WHAT IS CLIMATE CHANGE?

The Earth’s climate has changed many times over the

last 4.5 billion years or so, and while some climate
change is natural, the changes we are seeing at the
moment are the result of human activity.

Man-made gases from factories, power stations and cars

are building up in the atmosphere where they trap heat
from the sun like a greenhouse. This is why we call
them greenhouse gases . We need some greenhouse
gases, as without them the planet would be much colder,
but too many greenhouse gases mean the Earth will get
too hot!

Greenhouse gases mostly come from burning fossil fuels

(coal, oil, natural gas, petroleum) for energy.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN?
As the Earth warms up, dangerous weather such as
hurricanes, floods and wildfires become more likely. Sea
levels will start to rise as the ice caps melt and large
areas of land could flood. Some areas of the world will
become so dry nothing can grow and others will be
waterlogged. These effects are called climate change.
WHAT CAN WE DO?
There is hope, but we need to act now. Emissions of
greenhouse gases need to be drastically reduced as a
matter of urgency. As a single person it can be hard to
imagine how your actions can make a difference but to
halt climate change we all need to make small changes
that together add up to a huge change. You choose to
not use a plastic cup for example, perhaps friends and
family will do the same. This will ultimately save 100s of
plastic cups from ending up in the ocean or landfill.
ACTIONS TO SAVE THE EARTH

 Walk or share travel where you can.

 Educate friends and family about what they can do.
 Turn off lights when you leave a room
 Write to local governments and demand action.
 Shop locally
 Try to fix things rather than buy new
 Buy and use less plastic
 Avoid single use plastic
 Plant trees
 Buy less stuff – share or buy second hand.