While almost all scientists agree that climate change is definitely happening and that this is a bad thing not only for humans, but for the animal and plant life with which we share the planet, some think that climate change might not be such a bad thing. One example is Professor Richard Tol of Sussex University. His 2009 study on the effects of climate change found that viewed planet-wide, it would actually be a good thing until about 2080.

The benefits are small and have been felt more by rich countries than poor ones. It seems pretty much certain that after 2080, climate change would have negative impacts, but until then, the positives include less human deaths in winter - cold winters kill far more people than summer heat waves do, either in the UK or even Greece!

Meanwhile, increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide have actually been good for plants. A study of satellite data from the last 30 years by Dr Ranga Myengi of Boston University has found that 31% of areas covered in vegetation have become greener, while only 3% have become less green. This means that a 14% increase in the productivity of vegetation has been seen across a range of global ecosystems.

So climate change could actually be a good thing, at least for another 60 years, according to some scientists. They are currently very much in the minority. This does not necessarily mean that they are wrong. However, even they agree that after 2080, unchecked climate change will definitely be a bad thing. The big challenge for humanity is that the climate is a bit like a fire that you might light in your fireplace (if you have one) at home. The fire gets going and it?s nice and cosy. To keep the fire going, you throw on more logs now and then and maybe it starts to get too hot. When you stop adding logs, the fire doesn?t immediately stop burning and while it?s still burning the room is still hot and for a while might still be getting hotter. The world?s climate is like that fireplace, but on a much bigger scale. Even if we cut our emissions of greenhouse gases right now, today, it would be decades before the planet stopped warming up, which is why tackling climate change is an urgent problem for us all now.