We should be really concerned about Global Warming and Climate Change. It largely results from the burning of fossil fuels that each year release billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. These act like a blanket over the earth's surface keeping it warmer than it would otherwise be. This century, as sea level rises, water availability changes and as the frequency or intensity of heat waves, droughts, floods and storms increases, billions of people will be disadvantaged and hundreds of millions of environmental refugees will be created. And signs of climate change are already being seen. The 1990s were probably the warmest decade in the last 1,000 years - Global Warming is already upon us.
While the developing world is the hardest hit: extremes of climate tend to be more intense at low latitudes and poorer countries are less able to cope with disasters. The UK needs to take its share of the global burden; our government has already agreed a target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050. This means facing up to some very big challenges.
This is a problem that is going to affect our children and our grandchildren who will experience the impacts of climate change. This website recognises this and rises to the challenge giving teachers the means to educate our future generations: I heartily recommend it.
Sir John Theodore Houghton FRS CBE
Shared in the Nobel Peace Prize, 2007 awarded to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC). Sir John was chair of co-chair of the IPCC Scientific Assessment from 1988 to 2002.