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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. |
