What is climate change?

Climate change is when the Earth’s usual weather, like how warm or cold it is and how much it rains, starts to change in a big way. The weather is always changing – sometimes it's sunny and hot, other times it's cold and wet – and normally it keeps Earth balanced so that all the plants, animals and people can live happily.

However, recently the Earth has started getting warmer than usual. This is happening because people are doing things like burning oil, coal and gas for energy, cutting down lots of trees, and making too much waste. These things release gases, called greenhouse gases, into the air, which trap more heat in the Earth's atmosphere. It’s like putting a warm blanket around the planet that gets thicker and thicker.

When Earth gets warmer, it affects everything. Ice in cold places starts to melt, causing sea levels to rise. Animals and plants that live in certain habitats struggle to survive because the weather they’re used to is changing. Sometimes, we even get more extreme weather, like really hot days, big storms and heavy rains. Climate change is a big problem for our planet.

Climate change is causing big problems like flooding in many parts of the world.

What can we do to stop climate change?

There are lots of things we can do to help stop climate change. It's important that everyone on the planet works together and takes responsibility so that we can slow the harmful effects of global warming as much as possible. Here are some examples of simple things everyone can do to help slow down climate change:

Save water: Using less water saves energy so is an easy way to help climate change. Take shorter showers, don't leave the taps running when you're not using them and don't use sprinklers in your gardens.

Avoid using plastic: Plastic takes a very long time to break down and can harm nature. Avoid single-use plastics and instead use reusable bottles, bags and containers.

Save energy: Turn off the lights when you aren't using them, as well as electrical devices such as TVs and computers. This will help save energy, which is good for our planet.

Walk more: Try walking or cycling for shorter journeys if you can instead of using cars or buses. If the journey is too far to walk, consider using public transport instead, like buses or trains. Fewer cars on the road will help reduce traffic pollution.

Eat more vegetables: Eating meat is more harmful to the environment than eating plants because meat production uses a lot of energy and water. Animals that are bred for meat also release a lot of gases.

Reduce, reuse, recycle: Lots of us are guilty of buying more than we need and not making the most of the things we have. Buying less, reusing items (for example by wearing second-hand clothes instead of new clothes) and recycling the items you no longer need will all have a positive impact on the planet.

Support clean energy: Using solar or wind power produces less pollution than using coal or gas so consider using these energy sources if possible.

Plant more trees: Trees absorb carbon dioxide which is a harmful greenhouse gas and release oxygen. This helps keep our air clean so the more trees we have, the cleaner our air will be!

Shop locally: Instead of buying foods that have been shipped from across the globe, try buying local produce wherever you can in order to reduce your carbon footprint.

Encourage your friends and family: Talk about climate change and how to make changes with your friends and family to remind them of some of the ways we can help. The more we talk about climate change, the more action we will take collectively.

Small actions like turning off light switches when you aren't using them can help reduce climate change.

How can we teach KS1 children about climate change?

It's important to engage children in caring for our planet from a young age. You can start by teaching KS1 children that there are different types of weather and climate around the world, and that this is normal, but that when the actions of people cause these climates to become more extreme then the world becomes more difficult to live in.

To encourage them to think about this in a format that they can understand, ask questions like, 'What would happen if it didn't rain for a whole month? What would happen to the plants and animals?' or 'What would happen to the playground if it rained non-stop for two weeks?'

You can then explore some of the effects of climate change with them, for example by identifying that flooding is happening more often around the world because the planet is getting warmer. Explore what happens when it floods and how this affects people, plants and animals.

Finally, explore some simple steps that the children can take themselves to combat climate change. They could, for example, make signs to remind them to turn off the lights in the classroom when they go out for break times or assemblies. They could go litter picking in the playground or local area. They could take part in a 'walk to school' challenge. At this age, encouraging actions that are relevant to children's everyday lives is a good place to start.

There are lots of activities KS1 children can engage in to help them look after the environment, such as litter picking.

How can we teach KS2 children about climate change?

By the time children reach KS2, most have a basic understanding of climate change and the effect it has on the planet. Children in KS2 should go into greater detail about what causes climate change and start to understand the science behind it, exploring why these changes are happening now. In our scheme of work Know Better, Do Better, children in lower KS2 explore how the Industrial Revolution changed the world and the continuing impact this is having on the planet. They then explore the bad habits the human population got into and what we can do to reverse these habits.

In upper KS2, children can dive further into the complexities of climate change and explore some of the controversy surrounding the debate on global warming. At this age, they are mature enough to consider the long-term implications of climate change on the planet and its people, as well as exploring meaningful action on how to tackle the problem, such as looking at green careers. These are all studied in our climate change scheme of work for Year 5 and Year 6 children, People and Planet.

Teaching children about green careers in upper KS2 is a great way to help them consider their role in caring for our planet.