MOSQUE

Causes Of Climate Change

Climate change

global warming

Increased global warming will lead to climate change – changes in the average weather experienced over 30 years or more. Climate change may make it impossible to grow certain food crops in some regions. Melting polar ice, and the thermal expansion of sea water, could cause rising sea levels and the flooding of low-lying land.

Human activities are causing the release of large amounts of carbon dioxide. These activities include:

deforestation - cutting down trees for fuel, farms, buildings and roads

increased use of energy (and so an increased use of fossil fuels).

As the percentage of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased, so in general has the Earth’s mean temperature.

Global warming

Greenhouse gases such as water vapour, methane and carbon dioxide stop heat escaping from the Earth into space. An increased greenhouse effect can lead to global warming and climate change.

Difficulties

There is a good agreement between scientists about how the greenhouse effect works. However, there is less agreement about the extent to which human activities are causing an increased greenhouse effect, and so global warming with its associated climate change. The balance of scientific opinion is that human activities are to blame.