Around 45% of the UK's

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    Around 45% of the UK's carbon dioxide emissions come from the energy people use every--at home and when they travel. In order to generate that energy, fossil fuels (coal oil, and gas) are burnt, and these produce greenhouse gases-in particular carbon dioxide (CO₂) a year, and it is the same CO₂ that is changing the climate and damaging the environment.
     CO₂ and various other gases wrap the earth in an invisible blanket helping to prevent heat from escaping. Without this greenhouse effect, the average temperature on Earth would be around －18℃, compared with the current average of around +15℃. The composition of this blanket of gases has remained relatively constant for many thousands of years. However, since the industrial revolution began around 200 years ago, people have been burning increasing amounts of fossil fuels, thus releasing more CO₂ and other greenhouse gases in the process. This has increased the heating effect of the blanket, trapping more of the sun's energy inside the earth's atmosphere in turn the earth's temperature has increased more rapidly in a shorter penned of there that it has for thousands of years.
     In 2008, the total UK CO2 emissions were 533 million tones 27% (144 million tons ) of those emissions came from the energy used to heat, light, and power homes. Transport emissions caused by passenger cars, buses and motorcycles accounted for a further 16% (87 million tons ) of the UK's CO2 emissions. These figures show that a significant amount of CO2 results from ordinary citizens' carbon footprint in their daily activities and lifestyle. The effects of climate change can be seen all around us. Weather patterns are becoming more and more fractured and uncertain, and over the last century trends in warm weather have become increasingly common. In the UK in the last 40 years, winters have grown warmer with much heavier rainfall. One of the clearest shifts over the last 200 years is towards summers that are hotter and drier, causing pervasive water shortages. Recent years have been the hottest since records began and during August 2003 the hottest outdoor temperature in the UK was recorded --38.5.