by Crossing Footprints
What is ‘Climate Change’?
Think of the hundreds of cars queuing on any big road in the rush hour, multiply that by all roads like that across the entire world and how much fuel they must burn, then imagine that 100 years ago they weren’t there. It’s the same picture with all the fuel being burnt for flying aeroplanes, for industry and manufacturing, transporting all our food and non-food shopping, and even to power the big data centres for the internet. The amount of CO2 gas released by all this fuel is building up in the atmosphere and making the world a greenhouse – the sun’s heat gets in and some of it stays trapped. The world is getting warmer year by year, that’s why it’s also called ‘global warming’.
What is climate change? https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z4g3f82#z3n7qfr
Climate Change Facts for Kids: https://www.savethechildren.org.uk/what-we-do/global-issues-hub/climate-change/facts-for-kids
What damage does it cause?
Life on Earth is very sensitive to the average temperature, even a small amount of warming causes big changes and damage. Glaciers and ice caps are melting faster, sea levels are rising and some parts of the world are going under water. Extreme weather is becoming more common – heatwaves, droughts (when there’s not enough rain), floods and powerful storms. Animal species are being lost, less food can be grown, risks to our health increase, more poverty and people losing livelihoods, people are forced to become refugees.
Effects of climate change: https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/climate-change/effects-of-climate-change
Causes and Effects of Climate Change: https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/science/causes-effects-climate-change
What are the effects of climate change? https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/challenges/climate-change/effects-climate-change/
Who gets the worst effects?
The poorer people are, the harder it is to recover from failed harvests, destroyed homes, and health crises cause by climate change. But poor countries have never had so many cars, industries and gadgets, so they get the worst effects but didn’t cause the problem. Bangladesh will at some point struggle to stop losing land to sea level rise because over 60% of its land is less than 15 feet above sea level but it only contributes less than 0.5% to global levels of greenhouse gases like CO2 which is almost nothing.
Climate change and poverty: https://www.actionaid.org.uk/our-work/emergencies-disasters-humanitarian-response/climate-change-and-poverty
How can we adapt?
Adapting to the global warming is a big challenge. Buildings and towns will need to be planned differently, nature has to be protected, the fire, police and health services will need to do more, agriculture and food production operations will need to change.
Climate Change Adaptation Factsheet for Children & Young People: https://www.ukclimaterisk.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/CCRA3-Young-Persons-Factsheet.pdf
Can we stop it?
This is most important, there are many things we can do but often we don’t know where to start. Using your voice is probably the most important. Tell others, tell the politicians to do more, join or support a local group or campaign. Rethink your diet and transport, change who you bank with, protect and support green spaces and trees, reduce how much you buy that has to be thrown away too soon or repair it.
What are the solutions to climate change? https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/challenges/climate-change/solutions-climate-change/
9 things you can do about climate change: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/stories/climate-action/
Why don’t we do more about it?
We all get used to the way things are and it’s an enormous and daunting problem. Many things we enjoy damage the climate so it feels easier to look the other way. The media doesn’t help, there is a lot of damage being caused that we never hear about, and we never see the people who make huge profits from the burning of fuels at our expense. So, we all have to take some responsibility and do something as a part of our daily lives.
Why don’t people take action on climate change? https://www.abacusmountainguides.com/blog/why-dont-people-take-action-on-climate-change
10 myths about climate change: https://www.wwf.org.uk/updates/here-are-10-myths-about-climate-change
Why are people not doing more about climate change? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-56500739
