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Climate Change Basics

What is Climate Change?

The burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas releases a number of gases. We burn fossil fuels when we drive our cars, use coal-fired electricity, fly in planes or consume products. Some of the gases released from burning fossil fuels are greenhouse gases, which act like a blanket around the earth, trapping heat and warming the earth's atmosphere. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most common out of several greenhouse gases. Industrialised countries have released huge amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels, and have caused a human induced change in the earth's climate.

For more climate change science see the United Nations website, CSIRO's frequently asked questions and climate basics from Climateprediction.net.
Climate Discussions on the World Stage
  • World Bank
  • G8
  • Kyoto Protocol
  • Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (AP6)
  • UNFCCC
  • Post 2012 Regime
How Do We Solve Climate Change?

Climate change is a global issue that will affect all of us. If we work together and take immediate action we can stop dangerous climate change. Industrialised countries need to reduce greenhouse pollution by 20% by 2020, and by 80% by the middle of the century, if we are to combat climate change.

The key ways to avoid dangerous climate change are:

  • Set legally binding targets to reduce our climate change pollution
  • Switch to renewable energy sources, like solar and wind power, and move away from dirty coal.
  • Set energy efficiency targets to ensure we use energy wisely.
  • Shift from private cars to public transport.
  • Stop broad scale land clearing.

We have the technology to reduce our greenhouse pollution. Our government needs to ratify the Kyoto Protocol and legislate targets to reduce our greenhouse pollution for this potential to become reality.

For more information on the action we need to take to combat climate change, see http://www.cana.net.au/documents/real_way_forward.pdf