A Simple Guide: What Causes Climate Change And Global warming!

Climate change is the long-term shift in the Earth's average temperatures and weather conditions.

The world is now about 1.1C warmer than in the late 19th Century.

The climate has changed throughout the Earth's history. But natural causes cannot explain the particularly rapid warming of the past century.

 This recent climate change has been caused by humans.

 It is mainly because of the widespread use of fossil fuels - coal, oil and gas - in homes, factories and transport.

 When fossil fuels burn, they release greenhouse gases - mostly carbon dioxide (CO2). This traps extra energy in the atmosphere near the Earth's surface, causing the planet to heat up.

Since the start of the Industrial Revolution - when humans started burning large amounts of fossil fuels - the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere has risen by about 50%. The CO2 from burning fossil fuels also has a distinctive chemical fingerprint. This matches the type increasing in the atmosphere.

it has had a huge effect on the environment, including: more frequent and intense extreme weather, such as heatwaves and heavy rainfall, rapid melting of glaciers and ice sheets, contributing to sea-level rise,  huge declines in Arctic sea-ice ocean warming.

How will future climate change effect the world?

Extreme hot days would be on average 4C warmer at mid-latitudes (regions outside the poles and tropics), versus 3C at 1.5C

 Sea-level rise would be 0.1m higher than at 1.5C, exposing up to 10 million more people

 More than 99% of coral reefs would be lost, compared with 70-90% at 1.5C

Twice the number of plants and vertebrates (animals with a backbone) would be exposed to unsuitable climate conditions across more than half their range

 Several hundred million more people may be exposed to climate-related risks and susceptible to poverty by 2050 than at 1.5C.

What can individuals do?

take fewer flights

 use less energy

 improve home insulation and energy efficiency

 switch to electric vehicles or live car-free

 replace gas central heating with electric systems like heat pumps

 eat less red meat