Climate Concepts
What is the climate emergency?
List 3 likely impacts of climate change.
Impacts include rising sea levels, stronger storms, biodiversity loss, extreme heatwaves, and changes in rainfall patterns.
What is meant by 'Anthropocene'?
Anthropocene is a proposed era when human activity has become the dominant influence on Earth’s systems, in particular our impact on the environment and causing climate change
Name three forms of renewable energy.
Solar, wind, hydroelectric, geothermal, biogas energy.
What is meant by the 'Enhanced Greenhouse Effect'?
The enhanced greenhouse effect occurs due to human activity creating increased amounts of greenhouse gases (through burning fossil fuels, fertiliser, building industry, deforestation, animal agriculture) which trap more heat in Earth's atmosphere, warming the planet more than the natural effect.
What is biodiversity and how is it threatened?
Biodiversity is the variety of life on Earth. It is important because biodiverse environments can help ecosystems stay resilient in climate change. It's threatened by habitat loss, pollution, overexploitation, invasive species, and climate change.
How do humans and natural disasters affect land cover?
Humans change land cover via farming, urbanisation, war, and deforestation. Natural disasters like fires, floods or volcanoes also reshape landscapes.
How can renewable energy reduce climate change?
They produce little or no greenhouse gases, replacing fossil fuels and lowering atmospheric CO₂. This in turn reduces the enhanced greenhouse effect which is causing rising temperatures which then causes increased strength and frequency of destructive storms, flooding, fires, etc.
What is climate adaptation? Give examples.
Climate adaptation means adjusting to current or expected climate impacts, rather than trying to reduce the cause of the climate impacts. Examples: sea walls, drought-resistant crops, building adaptations, etc.
Name the three most important greenhouse gases and human/natural sources.
Carbon Dioxide - CO₂ – human: fossil fuels; natural: volcanoes
Methane - CH₄ – human: livestock like cattle and sheep; natural: wetlands
Nitrous Oxide - N₂O – human: fertilizers; natural: soil bacteria
What is climate mitigation? Give examples.
Climate change mitigation refers to efforts that will reduces climate change causes - essentially reducing emissions. Examples: renewable energy, reforestation, carbon capture, etc.
What can governments do to fight climate change?
Governments can fund green infrastructure, set emissions targets, create laws to protect ecosystems, and invest in public transport and renewables.
Describe the carbon cycle and carbon sinks.
The carbon cycle moves carbon through the atmosphere, land, and oceans. Carbon enters the atmosphere through human and animal respiration, decay of dead organisms, burning of forests and fossil fuels. Carbon sinks like forests, soils, algae/sea weed, plants, and oceans absorb CO₂, reducing warming.
Describe the 4 S’s of environmental functions.
Source: acts as a provision of natural resources like food water and raw materials, lumber from trees, gold and other minerals, fish
Sink: acts as waste absorption (e.g. CO₂), oceans, soil, trees are a carbon sink.
Service: provides life-giving cycles/benefits like pollination, water cycle, photosynthesis
Spiritual: value it holds in terms of recreation, pscyholoyg, aesthetics and spirituality, mountain biking, scuba diving, hiking, meditating, 'forest bathing'
Describe the relationship between carbon dioxide and global temperatures.
As we've seen increased carbon in the atmosphere due to the burning of fossil fuels for human activity, the global temperature has also risen due to the greenhouse effect.
Summarise a mitigation or adaptation technique from research.
Too many answers!