What causes climate change?

Many natural processes can influence the climate, such as volcanic and solar activity. Since the Industrial Revolution, however, large amounts of fossil fuels have been burned, leading to the release of a vast quantity of carbon into the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide (CO2).

Carbon dioxide is an important greenhouse gas (GHG), which warms the atmosphere and triggers cascades of climatic events. Weather patterns are disrupted, oceanic currents are being altered, and ice sheets are melting. These processes in turn affect the planet's wildlife, particularly the timing of annual events such as bird migrations and plant fruiting.

Human activity, in particular the burning of fossil fuels, is now widely considered to be a major cause of global climate change. Urgent action is required to reduce those emissions to limit the long term environmental damage. At the very least they represent an unsustainable way of life -- fossil fuels will by definition run out and we will need to find an alternative, cleaner source of energy.

There is an overwhelming body of evidence that human industrial activities are having a devastating effect on the natural world. Polar ice sheets and glaciers are melting, pollutants are having a direct impact on many species, and ocean acidifcation is destroying vital coral reef ecosystems upon which the livelihoods of one billion people depend.

Deforestation, including forest soil degradation, accounts for almost one fifth of the world's annual emissions, more that the entire transport sector. Reafforestation is a major strategy in curbing emissions and moving towards a sustainable future. Planting native trees with the Woodland Trust helps contribute towards that goal.