Climate change

• Ice sheets have melted by 10% by 1990
• Air temperature has risen by 2°C in the artic since 1990
• Ice cores has proven in the past 200 years that's the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere has increased by 20%
• Ice cores have spaces left between each ring to show age (same with trees)
• 75% of energy comes from fossil fuels and 25% from nuclear power
• CO2 makes the earth's insulation blanket over powered therefore some of the CO2 can't escape which leads to climate change
• Volcanic eruptions produce ash and sulfur dioxide gas. This gas blocks the sun, leading to the world cooling
• Sunspots block areas on the sun. When they're not visible, the sun is more active. More spots means less solar energy reaching earth
• Cold glacial periods and ice ages were much cooler than today. Interglacials were 2-3°C warmer
• The Earth's orbit changes in 3 ways:

  The Earth's orbit can be circular or sometimes ellipse (oval)

  The Earth's axis tilts, sometimes in its side, sometimes more upright

  The Earth's axis wobbles

  These changes the amount of sunlight the earth receives. These changes could start or end an ice age
• In the UK;

  Milder winters

  Warmer summers

  1° warmer

  2016 hottest year

  Average temp increasing

  Overheating; skin cancer

  More flooding

  Less food production

  Sea level rising

  Food price spikes

  Loss of species

  More pests = more diseases
• To combat it;

  Burn less fossil fuels

  Use more public transport = reducing emissions = less CO2 in atmosphere
• Carbon capture=trapping carbon dioxide at its emission source, transporting it to a storage location (deep underground) and isolating it. This means that we could grab excess CO2 right from the power plant, creating greener energy

  Coal is the most polluting of fossil fuels

  China gets 80% electricity form coal

  India get 70%

  USA get 50%
• The UN negotiated an internal climate change agreement for all countries of the 2015 Paris climate change conference

  Reduce global emissions by at least 40% below 2010 levels by 2030 and 60% by 2050
• Planting trees =trees act as carbon sinks, removing CO2 from the atmosphere by photosynthesis and giving out oxygen

  The UK aims to tackle climate change by reducing 10.71 million tonnes of CO2 emissions over 20 years by recovering 41,560 hectares of degraded forests
• Renewable energy= energy that can be reused over and over again, such as hydro electricity, nuclear power, solar, wind and tidal

  To help reduce carbon emissions many countries are turning to alternative resources