Climate Change

Climate change is where the average weather over the year starts to change or is no longer constant.  The effects of climate change have worryingly increased and became more to the attention of the public in the past few years. Climate change causes things such as rising sea levels, increased temperatures, droughts, extinction of species and many more.

Greenhouse gasses are a huge factor in climate change. Gasses such as carbon dioxide, which is being over produced by humans, traps the heat in the atmosphere. That led to the increased temperatures across the planet, otherwise known as global warming.  Before learning about this topic, I wasn’t completely sure what climate change actually was. I knew about the polar ice caps melting but I wasn’t sure why this was happening and this module has really helped me to understand on what is going on in the world.

In today’s workshop, we were shown and allowed to do some experiments that would be useful to try in the classroom. The first experiment I tried was to make a tornado in a jar. I added water, washing up liquid and food colouring into a jar and was asked to swirl the jar in a circle. The result of this was that a small swirl that looked just like a tornado. This experiment was to show how tornadoes are formed in a similar way, by hot and cold air combining and cause a spin.

The second experiment was a water front experiment. This was to show that warm air rises and causes less pressure as cold air. As the air cools, it becomes denser,  so it sinks and pushes down with great pressure.  The experiment consisted of 2 cups of water, one warm and one cold, both filled with different food colouring. The cups of water were dropped into a tub of water at room temperature. As the water came out the cups, the warm water rose to the top of the tank and the cold water stayed at the bottom.

We also discusses the politics behind climate change and how the leaders of the world are trying to have an positive impact on bringing climate change down. Many powerful individuals in the world have spoke out about how important it is to decrease climate change and to educate the public about the effects. We were given a task to put our self in the position of a stakeholder from a specific area, in my case it was a mother from Queensland, Australia. I had to think about what is important to my stakeholder in this issue, what actions do you want my government and other governments to take and what is your reasoning for why this should happen. This was a very tricky but thought provoking activity which took some research. Overall, it was very interesting to see all the different worries from different people on the topic of climate change.

Finally, we learned and calculated our carbon footprint. My carbon footprint was 122%, which was a lot higher than I expected. My highest factor was travel as I drive and I had been on a plane 3 times this year. To bring this down, I could take more public transport instead of driving. The WWF website is very helpful on giving tips to reduce your footprint. Some of these tips include, eating more local food, having a varies diet, energy saving light bulbs and many more. I have realised I need to act more carefully towards global warming and climate change as I can still make a difference, no matter how small.

Climate change has become a very worrying and prevalent issue over the past few years. It comes with many consequences such as the ice caps melting , sea level rising, animal extinction and many more. This is why leaders across the world have been working together to try and tackle this. In Scotland, the government has created a legislation to attempt to reduce the amount of damage we are doing to the earth. The target of this act is to ensure that the net Scottish emissions account for the year 2050 is at least 80% lower, which is a huge percentage to achieve. New plans are being put into place to help with this act such as electric cars and 5p carrier bags.

After taking the WWF footprint calculator, I found out my carbon footprint was 122% which I was surprised at. I didn’t think I was harming the environment that much but the website allowed me to see where my errors were.

I found that  the highest of my score was from travel. This was due to the amount of times I traveled by plane this year, which was 3 times return. Although I only drive between 2 and 5 hours a week as I walk to uni every day and every chance I get to walk I do, therefore I don’t feel like this can be helped. Although I could use local transport occasionally instead of driving when I need to. I do as much as I can to recycle and safe energy in the house which makes me feel a lot better about my footprint as it could be much higher if I wasn’t as cautious. However, I am partial to have the heating on when its not  necessarily needed. As for food, I feel  that I need to eat a bigger variety of foods, especially from local areas,  and have a more colourful plate. I was shocked to learn how much pollution food prouction caused, “Every year wasted food in the UK represents 14 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. In total, these greenhouse gas emissions are the same as those created by 7 million cars each year.”  However, WWF  provides a helpful guide to eating and living well:

• Eat more plants
• Eat a variety of foods
• Waste less food
• Moderate your meat consumption, red and white
• Buy food that meets a credible certified standard
• Eat fewer food high in fat, salt and sugar

My total annual carbon emission was calculated to be 12.5 tonnes which I hope to reduce after reading all the useful tips available on the WWF website.

The website gives a insight into climate change in great detail. It has allowed me to see the changes I need to make in my life to ensure I am doing my part in helping save the world.