1. Planet Earth, our home in space, is warming year on year. Since the birth of the Industrial Revolution the average global temperature has increased by 1 degree C.
  2. Doesn't sound much, does it? However, climate scientists warn that any rise above 2 degrees will spell disaster on a worldwide scale - and we're already halfway there. Anything up to 4 degrees C and we're looking at irreversible mass extinction.
  3. The rise is caused by emissions of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels in cars, power plants and industry, giving rise to the Greenhouse Effect.
  4. This happens because carbon dioxide molecules allow heat from the sun to penetrate the atmosphere but then block its escape into space, acting just like a greenhouse - hence the name.
  5. As snow and ice melt at both poles, revealing more and more ocean and darker land cover, less sunlight is reflected back and more heat absorbed, leading to an unstoppable runaway effect of spiralling temperatures.
  6. But is the science reliable? 97 per cent of the world's climatologists are convinced it is, leaving just 3 per cent with doubts and reservations. Ask yourself this question: if I had cancer and 97 per cent of oncologists recommended one course of treatment and 3 per cent another, which group of doctors would I trust and want to treat me?
  7. Some media commentators are vocal in their opposition. They accuse scientists of jumping on the climate bandwagon, chasing after grants to further their careers. But who is funding the sceptics and climate change deniers? The big multi-national energy corporations with vested interests in coal, oil and gas, that's who - gifting $558 million to 91 climate denial organisations. Draw your own conclusions.
  8. Let's separate scientific fact from corporate propaganda. Consider this: NASA research shows that 2015 was the hottest year ever recorded. NASA also says that 15 of the 16 hottest years on record have occurred since the year 2000. These are facts that even climate change deniers can't deny.
  9. Finding a way out of this deadly cycle of environmental decline is going to be tough. There are no easy answers. At the heart of it lies our greed and our reliance on fossil fuels, for which we must find alternatives - and soon - if the planet and our species are to survive.
  10. The next thirty years are crucial. What kind of legacy are we prepared to bequeath to our children and our grandchildren, and the descendants that follow? We could be selfish and say, why should I care? I won't be here. Or we could act as responsible, caring human beings and strive to do something to change it. Now, before it's too late. It is up to us.

Trevor Hoyle is the author of a novel, The Last Gasp (published by Quercus on 7th April), a 21st century prophesy of a world running out of oxygen, and the future fate of the human race.

Trevor Hoyle

Trevor Hoyle