1. What is climate change and how do we know it’s happening?
Climate change is the long term change in the weather and climate. We know that it is happening because over the years it has gotten warmer and the weather has intensified to the point where cyclones are becoming more common and heavy droughts have started to become worse.
2. What is causing climate change?
Climate change has a lot of causes for why it is happening and how much it is harming our planet. One is the greenhouse effect where the heat from the sun is trapped by the earth’s atmosphere to make it warmer and due to human activity it has now intensified not only the trapping of the sun’s heat but also has raised the chances of bad weather.
With the greenhouse effect it connects to why we have been having much worse weather. Weather types like cyclones, heavy droughts, wildfires, heat waves, and heavier rain are happening more regularly due to climate change getting worse this gives the weather that power boost it so much needed to become severe.
Another one is burning fossil fuels and combustion. Doing this means it lets out more carbon dioxide, greenhouse gasses and soot out into the atmosphere creating unexpected energy flows in our climate system.
3. In 2019, the “school strike 4 climate” movement started in Aotearoa. It’s still continuing today. Why do ākonga (students) throughout Aotearoa and globally want to go on strike from school and protest?
For the past 7 years Aotearoa has been trying their best to fight against climate change. As of mid march (march 15th) in 2019 schools from all over started to come together as a strike for the climate. During these strikes they would demand 3 main things.
1. Pass a Zero Carbon Act laying out a plan to get to carbon neutrality by 2050.
Why: Students wanted legally binding targets rather than loose political promises, and to protect the future.
2. Stop all exploration and extraction of fossil fuels
Why: The strikers recognized that burning coal, oil, and gas is the primary driver of global climate change. And they protested against ongoing onshore and offshore fossil fuel permits.
Regulate emissions from agriculture.
3. Why: And agriculture makes up a massive portion of New Zealand’s total greenhouse gas emissions.
My opinion on the student strike is both good and bad, strikes can be affected but also not really. Some people may take you seriously while others just think you are wasting their time. Some people do things that harm the climate because that is how they get paid.
