Why are we talking about climate change?

Climate change is a potent threat to everyone’s way of life. It is already happening and it will continue to happen to some extent for at least the next 30 years, but we can do something about it.

Don’t just take our word for it, 2,500 scientists contributed to the last report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a UN organisation that advises the world’s governments on climate change.

Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice and rising global average sea level. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

What is climate change?

Climate change describes a global change in weather conditions. It includes all the ways in which global warming will affect our climate, including extreme weather, seasons changing length, rain and snowfall, sea levels and temperature.

The climate deals in averages and trends over long periods, not singular events or individual seasons. A hot summer is just that, three hot months; a devastating hurricane is a on-off event.

Climate change is not responsible for any one particular occurrence, but by studying long term patterns we can say, for example, that storms will be more intense on average and summers will be drier and warmer on average.

What causes climate change?

Climate change is caused by an increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere – carbon dioxide and methane being the two that human activity mostly produces.

Two main human activities release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere:

1. Burning fossil fuels releases into the atmosphere the carbon that has been kept locked up underground for thousands of years. We burn fossil fuels directly ourselves in our homes, we use electricity from a powerstation run on coal or gas, and we buy goods that use fossil fuels to be produced and transported.
2. Deforestation releases carbon contained within the forest plant and animal life and removes trees and plants which help regulate the level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

We might not physically chop down trees ourselves, but deforestation primarily happens due to humans somewhere demanding either wood or other materials contained within that land, or to use the land that is currently forested for some other activity, such as farming or growing palm oil.

What will the effects of climate change be?

Climate change is already impacting on our environment. We are directly influenced by storms or heat waves and our societal systems such as transport and agriculture will also be increasingly impacted.

What can I do?

Read about getting started with EcoTeams.

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