Generation Green - Why We're All Part of Generation Green

Climate change is affecting the whole world and ours is the last generation that, through the simplest of lifestyle changes, can greatly reduce its impact.

Rising sea levels mean towns like Hastings could be under threat in the future

Climate refers to the average weather experienced over a long period. This includes temperature, wind and rainfall patterns. The climate of the Earth is not static, and has changed many times in response to a variety of natural causes.

Flowers are often appearing out of season now - even in Alexandra Park

The Earth has warmed by 0.74°C over the last hundred years but around 0.4°C of this warming has occurred since the 1970s.  A recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report claims that human activity is the primary driver of the observed changes in climate.  The main human influence on global climate is emissions of the key greenhouse gases - carbon dioxide (CO2),methane and nitrous oxide.  The accumulation of these gases in the atmosphere strengthens the greenhouse effect.  At present, just over 7 billion tonnes of CO2 is emitted globally each year through fossil use, and an additional 1.6 billion tonnes are emitted by land use change, largely by deforestation.  The concentrations of these gases in the atmosphere have now reached levels unprecedented for tens of thousands of years.

Rangers are already noticing the impact of climate change on wildlife in the Hastings Country Park.jpg

Average global temperatures are likely to rise between 1.1 and 6.4°C (with a best estimate of 1.8 to 4°C) above 1990 levels by the end of this century, depending on our emissions.  This will result in a further rise in global sea levels of between 20 and 60cm by the end of this century, continued melting of ice caps, glaciers and sea ice, changes in rainfall patterns and intensification of tropical cyclones.

Extreme weather is becoming more frequent.jpg

Play your part in the Twin Bin or kerbside recycling collection schemes and use some of the information on these pages to help reduce CO2 emissions!

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