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Taking action, making the links
Connecting individual actions
with global effects
Climate change and what we can do
What’s going on?
Climate change is happening all around the world
Upton-uponSevern, UK
Alaska, USA
Yangtzi,
China
New
Orleans,
Louisiana,
USA
Lima, Peru
Greater
Banjul, The
Gambia
Pakistan
Dhaka,
Bangladesh
Shishmaref, Alaska, USA
What’s happening here?
Polar regions are some of the
first places expected to feel
strong effects from climate change.
The town of Shishmaref in north
west Alaska is threatened as sea
levels rise and permafrost melts.
Permafrost is ‘sub-soil remaining
below freezing-point throughout the
year in polar regions’.
[Concise Oxford Dictionary].
What’s happened to the house?
As permafrost melts, houses which have been built on it start to tilt and
collapse.
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
What’s happening here?
• Climate change has been
linked to an increase in
extreme weather events,
such as storms and
hurricanes
• In 2005, the city of New
Orleans was seriously
flooded following
Hurricane Katrina
• Most of its population had
to leave, and more than
1,000 people were killed
Lima, Peru
What’s happening here?
• The growing population of Lima, the
capital of Peru, needs access to clean
water
• The city is built in a desert region but is
currently supplied with water from
glaciers in the Andes mountains
• As the glaciers melt, this water supply
is going to become smaller
Upton-upon- Severn, UK
What’s happening here?
• The small town of Upton-uponSevern, Worcestershire, has
long been at risk of flooding
from the River Severn
• As the climate changes, many
scientists expect British winters
to become warmer and wetter,
and the rainfall to be heavier
when it comes
• This means that major floods,
such as those which happened
in 2000, are likely to become
more common
Greater Banjul, The Gambia
What’s happening here?
The Gambia, in West Africa, is particularly
vulnerable to climate change. Its capital
city, Banjul, is threatened by rising sea
levels and coastal erosion.
What impact do you think coastal erosion
Is having on nearby tourist areas?
Many beaches have been washed away –
and these have had to be replaced at great
cost. If the tourists don’t come, then less money
comes into the area.
Rising sea levels may also affect the area’s
fishing industry and fresh water supply.
The country is also likely to be affected by
drier weather and growing deserts, affecting
crops and wildlife. Responding to climate change
is a major priority in the country.
Dhaka, Bangladesh
What’s happening here?
• Bangladesh is vulnerable to
flooding and tropical storms
• These are expected to become
more common and more
severe as a result of climate
change
• In 2004, the capital city of
Dhaka was seriously flooded.
Dozens of people died and
more than 100,000 became ill
from using dirty water
Pakistan
What’s happening
here?
• In 2010 severe flooding, following
heavy monsoon rains between
July and September, affected 20
million people
• Many remain without homes,
shelter or help 12 months later
• Approximately one-fifth of
Pakistan's total land area was
under water
Pakistan
• Buildings, bridges, roads and crops
for animals and humans were all
destroyed across a massive area
• This is the hospital at Karora
Town, in Shangla District, northern
Pakistan
• In the village of Paka
Ghalwa in southern
Punjab, many people were
still living in tents six
months after the flooding
subsided
Yangtzi, China
What’s happening here?
• One sixth of the world’s
population lives in China. More
and more Chinese people are
moving to the cities as industry
grows to meet the country’s needs
• Increasing amounts of water and
energy are needed to support
them
• How the country can do this in a
manageable and sustainable way
is an important question
One controversial solution has been to build the world’s largest dam project
on the Yangtzi River, the Three Gorges Dam
What do we know?
• Climate change will affect
places in many different
ways
• No one knows for certain
what will happen, and
there are lots of
possibilities
• Places may experience a
mix of positive and
negative changes. These
will probably be very
different depending on
where in the world you
live
What are the causes?
Natural causes
• Release of methane gas from
arctic tundra and wetlands
• Methane is a greenhouse gas and
is very dangerous to our
environment
A greenhouse gas traps heat in
the earth's atmosphere
•
Another natural cause is that the earth goes through
cycles of climate change. This usually lasts about 40,000
years
What are the causes?
Man-made causes
Farming, landfill, and coalmines
Scientists believe methane could be 23 times
more effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere
than carbon dioxide (CO2)
What are the causes?
Man-made causes
Burning fossil fuels:
To generate electricity
– For commercial and industrial
purposes (to make things)
– For residential purposes (for
heating and lighting)
To generate heat
directly for
cooking and
warmth
What are the causes?
Man-made causes
Burning fossil fuels:
• For transport – moving
people, goods and food
around
• A growing population
means more of this
What are the causes?
Man-made causes
Deforestation
Between May 2000 and August 2005,
Brazil lost more than 132,000 square
kilometres of forest – an area larger
than Greece
What are the solutions?
Government
Business/industry
You
Legislation/policy
Reduce their
pollution
Lots of small
changes can make
a big difference!
Incentives
Make their
processes more
sustainable
Group/community
action and
campaigning
Small changes we can all make
Food
• Rely less on food and goods that
travel a long distance. Eat Britishgrown vegetables and meat or grow
your own if possible! (This reduces
CO2 from transporting food)
• Eat less meat (reduces
methane from cows)
• Compost your food
waste (reduces
methane from landfill)
Small changes we can all make
Landfill
• Recycle and compost –
reduce amount of rubbish
that goes to landfill
• Join Freecycle/Freegle
Don’t throw things away!
• Don’t buy things that you
don’t really need
Small changes we can all make
Fossil fuels
• Reduce your energy/electricity use – switch
things off if you’re not using them
• Talk to your parents about getting solar
panels on the roof of your house
• Get on your bike! Leave the car at home
whenever possible and walk
or cycle for short journeys
Community action and campaigning
Things can happen when people work together
Afon Taf High School in Wales wanted to enable more
cycling to school by installing new cycle facilities.
• They prepared a bid for funding from the Welsh Assembly’s
Safe Routes to Schools budget to build new cycle facilities
• The Year 9 class split into different groups
– One group surveyed pupils and parents for their opinions
– One looked at the design of the new sheds
– One looked at upgrading a riverside path to create a traffic-free route
to school
– Another looked at how the cycle-to-school scheme would work
• It worked: the school received £60,000 from the Welsh
Assembly
Advertising campaign
Connecting individual actions with global effects
Advertising campaign
Connecting individual actions with global effects
• Only half (52 per cent) of Britons think that
changing just their own behaviour would have an
impact on climate change
• However, more people (85 per cent) say that they
would be prepared to change the way they live in
order to lessen the impact of global warming
(BBC/ICM poll, July 2004)
Advertising campaign
Connecting individual actions with global effects
• You work for: an advertising company
• Your brief is: to design a campaign to raise
people’s awareness of the link between their
personal travel behaviour/travel choices and
climate change (target audience: aged 11 – 16)
• Outputs required: campaign concept outlined
on an ideas sheet and a poster