Our World

I aim to uncover the real damage humans are having on the world around us.

I will discuss what "Climate Change" and "Global Warming" really mean and how it is affecting our animals, landscapes, and ecosystems. I will also be looking at which countries are to blame for this and which ones need to desperately change their ways.

I will also be looking at the who is responsible, what big brand companies are to blame, what countries and governments are corrupt and what everyday things we do are having a massive impact.

I shall then discover what we can do to change it, what our governments should be doing to change it, and how we should ensure the next generation carry these changes on.

Then I will be looking at where we will be in 10, 20, even 50 years if nothing changes, which eco-systems will be completely wiped out, which animals and maybe even whole species will be eradicated, and what our landscapes will now look like.

As well as discussing when change needs to start and who by. This will include the desperate need why things cannot go on this way.

Climate Change

According to the Oxford Dictionary, climate change means:

"A change in global or regional climate patterns, in particular a change apparent from the mid to late 20th century onwards and attributed largely to the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels."

Looking at the NASA website, their definition of climate change looks like this:

"Climate change is a change in the usual weather found in a place. This could be a change in how much rain a place usually gets in a year. Or it could be a change in a place's usual temperature for a month or season."

From these two different definitions, we can see that climate change is something that happens naturally. Every year the seasons change, the earth's natural temperatures change, and the inhabitants adapt to this. So, why is it so bad? Why do we constantly hear about it on the news if it is something that happens every year? This information we can gain from the first definition from the Oxford Dictionary.

Usually we should only experience climate change four times a year. Changing from the cold temperatures in winter to the cooler temperatures in the spring. Hotter weather in the summer and then colder, more brisk, in the autumn. Now, the problem is that we are experiencing climate change too often, our summers are later and the winters harsher. This can mean, in places such as the Antarctic, that the ice which is essential to the wildlife there does not have the cooler temperatures to freeze over. This explains the pictures we so often see of polar bears stranded on the lone blocks of ice that are left.

So how is climate change caused? Is it just the Earth's natural cycle? Or are there human factors that are contributing to it? Greenhouse gases are often blamed for this change in climate, but what are they? How many of them are natural and how many are due to human activity?

Looking at the NASA website, there are five main gases that are causing this greenhouse effect. Before we look at those, this mystical greenhouse effect needs to be explained, the "greenhouse effect" is actually something we need. Without it the Earth would be a very cold place and we would not be able to sustain life. But basically what we are talking about when we say "greenhouse" is the Earth's atmosphere. That is what causes the greenhouse effect. In simple terms, it is relating to the amount of sunlight and energy that is being emitted through the Earth's atmosphere.

In recent years, we have been producing gases that have been making a hole in the Earth's atmosphere. This is therefore allowing a lot more of the sun's light and energy into our world. Therefore, increasing the Earth's temperature, making our oceans warmer and causing climate change. If this was happening on a small scale it would probably go unnoticed but now as we are not stopping producing these gases the hole is getting bigger and bigger, thus meaning there is this global outcry to stop it.

So, back to the gases, there are five main culprits; some of them you will have heard others, others might be new to you.

1. Carbon Dioxide - This is the gas that human activity produces the most. Deforestation, fossil fuel combustion, cement production are all activities that produce this gas. Therefore making this the hardest one to eliminate, until we are able to find other solutions these activities will continue. So then let's see which countries are producing the most and why.

• Russia. As the largest country in the world you would think that these were the main producers but in 2015 they produced 1468.99 million metric tonnes (mmt). This sounds like a huge amount but let's compare it to some other countries.
• Canada. The second largest country in the world, in 2015, they produced 549.23 mmt. This is amazing how they have.managed to reduce their carbon footprint.
• China. In 2015, this third largest country produced whopping 9040.74 mmt of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere, in 2015.
• United States of America. This busy country, in 2015, produced 4497.50 mmt, which is nearly half of China's but four times as much as the world's largest country, Russia.
• India. Considering it is now becoming a more developing country, 2066.01 mmt is a reasonable amount to have produced in 2015, compared to others.
• Australia. As it is a vast space of wilderness in some parts of the country maybe that is why that in 2015, as a nation, they only emitted 380.93 mmt into the atmosphere.
• United Kingdom. Looking at the size of Australia and then the size of the United Kingdom, should these two countries, in 2015, been producing nearly the same amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere? Probably not, but they did. The UK produced 389.75 mmt.

So, why did these countries produce what they did in 2015? How can we try to prevent this? Join me next week where I will look into these questions and explain those other four greenhouse gases.