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In the not too distant past, Global Warming was the hot topic on the television news bulletins, political discussion programmes and on the front pages of our newspapers. Everywhere you looked there were warnings about rising global temperatures and the effects of climate change on our environment.

More recently the emphasis has shifted with our media now preferring to report on wars in Ukraine and the Middle East or on the numbers of illegal immigrants crossing the English Channel in small boats. While these are all important aspects of world news and are quite rightly being reported and discussed, global warming has not gone away.

Global warming is the long-term warming of the planet's overall temperature and it is still a threat to the future survival of our planet. The concentration of greenhouse gases is at its highest in living memory and data shows that the earth's temperature is continuing to rise

There are three main aspects of this phenomenon that we need to understand. Firstly we need to consider what causes it, then we should look at the effects of global warming on the planet. Having understood both of these we should reflect on ways to manage this rise in global temperature.

The major factor that contributes to global warming to a greater or lesser degree is the emission of gases such as, methane and nitrous oxide into the earth’s atmosphere. There are a number of man-made sources of these gases.

• Power generation – For many years, the main source of electricity generation was coal fired power stations as coal was recognised as the cheapest form of fuel for the power generation industry. Fortunately it has now been accepted as the “dirtiest” of the fossil fuels and in most countries these have been replaced by gas fired power stations which although still fed by a fossil fuel are slightly less harmful to the atmosphere. There are however still a few countries heavily dependent on coal. China still has in excess of 1100 coal fired generation plants with both India and the United States each still operating in excess of 200. By comparison, the UK has 1 still in operation. Burning fossil fuels sends large quantities of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The power generation industry has recently started to move away from fossil fuels and is now generating more electricity from renewable sources such as wind and solar which do not emit greenhouse gases and are now becoming the power generation sources of the future.
• Internal combustion engines - Most cars, trucks, ships, and planes run on either petrol or diesel, both fossil fuels making transportation a major contributor of carbon-dioxide emissions. Road vehicles have traditionally accounted for the largest part, due to their use of fossil fuelled internal combustion engines. This is changing however and we are already seeing a big rise in the number of electric vehicles (EVs) on our roads as a result of governments bringing in legislation, limiting then banning sales of new petrol or diesel powered vehicles. Conversely, emissions from ships and aircraft continue to grow and as holidays abroad and international trade increase, these are not liable to decrease unless an alternative fuel can be found and adopted. At the moment, transport accounts for nearly one quarter of global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions but that could fall dramatically as EVs replace internal combustion vehicles.
• Agriculture – Agriculture for the purpose of food production may be either the rearing of livestock or the growing of crops and with a growing world population, the need for both is increasing. This means that the production of greenhouse gases will also increase. Methane is produced by farm animals such as cattle as well as rice farming and this is around 28 times more potent and harmful than carbon dioxide. We have a further problem, in as much as we have a growing population and that means more mouths to feed. This in turn means more methane emitting cattle to produce more meat for human consumption or dairy production. It also puts more pressure on maximising the production of crops and increases the usage of fertilisers, which increases the amount of nitrous oxide, another potent greenhouse gas being released into the atmosphere.
• Deforestation (Soya bean farming). – Livestock farmed for food production also requires to be fed and very few now feed solely on grass. Soya based feed is the most widely used and as populations and demand for food continue to grow, so does the demand for soya. Over three quarters of the world’s soya production now goes to animal feed with around 90% of the UK’s soya bean imports being used as feed. The phenomenal rise in the demand for soya means that there has been an equivalent rise in the demand for land to grow this crop. This drive for land to grow soya saw more than 1,000 sq km of Amazon rainforest being felled to expand farms growing soya in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso. Over a 10-year period and great tracts of rainforest have disappeared to facilitate the quadrupling of Brazil’s soya production. Trees are important in the fight against climate change because they easily store carbon dioxide, take away the trees and the carbon dioxide will be released into the atmosphere further fuelling global warming. Soya bean crops are also subjected to frequent use of pesticides with both Argentina and Brazil both increasing their use by over 170%. These not only harm the indigenous population and wildlife but release copious amounts of nitrous oxide into the atmosphere.
• Domestic power consumption – Homes, offices and factories are all dependant on electricity for their individual needs on a day to day basis. Offices for lights and equipment, factories to power machinery and homes for just about everything in them.  It is inconceivable that we could ever live our lives without electricity, but it is conceivable that we could find a more planet friendly way of conserving it by lowering our usage. We could better insulate our homes, use solar panels to supplement the energy we use from the grid and if necessary have an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) issued for the property which would assess ways in which it could be made more energy efficient.

 These are only some of the measures we can take to reduce our energy usage and help to lessen the volume of harmful emissions into the earth’s atmosphere. The headline grabbing conflicts reported by the world’s media are having a devastating effect on the areas of the world where they take place, but we should not forget that by allowing the amounts of harmful gases like carbon dioxide and methane to pollute the earth’s atmosphere unchecked, we risk allowing them to have a devastating effect on the entire planet.