world today our climate is rapidly changing. Shifting weather patterns mean that we are becoming more familiar with dangerous extremes, continual warming, species extinctions, and more unpredictable weather patterns.
Scientific consensus now acknowledges that this process, known as climate change, is ‘man-made’ and is being directly caused by the emission of so called greenhouse gasses. These gasses, like Carbon Dioxide, result primarily from the burning of fossil fuels (i.e. oil, natural gas, or coal) to meet the worlds ever growing demand for energy.
Electricity, cars, lights – all are fuelled by fossil fuels. Every minute, massive amounts of these resources are burnt, generating huge amounts of Carbon Dioxide. When these gasses enter the atmosphere they concentrate and form a layer around the globe. This layer traps energy from the sun causing the earth’s surface and oceans to heat up. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the Arctic and Antarctic where polar ice is rapidly melting, contributing to global sea level rise. The effects of climate change are also becoming apparent here in the UK. On average temperatures have grown by more than 1 degree since the 1960’s, and we are becoming more used to extreme weather events.
