Causes of climate change

The gas blanket traps the sun's rays, heats the earth and sustains life on our planet. It also plays a vital role in shaping the planet's weather conditions, like temperature and rainfall. This natural phenomenon is called the greenhouse effect.

Humans pump billions of tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere,  disrupting the balance of atmospheric gases. This causes climate change.

How we cause climate change

Driving a car, switching on a light, turning on the stove. In Australia, these activities almost always run on energy from coal, oil or gas – fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are extracted from the ground. Burning them releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This emission of greenhouse gas is changing the atmosphere's composition and leading to climate change.

While many greenhouse gases occur naturally, the rate we are adding them to the atmosphere is unprecedented. It's estimated that carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are 30 per cent higher since the Industrial Revolution, when fossil fuel use took off.

A massive 80 per cent of our electricity is generated from burning coal. We also ship climate change to other countries as one of the world's biggest coal exporters. Newcastle, in New South Wales, is the world's biggest coal port.

The warming earth

The earth's weather is partly determined by differences in temperature between areas of land and water and by huge ocean currents carrying warmth across the globe. As the earth warms and ice melts, these relative temperatures and currents are changing, causing more extreme weather patterns, including floods, hurricanes, droughts and heatwaves.

Scientists warn that current rates of climate change will probably exceed those of the last 10,000 years. Many ecosystems will find it hard to adapt and survive. This is bad news for fragile ecosystems like coral reefs, alpine areas and islands in Australia and the Pacific.