About Climate Change
Gas oil flare at a refinery
Image © iStockphoto.com/Joe Gough
For almost 200 years, we have been burning large amounts of fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas. This has enabled us to build the industrial societies that exist today. However, what we didn’t know was that along the way we have been creating the biggest problem that we have ever faced.
That problem is climate change, and it works like this: burning fossil fuels produces gases like carbon dioxide (CO2) which collect in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is a so-called ‘greenhouse gas’. Such gases exist naturally in the atmosphere and help keep the planet warm enough for life to exist. But by massively adding to them we’re trapping far too much heat in the system. This is creating more extreme weather, melting the ice caps and causing more floods and droughts.
Climate change can seem very complicated and hard to understand. You may be confused about the science, or unsure about what the solutions might be, or about what governments are (or aren’t) doing. Use the resources on this page to get better informed and find the answers to some of your climate questions.
About People & Planet’s climate change campaigns
Find out more about our campaign to get your school, college or university to Go Green.
Join our Ditch Dirty Development. campaign to end financial support for fossil fuel projects and massively increase support for renewable energy
Climate Change Workshops
Students at Bridgnorth school taking part in the Go Green workshop
People & Planet provides free workshops for school, college and university student groups on climate change, and how you can take action to do something about it.
For schools and colleges, we provide an introductory climate change workshop, and a follow up workshop on taking action to get your school or college to Go Green.
For university groups, we offer workshops on the Go Green and Ditch Dirty Development campaigns.
Workshops for Sixth Form Groups
Useful links and further reading
There is a wealth of information out there about climate change. Our links page provides a guide to some of the websites we’ve found most useful on the key issues.
