What is Climate Change?

Most of our energy comes from coal, oil and gas.  These are often called fossil fuels and, when burnt, release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.  We burn fossil fuels to warm our homes, light our offices and fuel our cars and buses.  We call these greenhouse gases because they are responsible for warming the atmosphere up, causing global warming and climate change, which we call the greenhouse effect.

 

 

Our atmosphere is fragile and we depend on a fine balance of gases in our atmosphere to keep our planet at temperatures that are right for life.  The greenhouse gases that we produce are warming up the planet at a faster rate than would happen naturally and this poses a threat.  As a result we are likely to see more serious floods, droughts and much longer heatwaves.  Whilst some of these may seem appealing, they will have a significant cost to our city and the planet.

 

 

These gases occur naturally in the atmosphere, but as the global population increases and we make more demands for food, transport and energy, the emissions of greenhouse gases have risen significantly.

 

The greenhouse gasses are:

 

 

One of the main greenhouse gases is carbon dioxide.  One of the main problems with carbon is that it takes a long time to disperse and can stay in the atmosphere for up to 100 years.  This is why we need to act now.  By working towards minimising our consumption of carbon, we can help to slow down the effects of climate change.

 

 

This refers to the total amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere as a result of things we do in our everyday lives such as travel, shopping, even watching TV!  We all have a carbon footprint.

 

A carbon footprint is measured in tones – the amount used.  The Carbon Trust estimates that the UK’s carbon footprint is 648 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.

 

To stabilise the effects of climate change, we all need to reduce the amount of carbon our lifestyles use.  The UK and other EU countries are committed to a 60% reduction in carbon emissions by 2050.  There are things we can all do to help make changes.  Everyone can contribute to making a difference…

 

 

Find out what the Council is doing to support the environment on the What Do We Do? page.  Find out how everyones contribution can help on the What Can You Do? page.