What is climate change and why does our environmental impact matter?
With the emergence of widespread climate protests in 2018, the topic of climate change has been thrust onto the global stage. Although the simple facts of climate change are often overlooked. So just what is climate change and how can we make a difference as individuals and communities?
The United Nations Definition
The UN is the leading voice on climate change, coordinating global climate change conferences and enacting change through several different UN bodies.
Climate change is defined as shifts in temperature and weather patterns over a long period. It isn’t new and has been happening for 650,000 years. Since the 1800s, however, climate change has been driven by human activity and is causing unprecedented and accelerated warming.
Greenhouse gas emissions act as a blanket around the earth, which traps the sun’s heat, meaning that greenhouse gas concentrations are at their highest levels in 2 million years and are continuing to rise.
The way that climate change is measured is through degrees Celsius above the temperature of the earth before the industrial revolution. Currently, the earth is said to be about 1.1°C warmer than the late 1800s.
In a UN report in 2018, it was agreed upon by thousands of scientists and government reviewers, that limiting our global temperature rise to 1.5°C is ideal. This would help us avoid the worst impacts of climate change.
While this may seem like the whole story, rising temperatures is just one aspect of climate change, which is affecting many different things on earth.
“The consequences of climate change now include, among others, intense droughts, water scarcity, severe fires, rising sea levels, flooding, melting polar ice, catastrophic storms and declining biodiversity.”
In the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, report of 2021, it became clear that climate change is happening now.
“Human-induced climate change is already affecting many weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe.”
Climate change will affect everyone on the planet, and that is why it is so important for everyone to care about it.
'Think globally, act locally’
When thinking about climate change, it’s easy to get caught up in thinking that individual impacts, like taking shorter showers, cycling to work, or growing your own food, are the solution. Here’s where the phrase ‘think global, act local’ is essential.
Whilst reducing our carbon footprint in our everyday lives, we should also think about how larger global impacts can be made by holding corporations and governments accountable.
According to The Carbon Majors Database, just 100 companies have been responsible for 71% of all greenhouse gas emissions since 1988. These companies are all fossil fuel producers including ExxonMobil, BP, Shell and BHP.
Carbon Footprint
A carbon footprint refers to the total amount of greenhouse gases that are used by an individual, a community or through an activity. Our carbon footprint as a species has increased 11-fold since 1961.
The origin of the term ‘carbon footprint’ is from multinational energy company, British Petroleum, or BP’s “carbon footprint calculator” which made its debut in 2004. This was part of their ad campaign “Beyond Petroleum,” however the company is producing millions of barrels of oil a day.