Scotland's Climate Change Plan – 2026-2040 - Children's version

What is Climate Change?

What is weather?

Weather is the way the air outside feels and can include sunshine, rain, snow, wind, and storms.

What is climate?

While weather lasts for a few days, the word ‘climate’ is used to describe weather in an area over a long time.

What is climate change?

Climate change describes the changes in normal weather over time.

Scientists have noticed the world is growing hotter over time. This is sometimes called global warming.

This warming is leading to more big weather events such as heat waves and flooding.

This change has been caused by human activities such as burning coal and oil and cutting down forests.

The effects of climate change can be different depending on where you live. Those in an island community will have different climate change to a city community.

What is climate mitigation?

This is when we take action to stop or slow down climate change. For example, we might ride our bikes to school rather than drive a car that burns oil.

What is climate adaptation?

This is when we make changes to protect ourselves from the climate's changes such as more rainfall, heat waves or flooding. For example, if we notice a river keeps overflowing after heavy rain, we might plant trees next to it to soak up the extra water and help keep the river from overflowing.