Climate Change
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Some information on climate change, how it affects our environment and how it prompted BVCO's creation.
The Earth’s Climate
Weather and climate have a profound influence on life on Earth and are essential for food production and health.
- The Earth’s climate is not static and has undergone many changes through time.
- Over the last hundred years, the world’s average surface temperature rose by approximately 0.6°C. This is a rate greater than in any period over the last 1,000 years.
- Most of the warming was from 1910 to 1940 and from 1976 onwards it has warmed by 0.74°C.
- The term ‘climate change’ usually refers to changes that have been observed since the early 1900s. These changes in global climate are caused both by natural and human causes-temperature rise after the mid 1970’s in England and globally - see Hadley centre graphs.
Carbon
Forms of carbon are naturally stored on Earth in a number of reservoirs:
- The atmosphere
- Oceans and other bodies of water
- Limestone and corals (carbonate or CaCO3)
- Fossil fuels
- Living plants
- Dead organic matter
Carbon is continuously cycled between these reservoirs. Plants remove CO² from the atmosphere and store the carbon in roots, stems, leaves and the soil in a process known as sequestration. As plant material decomposes, it releases the carbon back into the atmosphere. Known as the carbon cycle, this process has continued naturally for the past 400 million years creating a balance between uptake and return of CO2. This balance is being damaged by humans.