Why does it matter?
Climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing the world
today but we can all do our bit to protect our planet by making
simple changes to the way we live our lives.
What is climate change?
Changes in climate have always occurred naturally. Over the 4.6
billion years since our planet was created, the British Isles have
transformed from tropical rainforest to desert to ice sheet and
have even been under water.
But now climate change is happening faster than ever before and
there is a huge amount of evidence that this is the result of human
activity. The burning of fossil fuels and deforestation is
dramatically increasing the amount of greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere, trapping heat and contributing to global warming.
Impacts in the UK
In the UK, climate change is leading to drier, hotter summers
and winters have grown warmer and wetter. Weather will become more
extreme - as we saw with the floods which affected much of the
country in 2007 and the heatwave of 2003, where the hottest
temperature reached a whopping 38.5°C.
Act now!
We all need to act now to tackle climate change head on and
making your school greener is a great place to start. Through the
Pod, we have a whole range of practical activities to help you
reduce your school's carbon footprint and reduce energy and water
use.
Through our programme for greener schools, we can work together
to help secure the future of our planet.
It's
time to get started!