• Question: You say that all the CO2 is causing the world to warm up (global warming) and yet, here in Britain, our summers are, if anything, getting colder. How can that work?

    Asked by scienceenrichment777 to Indi, Jarv, John, Ken, Vicky on 12 Mar 2012. This question was also asked by jz08.
    • Photo: John Prytherch

      John Prytherch answered on 12 Mar 2012:

      The CO2 (and other greenhouse gasses) we are putting into the atmosphere cause the whole world, on average, to warm. But the world will still experience weather, and seasons. And some places, like Britain, may warm only a little, and some other places (like Antarctica, or sub saharan Africa) are warming a lot.

      In fact Britain has been warming, and the average climate here (which is the temperature over the whole country over the whole year) has been increasing, even if sometimes the summer (and especially the school summer holidays!) have been dissapointly cold and wet.

      Also, it may feel like the summers are getting colder because we haven’t had a lot of bright sunny, “BBQ” days in July and August, but a warmer climate can lead to more clouds and rain.

    • Photo: Jarvist Moore Frost

      Jarvist Moore Frost answered on 12 Mar 2012:

      For instance, today in London it’s unbelievably hot! Of course, this is just weather, and doesn’t mean the climate is changing.
      But certainly I look around London & the countryside, and I see that Spring has come in general very early and the Winter was very mild.

      Of course, all this is just anecdotes.
      You need people like John who look at all the data we can collect at once to see what’s going on with the ‘bigger picture’.

    • Photo: Vicky Young

      Vicky Young answered on 20 Mar 2012:

      There is an awesome documentary/movie on this called “An Inconvenient Truth”

      You should watch it!! Trailer below!

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