How our climate is changing 

What is Climate Change?

The climate is the long-term weather patterns across the world or a region. Climate change means these patterns are changing, leading to warming global temperatures and making extreme weather (like floods, cold spells, drought, heatwaves and extreme wind) more likely.

It is caused by many things, including the Earth’s natural cycle, but human activity is making the situation worse by increasing the amount of greenhouse gases (like carbon dioxide) in the Earth’s atmosphere.

Some of the main contributors are:

• Burning fossil fuels for transport, and to make the energy we use to power our homes and to make everything we buy
• Intensive farming to provide us with meat and dairy
• The huge amounts of food we waste

They each emit greenhouse gases that trap more and more heat in the atmosphere as they build up, which in turn affects the climate. 

Here in the UK, climate change will increase temperatures and make extreme weather, including flooding and drought, more likely. It will directly affect people’s lives and have a big impact on local wildlife.

Humans have caused climate change, but humans have the power to curb it too. This gives each and every one of us the power to be part of the solution in responding to the Climate Emergency.

There is a global consensus that we must take urgent action to tackle climate change before irreparable damage is done to our environment, which would have huge knock-on impacts for society and for the other species with which we share the planet. In 2018, a United Nations report concluded that we need to act now to not miss the opportunity to prevent the worst effects of climate change.

• Read the report on global warming
• See how the Climate Emergency will impact Richmond (pdf, 107 KB)

Impact of Climate Change

On our air

On our nature

On our waste

On our water

On our legacy