What is climate change?
Climate change means the Earth’s weather is changing over a long time. The Earth is getting hotter, the ice is melting, the sea is rising, and the weather is more extreme. Humans cause climate change by doing things that make more gases in the air, like burning coal, oil, and gas, cutting down trees, and farming animals. Certain gases, such as carbon dioxide, methane, and water vapor, trap heat and warm the Earth due to the greenhouse effect
How does climate change affect us?
Climate change is bad for the environment, people, animals, plants, and food. Here are some examples of how climate change affects us:
- The Earth is hotter than before. The last seven years were the hottest ever recorded.
- The Arctic is warming faster than other places. The ice there is melting and shrinking. This is bad for the animals that live there, the people who depend on them, and the weather around the world.
- The oceans are also getting hotter and bigger. They take in most of the heat from the air. This makes them warmer, bigger, and more sour. This is bad for the fish, corals, and other life in the water, and for the people who live near the coast.
- The sea level is rising because of the melting ice and the bigger oceans. The sea level has gone up by 20 cm (8 inches) since 1900. This is bad for the islands and cities that are close to the sea.
- The weather is more extreme because of climate change. There are more heat waves, droughts, floods, storms, and fires. These can hurt people, damage things, make people move away, ruin crops, make water scarce, and cost money.
- Climate change also makes people sick. It can make people too hot, make it hard to breathe, spread diseases, make people hungry, make people sad, and make people fight.
Who suffers from climate change?
Climate change affects everyone, but some people suffer more than others. These are usually the people who have less money, power, or choices. They are often children, old people, women, and poor people. They have less ways to deal with climate change and to protect themselves from its harms.
How can we stop climate change?
To stop climate change, we need to stop making more gases in the air. We need to keep the Earth from getting hotter than 1.5°C (2.7°F) more than before. To do this, we need to cut down our gas emissions by 45% by 2030 and to zero by 2050.
To cut down our gas emissions, we need to work together and take action now. Some of the things we can do are:
- Use clean energy sources like wind, sun, and water instead of coal, oil, and gas.
- Use less energy by making things more efficient or using them less.
- Plant more trees and protect more wetlands because they take in gases from the air.
- Farm and eat in ways that make less gases.
- Spend money on new ideas and inventions that help fight climate change.
- Learn more about climate change and tell others about it.
How can we help others fight climate change?
We can also help others who are fighting climate change in their communities. There are many groups of people who are working hard to stop climate change and to cope with its impacts. They need our support to do their work better.
One way we can support them is by giving money to the Climate Action Fund. This fund helps small groups of people who are doing great things for climate change in their places. You can donate to this fund today and make a difference for the future.