It's World Environment Day and this year environmental groups, associations and agencies around the globe are pushing the theme: 'Kick the Habit! Towards a Low Carbon Economy'.

They are encouraging people to be more energy-efficient and to cut carbon dioxide emissions.

Carbon dioxide is the main contributor to global climate change, which experts worldwide have accepted as a scientific fact.

Global climate change could mean hotter temperatures in regions which were once cool, and frequent and more severe storms in areas which are already prone to such disasters.

Climate change effects

The United Nations and the inter-governmental panel on climate change has been pushing for industrialised countries to cut carbon dioxide emissions in an effort to slow down the real climate change effects.

While most developed countries have agreed to cut their emissions by 20 per cent in 2020, a drop in greenhouse gas emissions is still yet to be realised.

Last year, emissions of carbon dioxide and methane - another potent greenhouse gas - increased dramatically, due mainly to the increased burning of fossil fuels, rapid-growing industrialisation in Asia and emissions from wetlands in the Arctic region.

Methane levels rose for the first time since 1998, according to the ScienceDaily, but there is still far less of it in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide.

A recently concluded inventory of Jamaica's greenhouse gas emissions also showed that carbon dioxide and methane emissions increased significantly during the period 2000-2005.