Climate change is happening. And 97% of scientists agree ‘that humans are causing global warming and climate change’ (Nasa).
They base this on evidence and not on opinions. The evidence shows that human activity, including the burning of fossil fuels, is warming the land and the oceans. And that is affecting the earth’s climate.
It is also ‘proceeding at a rate’ not seen before. It is ‘undeniable’ that humans are the cause of the atmospheric gases. These gases are trapping the sun’s energy and warming the atmosphere, ocean and land.
What is it affecting?
- Global temperatures are rising – the average surface temperature has risen by 2°F since the late 19th century
- Ocean temperatures are rising – the top layer of the ocean shows warming of 0.67°F since 1969
- Arctic ice is melting – Greenland has lost on average 279 billion tons of ice and Antarctica has lost approximately 148 billion tons of ice
- Glaciers are retreating and snow is melting – stable to the 1960s, glaciers have dramatically reduced since the mid 1970s by an estimated 25 meter water equivalent (WGMS)
- Sea levels are rising – globally the sea level has risen around 20cm, but importantly much of that increase has happened in the last two decades
What about UK temperatures?
Most of the figures quoted above will mean very little. Without knowing more about what the temperature was before, or what volume of glacier ice existed before, or seeing the effects in person, it can be difficult to grasp the changes.
Graphs are useful ways to depict climate change in easy-to-understand ways. Professor Ed Hawkins at the University of Reading has produced the #showyourstripes website to help people grasp the changes that are happening.
The site can show global temperatures, temperatures for individual continents and individual countries. The data is taken from a variety of sources including the Berkeley Earth temperature dataset, the relevant national meteorological agency and the UK Met Office HadCRUT5.0 dataset.
The graphics are really simple and exclude labels to make them easy to understand. ‘Each stripe or bar represents the temperature in that country, region or city averaged over a year.’ The stripes make it immediately obvious that temperatures are rising.
The UK’s temperature stripes have been used by Social Socks in a pair of socks. They are a conversation piece. And it is important that we start conversations about climate change as often as possible.
“Without major action to reduce emissions, global temperature is on track to rise by 2.5 °C to 4.5 °C (4.5 °F to 8 °F) by 2100, according to the latest estimates.”
Nasa
Is it too late to stop climate change?
But is it too late to stop climate change? If we take action today. The effects of halting our contributions to greenhouse gas would nevertheless take a few years to be seen. We might be able to stop the increase in temperatures, but we are unlikely to see a decrease in temperatures for centuries. Let that sink in for a moment.
“…every little bit of avoided future temperature increases results in less warming that would otherwise persist for essentially forever.”
Stopping climate change would involve both mitigation and adaptation. Mitigation to reduce greenhouse gases going into the atmosphere. Adaptation to the effects of temperature rises that will persist after we make changes.
Be a part of that change today by making changes in your lifestyle and your business.
