What is Climate Change?

The threat of rising sea levels is compounded by the fact that the UK is gradually tilting. The south east of the country is sinking while the northwest is rising.

With holding back the sea a notoriously expensive business, eventually some low-lying coastal areas will probably have to be abandoned.

Internationally there may be severe problems for people in regions that are particularly vulnerable. As well as hotter, we are also likely to get much wetter, both through increased rainfall and rising sea levels, due to melting ice caps.

At the poles and in mountains, ice is under fire and glaciers are receding. Down into the temperate zone, change is rearranging the boundaries of life. The plants and animals with whom we share the planet are adapting and moving -- some even going extinct.

Predictions by the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia put global sea level rises between 12cm and 67cm by 2050.

Climate change affects all of us – however, we can all be part of the solution.

Climate refers to the average weather experienced over a long period. This includes temperature, wind and rainfall patterns. The climate of the Earth is not static, and has changed many times during our planet’s history in response to a variety of natural causes.

The Earth has warmed by 0.74°C over the last hundred years. Around 0.4°C of this warming has occurred since the 1970s.

Eleven out of the last twelve years rank among the 12 warmest on record. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) the strong warming of the last 50 years cannot be explained by natural climate variations alone, but requires the inclusion of the effects of human emissions.

Much of the observed rise in sea-level (12 - 22 cm) during the 20th century may be related to this increase in global mean temperatures. Current climate models predict that global temperatures will rise by a further 1.1 to 6.4 ° C by the end of the 21st century, depending on emissions. Global mean sea levels are also predicted to rise by 20 to 60 cm by 2100.

Full List of GHG's

The main human influence on global climate is emissions of the key greenhouse gases - carbon dioxide (CO2), methane and nitrous oxide. The accumulation of these gases in the atmosphere strengthens the greenhouse effect. At present, just over 7 billion tonnes of CO2 is emitted globally each year through fossil fuel use, and an additional 1.6 billion tonnes are emitted by land use change; largely by deforestation. The concentrations of these gases in the atmosphere have now reached levels unprecedented for tens of thousands of years.

According to AR4, mean global temperatures are likely to rise between 1.1 and 6.4°C (with a best estimate of 1.8 to 4°C) above 1990 levels by the end of this century, depending on our emissions. This will result in a further rise in global sea levels of between 20 and 60cm by the end of this century, continued melting of ice caps, glaciers and sea ice, changes in rainfall patterns and intensification of tropical cyclones.

For the UK, climate change means hotter, drier summers (more heat waves), milder wetter winters, higher sea levels and an increased flood risk to coastal areas.

Across the globe, there will be more intense heat waves, droughts and more flooding. There may be severe problems for regions where people are particularly vulnerable to changes in the weather. Food shortages and the spread of disease are commonly predicted. The social, environmental and economic costs of climate change could be huge, as indicated in the recent Stern report http://www.occ.gov.uk/activities/stern.htm on the economics of climate change:

Climate change presents a significant challenge to the UK and to the international community. There are also enormous opportunities if we are willing to take action. Government, business and individuals all have a part to play, and all of us can benefit from rising to the challenge of climate change.