Climate Change

Climate change or global warming is caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and various other polluting gases in our atmosphere. 

The gases trap excess heat by forming a blanket around the Earth, instead of letting it escape into space.  This is known as the Greenhouse Effect.  Once released, the greenhouses gases stay in the atmosphere for many years and as they build up the planet’s temperature rises.  Every year the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere climb higher and are expected to double pre-industrial levels this century. 

Greenhouse gases are released by burning fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas) and by deforestation.

Climate change is causing the planet to warm up and weather patterns to change.  Like the planet, the ocean temperatures are also rising.

The average global surface temperatures have risen by 0.6ºC over the 20th Century.  The hottest years recorded have all occurred in the 1990’s. 

The rise in sea level (10-20cm) is thought to be related to this increase in global temperatures.  The number of people affected by floods worldwide has already risen from 7 million in the 1960’s to 150 million today.

Climate change is likely to have far-reaching effects on all aspects of the world's environment, economy and society including:

• Extremes of weather.  Hurricanes likely to be more intense in some parts of the World due to more rainfall and more intense winds.  Storm surges are expected to increase in frequency and in the UK the south east coast is expected to see the largest surges at around 1.2m higher than we have now;
• Rising sea levels because of thermal expansion of the oceans as temperatures rise and because of melting of land ice.  This will threaten the existence of some small island states and put millions of people at risk;
• Increased frequency of droughts and flooding.  In some areas, water resources for drinking and irrigation will be affected by reduced rainfall or as ground water in coastal zones suffers from salination as sea levels rise.

The climate is already changing due to past and present carbon dioxide and other gas emissions.  We need to reduce our emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases now.