Climate change

The original Greek word "klíma" means incline. One of the most important factors that influences the climate is the sun. Depending on whether it is closer to the poles or closer to the equator, the sun hits the ground at different angles. The steeper the angle, the hotter region. Since this angle is of central importance, the phenomenon was named after it.

In 1992, a cargo ship lost part of its cargo during a violent storm in the mid-Pacific. When the containers fell off the ship and shattered, several thousand small plastic swimming animals poured into the sea. Without their own power source they were transported by sea currents around the globe. Up to this time people had greatly underestimated the strength and range of ocean currents.

El Niño is an unusual climate phenomenon, also called a climate anomaly. It is the term for the absence of the trade winds, which usually blow from East to West at the equator. The phenomenon occurs in varying cycles and can have devastating consequences. Because the wind and the water do not move, no cool, nutrient-rich water rises off the coast of South Africa, for example, so the fish have to look elsewhere for food in the ocean, which in turn has a negative impact on the fishing industry. In addition, the warming of seawater leads to heavier rainfall, while Indonesia and other parts of Asia suffer from draught due to the failure of the monsoon. The term "El Niño" was coined Peruvian fishermen, because it always occurs just before Christmas.

The digestive process of cattle produces large amounts of methane, which has a climate-damaging effect. As there are 1.4 billion cattle on the Earth, this represents an output of over 80 million tons of methane per year.

Currently in Europe there are 500 private road vehicles per 1000 residents. In China there are 40 per 1000 inhabitants. However, the number of cars in China is climbing rapidly. At present every fourth car is sold in China.

Transport by lorry produces 27-times more CO2 than transport by train.

Precisely 4240kg of CO2 per passenger are emitted by a single flight from Munich to New York. That is 120kg more than a person could emit in a year and still be environmentally friendly. In comparison to this: the annual emissions of a middle-sized car driven 12,000km are around 2000kg.

The Nomad 7 is a 43x23cm transportable solar collector which charges electronic equipment via a USB port.

The Arctic ice sheet has shrunk by a third since the 1970s. Researchers assume that the climate in the Arctic will warm up more quickly in the future than in other regions of the world. Connected to this are both an increase in sea level and the destruction of polar bears’ habitat.

On average an EU citizen produces 500kg of rubbish per year.

Carbon dioxide partially prevents the sun's rays that reach the Earth escaping back into space. CO2 acts like a blanket that has settled on the ground to keep it warm. If carbon dioxide was entirely absent, the average temperature on Earth would fall by about 30 degrees Celsius. Carbon dioxide also occurs naturally, for example through volcanic eruptions into the atmosphere, but the additional CO2 emissions caused by people mean that the Earth is warming more.

Over the last 10,000 years, the average temperature on Earth was 14 degrees Celsius.

With the beginning of industrialization in the 19th Century, masses of fossil fuels such as coal and later oil and gas were consumed, which released large amounts of CO2 during combustion.

The documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" by Davis Guggenheim, together with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, was honoured in 2007 with an Oscar.