Page 5 - Eco Schools Newsletter - Autumn 2 - English

Back to the Basics
Back to the Basics
What is Climate Change?
What is Climate Change?

For the duration of the past 10,000 years, a period of time called the
Holocene, our Earth’s climate has been very stable.

To give you an idea of relatively how little the Earth’s temperature has

changed since the last Ice Age, take a look at this infographic here.

This stability has allowed us to develop our civilization to what it is
now, reliable weather patterns have enabled agriculture to advance

and to feed our growing population and expand our
cities.

The discovery of fossil fuels, and the start of the Industrial Revolution
in the late 1800s led to an increase in greenhouse gases. The enormous

stores of carbon from within the earth being burned, combining with
the air and creating carbon dioxide.

What’s more, we accelerated the cutting down of forests to make
room for our growing demands for food and resources. As trees are

known as ‘the lungs of the world’, it’s no surprise that the Earth’s
natural ability to remove the extra carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere has also reduced.

Then came the 1950s and populations of more

economically developed countries really got into the
manufacture and consumption of goods, giving rise to

the burning of more fossil fuels and also the generation
of other important greenhouse gases such as nitrous
oxide and methane.