Human-driven climate change is the all-encompassing phrase for the long-term changes in Earth’s temperature and weather caused mainly by humans releasing lots of greenhouse gasses such as CO2 and methane.
As the sun’s light strikes the Earth it heats the surface of our planet. In turn, Earth’s surface gives off some of this heat, which escapes into space or warms the blanket of air around us – the atmosphere. Greenhouse gasses are excellent at absorbing this energy, trapping in heat and warming up our atmosphere even further.
The more we do things that fill our atmosphere with greenhouse gasses, such as clearing green spaces or burning fossil fuels, the more we warm our Earth and the more our climate will change in the years ahead.
The consequences of inaction are likely to be heavy for both people and wildlife, for example more flooding, submergence of coastal towns and cities, extensive wildfires and mass extinction of animals and plants.
Together we can do something about it! We can act for wildlife and prevent extinction.