Climate change

• Earth’s temperature is rising due to an increase in greenhouse gases, creating a number of negative effects.
• The global climate has been changing since time began and will continue to change into the future.
• Since around 1950, there has been a dramatic increase in global temperatures, known as global warming.
• The rise in the average temperature of the Earth's surface is known as global warming.
• The Earth's average temperature has changed over the last 500,000 years, with times when the climate is warmer (interglacial phases) and times when it has been cooler (glacial phases), when there have been ice ages.
• The last major cold period was known as the Pleistocene, which started 2.6 million years ago and ended just 10,000 years ago.
• Since the end of the Pleistocene, conditions have been warmer, marking the start of the Holocene, the current warm phase.
• The Holocene and Pleistocene are part of the Quaternary Period of Earth's history.