
Emer Rafferty’s reflections for young people
Northern Ireland’s COP26 Youth Ambassador, Emer Rafferty, shares her personal reflections with young people, following her time at the conference in Glasgow.
In the 1960’s scientists working in labs around the world were discovering that the carbon dioxide created by human activity had the potential to cause a warming effect on the planet. A subsequent prediction asserted that we would begin to experience these effects, most noticeably in our weather as we entered the twenty-first century. Some eighty years later we now know that ‘warming effect’ as climate change. We’ve gone from the theory to the reality – fairly quickly as it happens. In fact ten of the hottest years on record have been recorded since the year 2000.
There are almost daily reminders from across the world that our planet is getting hotter and that human behaviour is having an impact on our planet in a host of ways. For example increasing incidences of wildfires, reports of famine and drought, as well as the retreat of ice in the polar-regions, and landslides caused by soil erosion or flash floods.
The fact is, climate change is here and unless we all do something about it through the implementation of global policies and making individual lifestyle changes, our planet will change forever.
Climate change includes both global warming driven by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases and the resulting large-scale shifts in weather patterns.
The fact is, climate change is here and unless we all do something about it through the implementation of global policies and making individual lifestyle changes, our planet will change forever.
Don’t just take our word for it. Here’s Sir David Attenborough to tell you why we all need to take action:
We are sharing information, tips and advice on how we can all make small lifestyle changes that will help protect our local environment. Taken together, these small steps will help to reduce the impact of climate change.
Northern Ireland’s COP26 Youth Ambassador, Emer Rafferty, shares her personal reflections with young people, following her time at the conference in Glasgow.
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