A Fairer World :: Youth

Climate Change

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"The average temperature of the earth’s surface has risen by 0.74°C since the late 1800s. It is expected to go up another 1.8°C to 4°C by the year 2100 if no action is taken. That’s a fast and intense change in geological time. Even if it “only” gets another 1.8°C hotter, it would be a larger increase in temperature than any century-long trend in the last 10,000 years."

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

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New Town Primary School: students created this rap to show how they feel about global warming.

Green Facts: “How much and how fast temperatures will continue to rise remains uncertain, and the exact impacts of climate change over the 21st century, especially for local regions, remain largely unknown...
However, global warming poses real risks. Because the exact nature and amplitude of these risks remains uncertain, we have to use our best judgment - guided by the current state of science - to determine what the most appropriate response should be.”

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change: “Over a decade ago, most countries joined an international treaty - the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) - to begin to consider what can be done to reduce global warming and to cope with whatever temperature increases are inevitable. Recently, a number of nations have approved an addition to the treaty: the Kyoto Protocol, which has more powerful (and legally binding) measures.”

The David Suzuki Foundation: “Small steps make a big difference on the path to living more sustainably. The David Suzuki Foundation will show you how to transform your home, office and community into a healthy and sustainable one.”

Australian Government Department of Climate Change: “The Kyoto Protocol aims to reduce the collective greenhouse gas emissions of developed country Parties by at least 5 per cent below 1990 levels during 2008 to 2012 – referred to as the first commitment period.”

Climate Action Network: “Climate change could have the following impacts on Australia:

  • More intense storms and tropical cyclones
  • Water resources will be further stressed with a greater likelihood of droughts
  • The Great Barrier Reef at risk due to rising sea temperatures
  • Rising sea levels threatening Kakadu National Park and parts of the east coastline

...There are more jobs in building and operating the solutions to climate change than there are in the industries and operations that are causing it... Renewable fuels for energy and transport can provide the same services as traditional fossil-fuelled power, but do not create dangerous greenhouse gas emissions.”

Oxfam Australia: “Storms, floods, droughts and wildfires are occurring more frequently. Sea levels are rising. And closer to home we’re faced with water restrictions, greater droughts and more extreme fire days. All because of climate change.
Climate change is affecting everyone but it is affecting poor people in developing countries the most.”

World Wildlife Fund (Australia): “Australia is an exceptionally large polluter. We are the highest per person greenhouse gas polluter among all developed countries, the 15th highest overall polluter and our emissions are still rising.”

United Nations Environment Programme: “ ‘Climate change is the greatest threat we are facing in the 21st century, and many countries are vulnerable. If we the children and youth don't act now, we cannot be sure there will be a future for us, for future generations. We want to make sure that future generations will inherit a better place to live in,’ Tunza Youth Advisory Board member, 22-year old Jessie James Marcellones from the Philippines, said.”

Nova: Science in the News: “Nearly all of Antarctica is covered by an ice sheet that is, on average, 2.5 kilometres thick. If all the land-ice covering Antarctica were to melt – that's around 30 million cubic kilometres of ice – the seas would rise by over 60 metres! However, in the Antarctic it is so cold that even with increases of a few degrees, temperatures would remain below the melting point of ice. In fact, warmer temperatures could lead to more snow, which would increase the amount of ice in Antarctica.”

Greenpeace International: “Wind power, the world's fastest growing energy source, is a deceptively simple technology.”

Australian Conservation Foundation: “Australia is particularly vulnerable to climate change – environmentally and economically. We already live on the driest inhabited continent on earth. Climate change is making most of Australia drier. We are already experiencing more severe droughts in the bush, and water shortages in our cities.”

Christian Aid: “Scientists predict that at the current rate of carbon emissions tens of millions more people will go hungry in the next couple of decades as agricultural yields diminish across the globe.”

Climate Change for Kids: “More sea and less land is fine for penguins and for fish, but it's no good at all for people and other animals that live on the land. Some of the best land for growing food is also the most low-lying.”

Climate Change in Australia: “Australian average temperatures have increased 0.9°C since 1950, with significant regional variations. The frequency of hot days and nights has increased and the frequency of cold days and nights has declined.”

Climate Kids: “Global climate is the average climate over the entire planet. And the reason scientists and folks like you are concerned is that Earth's global climate is changing. The planet is warming up fast--faster than at any time scientists know about from their studies of Earth's entire history.”

Unite for Climate: “As much as most of us like warmer weather, there is more to climate change than just temperature increase. In fact, while the average temperature of the earth’s surface is rising, the effects of this change on the climate in different regions of the world are very different – and warmer weather is not always the result.”

US Environmental Protection Agency : “Many factors, such as the sun, the Earth's orbit, and sometimes even volcanic eruptions, can affect the Earth's climate. Scientists … find that there's only one clear explanation for what's happening now: Extra greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are warming the Earth.”

Did You Know?

  • The global average sea level rose by close to 20 centimetres between 1870 and 2007.
    • www
  • Estimates are that by 2030 Australia will face:
    • a further 1°C of warming in temperatures
    • up to 20 per cent more months of drought
    • up to 25 per cent increase in days of very high or extreme fire danger
    • increases in storm surges and severe weather events.
    • www
  • Over the 21st century, Tasmanian temperature is projected to rise by about 2.9 °C under the high emissions scenario, and about 1.6 °C under the low emissions scenario.
    • www

These sites have ideas on how to make a difference.

Nick Towle: a Tasmanian who rode from Sydney to Hobart as part of Cycle for Sustainability

Climate Action Hobart: You can join up and be empowered to adopt sustainable living practices.

Join the Australian Youth Climate Coalition

Teacher resources