SST Flashcards
Global warming
The rise in average temperature around the world
Why does the temperature change?
- Greenhouse gases that act like a warm blanket
- Changes in earth’s tilt and it’s path around the sun (occurs in cycles)
- Changes in the amount of energy the sun gives out (occurs in cycles)
How do greenhouse gases work?
When the sun sends energy it hits the earth and some of it gets reflected to space or into the greenhouse gases. Since the greenhouse gases are around earth, it keeps earth warm. Without it, all heat would escape earth and we would freeze at night
What is the earth’s average temperature without greenhouse gases?
-18°C
What are the 2 main greenhouse gases?
Carbon dioxide (CO²) and Methane (CH⁴)
How can carbon dioxide cause global warming?
Carbon dioxide occurs naturally but when we burn coal, oil and petrol we add extra into the world. With less trees, there’s less vegetation to take in carbon dioxide. And ever since the industrial revolution, factories produce more carbon dioxide
How can Methane cause global warming?
It’s comes from animals, like cows and goats that chew the cud and belch out methane and swamps and landfill sites. Since we raise more animals and extract more oil and gas methane levels keep rising
How can the changes in the earth’s tilt affect the temperature?
The hemisphere towards the sun will be getting summer/warmer temperatures and the hemisphere away from the sun will be getting winter/cooler temperatures
How can the amount of energy the sun gives out affect the temperature?
It can’t be predicted
Describe the differences of how much the temperatures may rise between 2000 and 2050
- The Arctic will get warmer. It will still be cold, but a bit warmer than today
- Antarctica will get warmer
- The northern hemisphere will warm more than the southern hemisphere mainly because it has more land
What was the average global temperature in 2000?
15.6°C, a rise of 6°C above would kill off billions of humans
Climate change
All aspects of climate are changing because Earth is getting warmer
Name some of the things that may happen because of climate change
- Some places will get much more rain and some will get less rain
- There will be more extreme weather: heatwaves, droughts, storms and flooding
- Ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica will start melting and mountain glaciers will melt too
- Sea levels will rise because of melting ice and because water expands as it warms
- Rising sea levels mean low-lying coastal places will flood more often and may even drown
- Some places will get too hot to grow crops, causing famine
- Some places will be able to grow new crops they couldn’t before
- Animals that can’t cope will die out
- Diseases will spread as insects and animals move around
- There will be millions of refugees as people flee from these conditions
What will happen to the UK’s climate in the future?
- They will have longer summer days and very few cold winter days, so snow might be rare
- Winters will be wetter than now, and summers will be drier but with sudden downpours that can cause flashfloods
There will be more extreme weather events and flooding
What will happen as the UK warms?
- Farmers may start growing things like peaches and sunflowers but drought could be a big problem
- Birds like hoopoes, are likely to breed in the UK because they are from warmer places
- British birds like the red grouse, which need a colder climate, may only live in the Scottish Highlands
What is a powerful warming gas?
Methane, but we pump far more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere
Famine
Extreme scarity of food
Who is being affected by climate change?
Places, people, plants and animals
How is climate change affecting the arctic ocean?
- More ice is melting each year and earlier
- That is not good for polar bears as they use it as a platform for hunting seals
- Less ice means they must swim further for their food or starve
How is climate change affecting the tundra?
- Soil below the surface is usually frozen all year and that is called permafrost
- The permafrost is starting to thaw so buildings are shifting and tilting and the methane trapped inside escapes into the air
How is climate change affecting the southwest of the USA?
- They often have droughts but now they are more severe, especially in California and Texas
- Crops shrivel and farmers, homes and businesses compete for a limited water supply
How is climate change affecting the rivers in Peru?
- They are fed by glaciers up in the Andes mountains
- These glaciers are shrinking very fast so sea levels are falling and Peru is suffering from water shortages
How is climate change affecting the people in Africa?
- Most people in Africa depend on farming but rainfall patterns are changing
- Both droughts and floods are becoming more common
- In Uganda, farmers say that it’s really hard to decide when to plant
How is climate change affecting the prices of foods like wheat?
- Wheat is a major world crop
- In Pakistan and many other countries, wheat yields are falling thanks to climate change, so prices of foods made from wheat are rising
How is climate change affecting the Pacific ocean?
- Water levels are rising faster than anywhere else
- Low flat island countries like Tuvalu are now flooded very often
- The ocean may have covered Tuvalu by 2100
How is climate change changing wildlife patterns?
- For example in the UK, frog spawns are hatching earlier and the Brown Argus is spreading north to places which were once too cold for it
Permafrost
The ground under the surface that is permanently frozen in the tundra
What is the population for Tuvalu?
11,000
Why do we need greenhouse gases?
Because without them all heat would escape from Earth and we’d freeze at night, but now we think we have too much of them
The level of carbon dioxide has been rising since the industrial revolution. Why?
- Human activities, especially industrialization, caused a surge in atmospheric carbon dioxide
- Industrialization significantly contributes to carbon dioxide emissions
- Deforestation and land-use change play significant roles
- Human activity is the primary driver of rising carbon dioxide levels
List some of the effects of global warming
- Increased frequency and severity of extreme weather events
- Rising sea levels and coastal erosion
- Loss of biodiversity, habitat disruption and impacts on human health
Greenhouse gases
Some gases that act like a warm blanket around Earth keeping heat in/ trapping heat in are called greenhouse gases. They occur naturally in the atmosphere, but we also add some extra
List the positive changes in the climate of the UK changing
- Longer growing seasons
- Expansion of wildlife habitats
- More outdoor recreation oppurtunies
List the negative changes in the climate of the UK changing
- More heatwaves
- Increased flooding
- Distrubition to ecosystems
How will climate change affect the poorer countries?
They will have drought, crop loss, and flooding in Africa and Asia and it costs a lot of money to help people with these events and since they don’t have much money to spend they will suffer the most
Who will suffer most?
The poorer countries but the richer countries have pumped more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere over the years and most scientists say that’s the main culprit
How does CO² form from things containing carbon?
They form when we burn fuels like coal, oil, gas, petrol, diesel, kerosene and wood (They all contain carbon)
How is it not fair to poorer countries?
Because we burn coal, oil and gas in power stations to make electricity for our homes, cars and cooking (so for example when we turn on a light or charge a mobile, we are burning fossil fuels indirectly) but in poorer countries, they don’t have electricity or cars. They use very little fuel: only firewood
Even though poorer countries produce less CO² per person, this doesn’t help them to escape climate change. Explain
When we burn fuels containing carbon the CO² goes into the air and then gets moved by the wind and it spreads through the lower atmosphere, so the warming effect is felt everywhere. The result is that poor people still suffer from the effects of global warming
What do 2 billion people around the world depend on for their cooking?
Firewood and animal dung
How many people depend on firewood and animal dung for their cooking?
2 billion people
What provides 80% of the world’s energy?
Oil, coal and gas
Oil, coal and gas provide how much of the world’s energy?
80%
Give an example of local actions, global effects?
When we leave the light on or the TV on standby
Why does the amount of carbon dioxide production change every year?
Because countries are developing for example China produces CO² on our behalf because factories use fuel to make a lot of things we buy
In 2012, a person in the UK produced how many more times on average than a person in Ghana?
19 times
In 2012, a person in the USA produced how many more times on average than a person in the UK?
2 times
What are the positive effects of climate change?
- Warmer temperatures could improve agricultural activity
- Potential reduction in cold-related deaths may occur
- economic opportunities may emerge
How are poor countries affected by global warming?
They will face disproportionate impacts from global warming:
- Climate change affects agriculture, water and health in impoverished regions
- Limited resources and infrastructure hinder adaption and migration efforts
Scientists think __________ was due to a big reduction in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere
Snowball Earth
Can we stop global warming?
No. If global warming is natural, then we can’t stop it. But if we are causing it we still can’t stop it. Because the extra carbon dioxide in the air already will hang around for at least a hundred years. But we can cut back on the amount we produce now to limit the temperature rise in the future
It is really _____ to get governments to agree about climate change
hard
In 1960, the world population was _______________
2600 million or 2.6 billion
What was the world population in 1960?
2600 million or 2.6 billion
In 2000, the world population was _______________
6100 million or 6.1 billion
What was the world population in 2000?
6100 million or 6.1 billion
What are the predictions of the world population in 2050?
- The population will rise so in 2050 it will be 10 billion and 16 billion in 2100
- The population will start to fall, so in 2050 it will be 9 billion then start to fall
The population will reach about __________ by 2050 if it continues to grow
10 billion
The population will reach about __________ by 2100 if it continues to grow
16 billion
The population will reach _________ by 2050 if growth will fall
9 billion
Why might the population fall?
- As people grow better off, they tend to have fewer children. They don’t need them as security. Instead, they usually try to give each child as good a life as they can
- When women have more education and take up work outside the home, they tend to marry later and have fewer children
_____________ is expected to rise everywhere
Life expectancy
It is predicted that India will have _________ people by 2050 and be the most populous country in the world
1.6 billion
It is predicted that ______ will have 1.6 billion people by 2050 and be the most populous country in the world
India
By 2050, around ___________ people aged over 65 and millions of people over 100
1.5 billion
_________ will still have the highest birth rates
Poorer countries
Poorer countries will still have the ________ birth rates
highest
Africa’s population is predicted to _______ by 2050
double
_________ population is predicted to double by 2050
Africa’s
What problems might rich countries like Germany and Japan face?
- Too few babies
- Many elderly people
- Not enough workers
________ has the lowest % of children in Europe
Germany
Compare between Germany and Ethiopia’s population in 2050
Germany’s population will fall by about 0.2% a year while Eithiopia’s will rise over 3% a year
Germany’s population structure in 2050
- There will be more people aged over 65 than under 15, so this is an ageing population
- People of the working age will have many elderly people to support
- The % of young people is low. When they grow up, there won’t be enough of them to do all the work, so Germany will need immigrants from other countries
The UK population may reach ___________ by 2050
77 million
Ethiopia’s population structure in 2050
- Life expectancy is rising in Ethiopia
- The % of people aged 66 and over will still be low by 2050 but there will be a high % of people aged under 15
- Ethiopia will have a very young population
- With so many young people, they may find it hard to get work when they grow up
What is the UK’s population today?
64 million
By 2050, over ___% of the people in Ethiopia will be under 15
40%
The trends
- Life expectancy is expected to rise everywhere
- By 2050, around 1.5 billion people aged over 65 and millions of people over 100
- Poorer countries will still have the highest birth rates
- Africa’s population is predicted to double by 2050
- Some rich countries, such as Germany and Japan may have too few babies, many elderly people and not enough workers
What is the current population in Qatar?
2,970,453
Qatar’s population is equivalent to _____% of the total world population
0.04%
_____% of Qatar’s population is urban
96.2%
Name some countries in Europe.
Luxembourg, Ireland, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Denmark
What is the largest populated country in Europe?
Russia
By this time tomorrow, earth will have an extra __________
225, 000 humans
By this time next year, there will be over ____________
80 million of us
2 years from now, there’ll be over ____________________
160 million more
The more of us there are, the more of Earth’s _________ we use up
resources
The more of us there are…
- The more food we need, to feed all of us
- Which means more land cleared up for farming, and more minerals dug up to make fertiliser
- The more homes we need- huts, flats, houses
- Which means more land cleared up for homes, and more timber, stone, clay, and sand used up
- The more fuel - oil, coal, gas, petrol, electricity, firewood
- Which means more trees gone, and more land cleared up for oil and gas wells, coal mines, power stations
We even compete for resources. Explain
- There have been wars over land and oil
- Some people predict that one day, quite soon, there will be wars over freshwater
Mention some of the bad ways we make use of Earth’s resources
- (disappearance of species) The more land we take over, the less there is for all the other living things. We think that over 100, 000 species a year are dying now, even pandas are at risk
- (Dumping of waste) The more resources we use, the more waste we create. It gets dumped on land and at sea. Some of it rots away quite fast but some will hang around for centuries
- (Global warming and acid rain) We cause other pollution too like acid rain, which kills trees (above) and scientists say we’re helping to bring on global warming by burning fuels
The more land we take over, ____________________________
the less there is for all the other living things
The more resources we use, _____________________________
the more waste we create
Is there hope?
Yes because now we see that we need to live in a more sustainable way, which doesn’t harm us or other species and is not wasteful
We are trying to repair some of the ________ we’ve done
damage
Resources
Materials or assets that can be used to produce goods and services.
They can be natural such as water, minerals and forests or human-made, like machinery and buildings
The main essential resources are food, water and territory (land)
What does world population refer to?
The total number of humans currently in the world
Which is the largest populated country in the world?
India or China
What do you mean by population distribution?
The way in which people are spread across a given area, region or country and it can be uneven
What is density of population?
The number of individuals living within that specific location detriments the population density
Why does the government need to know about the population?
Population data is essential for planning purposes. Any country needs to know the size and composition of its population around age and structure
Why does the government need to know about the distribution of population?
To plan how many schools, clinics, hospitals and jobs a country needs
How does the growing population impact our Earth?
- Increase resources demand
- Habitat destruction
- Environmental pressure
How does pollution lead to global warming and acid rain?
- Greenhouse gas emissions
- Acidic emissions
- Environmental impact
How can we live in a sustainable way?
- Reduce, reuse and recycle
- Renewable energy
- Sustainable practices
