

Factories and industry create a lot of greenhouse gases through burning fossil fuels and using electricity. Some surprising industries are very heavy polluters. For example, for each tonne of concrete created, 410 kg of CO2 are created.

Farmers around the world are clearing woodland to create farmland and grazing land. If you were to look at a rainforest, you would think that the soil in a rainforest is very fertile due to the abundant plant growth but in fact the opposite is true. Soils in rainforests are often poor and the rainforest plants are very highly adapted to poor soils. This can lead to farmers abandoning their farms and starting again compounding the problem.

Driving cars, and transport in general, creates lots of greenhouse gases through the burning of fossil fuels. But not all transport is bad. One train uses a great deal of fuel compared to a car but it can carry hundreds of people making it a more efficient user of fuel.

Most electricity around the world is created by burning fossil fuels - these are coal, oil and gas. When making electricity, carbon dioxide and other gases are created which rise up into the atmosphere.

It is a little known fact that animal farming creates lots of greenhouse gases. The animals release methane and methane accounts for 8% of all greenhouse gases. Source: Wikipedia

One of the main consequences of climate change will be drought. This will affect food production and make some places uninhabitable without large transfers of water.

The increased temperatures will lead some places to have more rain than they do now, creating floods.

One of the consequences of global warming and climate change will be an increase in severe storms. This is because the seas are warming and warm seas play a crucial part in hurricane formation.

The deserts, especially those either side of the equator will grow, taking over fertile land that surrounds them.

Plants and animals around the world will become extinct as their habitat is reduced or changes too quickly for the animals and plants to adapt.

The Arctic ice is shrinking and becoming thinner and developing large cracks in it like this one in the picture. If all the ice in the world melted, the sea level would rise 60 metres. A majority of the world's largest cities are on the coast.

Glaciers have been shrinking all over the world and it is a phenomenon which can be starting in 1850. The melting glaciers create rivers that flow throughout the year but the disappearance of the glaciers means that the rivers now run dry during the summer. This is affecting farming and wildlife in Kenya and Peru already.

This is a prediction of what the coastline will become if all the polar ice were to melt.

Solar power makes electricity without releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The use of solar power is growing in popularity around the world.

Hydro power is not available everywhere but it does create carbon free electricity that can help reduce our carbon footprint.

Wind power is growing popularity around the world and it is thought that the price of electricity produced by wind power will soon be able to compete with the price of electricity produced by fossil fuels. Governments around the world have policies in place to favour wind power over fossil fuels which is helping the use wind power to spread.

This is only a solution if your electricity supply is derived from renewable sources but if it is, then there is no carbon dioxide produced when driving around in an electric car.

Instead of using silicon solar cells, this solar power uses mirrors (cheaper to produce) to focus the sun's energy at a pipe carrying water to create power.

These images look at the causes and consequences of global warming and climate change. There are then pictures of global warming solutions and ideas on how to stop global warming and climate change. By using these climate change photos, they can help you gain a greater understanding of what causes global warming and what the effects of global warming are. They also help highlight the pressing need for action to stop global warming.
CLIMATE CHANGE IMAGES
