The climate crisis is already here with us. This year alone we witnessed devastating wildfires in California, billions of locusts decimating crops in Kenya, terrible cyclones in India and Bangladesh, frequent flooding in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the highest temperature ever recorded.
These events are caused by rapid global temperature rises. This warming of the planet is happening because certain gases in the atmosphere, called greenhouse gases, block the heat from escaping. One of the biggest problems is carbon dioxide (CO2) and humans have increased CO2 in the atmosphere by more than a third by burning fossil fuels like coal and oil.
With scientists now saying we have just 10 years to avert a climate catastrophe, our lives could depend on world leaders coming together with the most ambitious plan the world has ever seen to curb climate change.
Getting all the leaders in the world to agree on what needs to be done can often feel as impossible as herding cats. But next November a critical opportunity is taking place for leaders to make this happen — the UN Climate Change Conference 2021, otherwise known as COP26. Find out what it is and why it’s so important to our global future by taking the quiz now.