Climate Change (5-) (2)
Increasing sea levels
Over the last few decades, we have seen the effects of climate change all over the world - in all places and all oceans. Climate change has had an effect both on the natural world (plants and animals) and on people and communities.
Today, the Earth's temperature is about 1C warmer than it was 150 years ago. The warmer the world becomes, the worse the effects are for the natural world and for people, communities and companies.
Many people live on small islands around the world, and these people are very worried about the effects of climate change. Some islands are only a few metres above sea level, so floods are a huge problem for them if sea levels increase.
Studies show that, 400,000 years ago, the Earth was warmer, and a large part of Greenland had no ice over it for a long time. The melting ice caused sea levels to increase, and they became more than 6 metres higher than they are today. Scientists think that the temperature at this time was only a little warmer than the temperature today. This shows how important it is to stop the Earth's temperature increasing any more.
What to do about climate change
In 2015, the world's countries met in Paris in France to talk about climate change and what to do about it. They agreed to take steps to keep the Earth's warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius. They agreed to try to keep warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius, but they know that this will be difficult. To try to do this, they agreed to cut the amount of greenhouse gases they put into the atmosphere. This was a very positive step.
These plans will help to stop the warming of the Earth and are good in many other ways. The plans could help to make the air cleaner, stop the water in the oceans becoming so acidic, and help people to live a healthy life. All of these things can have a positive effect on people's lives.
Cutting carbon
In Paris, in 2015, countries agreed to cut the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases they put into the atmosphere. To stop the Earth's warming going above 1.5 degrees Celsius, people need to stop putting any carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by the middle of this century. This means that we need to cut the amount of carbon dioxide we put into the atmosphere right now.
The amount of carbon dioxide we can put into the atmosphere before there is a large risk of dangerous levels of warming is called a carbon budget. The more of the carbon budget we use now, the lower it will be in the future. Together, countries must plan how to use the carbon budget so that we do not use it all too quickly.
For the Earth's warming to stay below 1.5 degrees Celsius, the carbon budget is about 2,600 billion tonnes. But scientists think that, since 1870, we have already put 2,200 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This means we have already used 2,200 billion tonnes of the carbon budget, and we only have about 400 billion tonnes left.
400 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide sounds like a huge amount, but right now people across the world put more than 40 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year. We need to stop burning fossil fuels, cutting down forests and damaging soils. If we do not, we will use all of the world's carbon budget to stay below 1.5C in the next 10-15 years.
Even if we stop putting any carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, the temperatures on Earth will stay warm, and this will cause changes to the climate for hundreds of years in the future. Because of the greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere, the oceans will slowly warm, the ice in the Arctic and Antarctica will melt, and sea levels will increase for many years to come.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Solutions
Energy solutions
To make a better future for the Earth, people all over the world need to cut the amount of greenhouse gases they put into the atmosphere. Today, we burn a huge amount of fossil fuel, and this is one of the biggest reasons why we put so much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. We need to stop burning fossil fuels and to only use clean energy in the future.
We can get clean energy from a number of places the wind, the Sun, plants, the water moving in rivers and the ocean, hot rocks under the ground, and other new ways of making energy. Nuclear energy also puts very few greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, but it is expensive.
In the future, scientists also need to find ways of making better batteries so we can keep electricity and it can be used at a later time. The batteries we use today do not hold enough electricity. Better batteries will also help us to move from cars and buses that burn fossil fuels to cars and buses that use electricity.
There is another step we can take to help to stop climate change. Scientists need to find ways of taking carbon dioxide from factories and other places that make it, and keeping it under the ground. Making new carbon sinks can help to cut the carbon dioxide going into the atmosphere.
We must also try not to use more energy than we need. We need to find ways of using a smaller amount of energy in our homes and in factories. People are now using computers to help to cut the amount of energy we use, and to put more clean energy into people's homes.
Scientists also need to find ways of taking large amounts of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere without causing any other problems for the world. This needs to happen quickly - very quickly if we want warming to stay below 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Forest solutions
The Earth's forests are an important part of the solution to cutting greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and stopping climate change. Forests are one of the biggest carbon sinks on the Earth. We need to stop deforestation, protect the Earth's natural forests, and grow more trees and forests. This includes growing forests on land that is not good for farming.
Stopping deforestation is a very difficult thing to do. Around the world, people cut down forests to use the land for farming. This is an important way for many countries to make money and for people to make money to buy food and clothes for their families.
People need to see how important forests are because then they will stop cutting them down. This has already happened in many places around the world. Many countries now understand that their rainforests help to protect and to develop their communities.
These forests have a positive effect on the amount of rain and clean water communities have for farming and on the rivers that some companies use to make electricity. Forests also help to protect the land and soil, and to lower the number of floods communities have.
Forests do a natural job of protecting soils, and this is important for the food and water we need and use every day. Protecting forests is a good way to cut the amount of carbon dioxide we put into the atmosphere, and it has a positive effect on many other things, too.
In West Africa, people are helping cocoa farmers to make more money from the cocoa they grow without cutting down more trees and forests. This includes growing cocoa plants and trees together in ways that give farmers more food from the same land. Farmers are then making more money for their families and for their countries, but carbon stays inside the trees in the rainforests and does not go into the atmosphere.
Food and farming solutions
Farming can also be part of the solution to climate change. Farmers can use ways of farming that build up carbon levels in soils. Soils are a very important natural carbon sink.
Some soils are better than others. For example, soils that have very small living things in them can change dead plants into food for new plants to grow. This can help farmers to grow the plants we eat. These soils are also very good at holding carbon.
Farmers can help to make these good soils. They can do this by often changing the plants that they grow on their land and by not always growing the same plants. They can also help by sometimes-growing plants on the land, and sometimes keeping animals on it. These two steps can help to make soils healthy.
These good soils also hold more water. This means that they can protect plants from drought, and this makes farming easier in a warmer climate.
The amount of carbon dioxide we put into the atmosphere can also be cut by thinking about the food we eat. Only growing the food, we need and not throwing food away will help. Not eating so much meat and other foods that come from animals will also help to cut the greenhouse gases we put into the atmosphere.
Earth's natural cycles
The Earth and its living things run in cycles. The water cycle and the carbon cycle are very important patterns for life on Earth. Soils use the good things from dead plants to grow new plants. In natural cycles, everything is used again.
But, in today's world, people often do not do things in cycles. We make things, and then we use them. When we finish using things, we throw them away. When we throw things away, they often go into the land, the atmosphere or the oceans. We do not use them again, or get back the energy or things we used to make them.
This means that we use a lot of energy and natural things. But doing things in cycles does not use as much energy or natural things, and does not put so much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Companies need to do things in new and different ways. They must try to find ways of using everything again and throwing nothing away - just like natural cycles.
We need to look at the natural cycles on Earth and try to do things in the same way. Many companies are already using these ideas to make new things and to help stop climate change. For example, companies are using natural cycles to develop new fuels.
CHAPTER EIGHT
The future
Coming together to stop climate change
Climate change is a problem for all the people of the world. One country on its own cannot find the solution - all the countries of the world need to work together on this problem. Countries also need to work together to develop in a way that is good for the Earth and does not damage it. Together, they need to help poor countries and communities to have a positive future.
Many people from across the world have asked for countries to do more to stop climate change. In 2015, in Paris, countries agreed to cut the amount of fossil fuels they burn, to protect forests and to increase the health of their soils. This was a very positive day for climate change.
The steps that countries agreed to take in Paris are still not enough to stop warming going above 2 degrees Celsius, but the countries all agreed to do more in the future.
Cutting the amount of greenhouse gases we put into the atmosphere will help to stop the temperature on Earth increasing more. This is very positive for the future, but many people around the world will still have to live with the effects of climate change. So, in Paris, countries also agreed to help people to find ways to live in our warmer world and to protect them from the effects of higher temperatures.
Making a better life for everyone
Trying to find solutions to the problem of climate change can be a very positive thing for many people and many companies. Across the world, companies can look for new things to make and new ways of doing things. They can work together with new people and can make new jobs. Finding solutions to climate change could make life better for people in many different ways.
