Climate change

Question 1

Does it matter if global temperatures rise by only 2 degrees?

Answer 1

• Glaciers melt on mountains
• Ice caps melting causes sea levels to rise
• Ice reflects heat but water absorbs it, so warmer oceans
• Low lying countries submerged
• Ecosystems will change, some species will become extinct and migrate

Question 2

Natural causes of climate change: Orbital changes the Milankovitch cycle

Answer 2

The shape of the Earth’s orbit around the sun changes from being almost circular to an ellipse and back again. When the orbit is an ellipse, the Earth gets further away from the sun and receives less energy. Winters are more severe.

Question 3

Natural causes of climate change: Axial tilt

Answer 3

As the Earth turns on its axis, it ‘wobbles’. This means that the direction of the axis is pointing in slowly changes over 26,000 years. Scientists believe that the 3 cycles working together affects the amount of energy reaching the Earth from the sun.

Question 4

Natural causes of climate change: Solar activity

Answer 4

• Sunspots are dark patches that appear on the surface of the sun.
• When sunspot activity is at the max, the sun gives off more heat
• When it’s at the min, the heat from the sun is slightly reduced

Question 5

Natural causes of climate change: Volcanic activity

Answer 5

• Very large violent volcanic eruptions blast huge quantities of ash, gases and liquids into the atmosphere. Volcanic ash can block out the sun in the short term and reduce temperatures at ground level

Question 6

Human causes of climate change - carbon dioxide - 60% of enhanced greenhouse gases

Answer 6

• Burning fossil fuels
• Car exhausts
• deforestation

Question 7

Human causes of climate change - methane - 20% of enhanced gases

Answer 7

• burning biomass to create energy

- rice farming and cattle - population increase

Question 8

Human causes of climate change - Nitrous oxide - small % but powerful

Answer 8

• car exhausts
• fertilisers
• generating electricity in power stations

Question 9

Mitigation: renewable energy

Answer 9

• Are use to help reduce carbon dioxide emission
• Hydro-electric, nuclear, solar, wind energy
  GP: don’t emit CO2 large amounts
  renewable will lst into furture

Question 10

Mitigation: planting trees (Afforestation)

Answer 10

• It works by planting trees to take more CO2 out of the atmosphere.
• Younger trees absorb CO2 quickly while they are growing, but as the tree ages, this decreases
  GP: Young trees absorb it quickly

Question 11

Mitigation: carbon capture

Answer 11

• Carbon capture and storage uses technology to capture the CO2 produced from the use of fossil fuels in electricity generation and industrial processes.
• CO2 is captured, compressed, transported by pipleline to an injection well. It is injected as a liquid into the ground to be stored.
  GP: Can capture 90% of CO2

Question 12

Mitigation renewable energy bad points

Answer 12

BP: not as reliable as fossil fuels, some are expensive, nuclear power poses a threat to life, nuclear waste emits radiation so it’s hard to get rid of.

Question 13

PLANTING TREES bad points

Answer 13

BP: You need a lot of trees, it takes a long time, need a lot of land, we are chopping down trees to make more space for growing crops.

Question 14

carbon capture bad points

Answer 14

BP: Very expensive, uses 20% of energy being produced to capture carbon in a power station

Question 15

What is climate change?

Answer 15

Climate change is a large scale, long term shift in the planets weather patterns or average temperatures

Question 16

Mitigation renewable energy bp

Answer 16

• Not as reliable as fossils
• Some are expensive
• NUCLEAR POWER threat to life - nuclear waste emits radiation so it’s hard to get rid of

Question 17

Internation agreements mitiagtion

Answer 17

• When diff copuntires meet to set targets to reduce co2 emissions
• GP: puts presure on Gov to invest in reducing co2 like renewabe energy

Question 18

Interational agreements bad points?

Answer 18

• not legally binding