Global Warming & Climate Change

Keywords

Global warming, climate change, warming the Earth, atmosphere, greenhouse effect, carbon neutral, fossil fuels, smog, ozone layer.

Introduction

Global warming and climate change are two different components that are often in the news, and although are linked together, are two slightly differnt things that equate to an eventual destruction of the planet we live in as we know it. But we can do things to stop them getting worse.

What is Global Warming?

Global warming and climate change represent things we need to change or limit the amount of use for so we can keep our planet healthy. Much like we have to keep our body healthy to live as long as we can, we need to look after the planet.

Climate Change

To simplify this, the Met Office say that:

"Climate change referes to a large-scale, long-term shift in the planet's weather patterns and average temperatures."

But what does this mean?

This means that since the 1850s (which is when records began), we have seen a steady increase in temperature each year. While erratic, with some years having a downturn in temperature, the majority of years have been increases, and they are set to continue.

What is the Greenhouse Effect?

Every time you boil a kettle, it possibly uses some of the finite resources we use to make energy - coal, oil and gas. These all contribute to carbon dioxide emissions, which then increase the temperature around us, and therefore the planet. What is created is a blanket of greenhouse gases between the upper atmosphere and they trap the sunlight from escaping (which happens naturally) from it. This in turn heats the Earth up. This is called the greenhouse effect.

Interesting fact: the ozone layer has a hole in it. It was discovered in 1985, and continually grows and recedes during the year. It works like the ebb and flow of a tide, getting thinner between September and November.

What can we do?

Ideally, we can all stop doing everything we do. This would cure a lot of problems. But we would be very bored, and have nothing to do. While companies are set targets to become carbon neutral by 2050, we can still play a part. We can recycle more plastic, use our cars less and walk to the local shops, shop more locally (and not get it from foreign countries - sorry, this isn't a dig, it's simply fact).

This all sounds perfect. And in a perfect world we would all do this, and save the planet. But in actual fact, we can't. And we know we can't. We pop down the local shops in our car, and we boil and reboil that kettle again just to make sure because we've either forgotten that we've done it, or we just want it hot because we've left it for too long.

But, if we can get into a regular routine of just one thing - the kettle for instance - then we can reduce our own carbon footprints.

Recent History

If we take a look during the COVID-19 pandemic, we notice that things repaired themselves naturally. The ozone layer decreased in size, big cities that had smog and clouded over cleared up. And what did we do? We stopped using mass amounts of fossil fuels. We were told to stay indoors, and go out only if necessary. This temporarily worked. So, our use over the years has had a major effect on the environment, climate change and global warming.