If you’re not already clued up about climate change and global warming, check out Climate Change: what is it? and How is Climate Change affecting Scotland? The majority of scientists who study the causes of climate change believe that human behaviour is contributing to the warming up of the earth. They predict there will be major environmental problems if the temperature increases at current rates. But did you know that if we all made a few small changes to the way we live our lives, we could massively reduce the effects of climate change? And by telling other people about climate change and how they can fight it, we can start a climate change revolution. 

What are greenhouse gas and carbon emissions?

It is now common thought that human's contribute the the warming up of the world because of the amount of greenhouse gas and carbon they produce. Greenhouse gas emissions are the dangerous gases like carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone that are released into the atmosphere. Carbon emissions are the release of carbon into the atmosphere through burning fuel or deforestation. Both carbon and greenhouse gases contribute to global warming. The CO2 content of the atmosphere has aleady risen by more than a third since the start of the industrial revolution. It makes sense then that if we want to stop the world heating up to dangerous levels, we must all cut our carbon and greenhouse gas emissions. 

Reduce your own carbon emissions

Being green is not about giving up everything and living like a hermit in a cave, but being aware of how your behaviour impacts on the environment and cutting down. Do the Green Thing has 7 hints on how we can reduce our impact on the environment:

1) Walk The Walk Think about how you get to A to B. Don’t take the car when you could walk.
2) Stay Grounded Think about how much you fly. Flying is the least environmentally friendly transport, use it sparingly.
3) Stick With What You Got Think about what you buy. Don’t buy something new when you could reuse, recycle or revamp something you already have.
4) Plug Out Think about your electricity use. Turn it off, don’t leave it on standby, and use lights when only when you need them.
5) All-Consuming Think about what you throw away. Don’t waste things, find a use for them.
6) Human Heat Think about heating. Put a jumper on before you turn up the heating.
7) Easy On The Meat Think about what you eat. How much energy does it take to get your food to the table? Cut down on meat and food flown in from abroad.

Once you can see how human behaviour impacts global warming and climate change you can begin to make changes to your lifestyle to reduce your carbon footprint.  You can find out more about cutting your carbon on our carbon footprint page.

For some great tips on saving energy in your home, check out our Easy Energy Saving at Home page. Visit our reduce, reuse and recycle pages to find out how to make the most of what you've got.

Tell others about climate change

We will be able to fight climate change much better if everyone gets involved in reducing their carbon emissions. Perhaps others do not know about climate change, or don’t understand the problems that climate change will cause. If you’re passionate about fighting climate change the best thing to do is to tell other people about it. Here are some ways to get started.

• Perhaps you could organise a talk in your school, college or community centre, or join a local organisation that is already campaigning in your area.
• If you are a student, get in touch with People and Planet. They campaign against climate change on a university level and have loads of tips to encourage your university to reduce its carbon emissions.
• Look out for national and international organisations such as Tck Tck Tck, Friends of the Earth and Oxfam. Get involved in their campaigns, sign the petitions and make sure your voice is heard by national and world leaders.

What are other people doing?

Governments, global organisations and charities are concerned about climate change and have got together to discuss ways we can work together to reduce it. The general consensus is that if we want to reduce the effects of climate change, we will have to reduce our carbon emissions.

• IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) is an international organisation which measures and analyses scientific information to try and understand the causes of climate change. National and international leaders generally respect the IPCC as having the best and most accurate information about climate change.
• The Scottish Government has made a major breakthrough introducing the Climate Change Act in 2009. This Act says that Scotland will plan to reduce greenhouse gases 42% by 2010 and 80% by 2050.
• The European Union has committed to reducing the levels of greenhouse gas emissions by 8% below 1990 levels by 2008- 2012. The EU department for Climate Action leads international negotiations on climate, supports EU countries to meet their emissions targets and helps the EU deal with the consequences of climate change.
• In 2010 the UN (United Nations) held a Climate Change Conference in Cancun, Mexico where global leaders met to discuss what to do about climate change. They agreed to limit global warming, and called on rich countries to reduce their greenhouse emissions, and for developing countries to plan to reduce their emissions.