Reducing and adapting to climate change Cambridge IGCSE Environmental Management revision
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In plain words
There are two jobs. One is to stop making the problem worse, by cutting the gases that cause it. The other is to live with the changes already on their way. The first is called reducing carbon footprints, and the second is adaptation.
11 things to know
- A carbon footprint is the amount of greenhouse gas released by the activities of a person, a product or a country.
- Reduce the use of fossil fuels, by using renewable energy. Increase energy efficiency, so less energy is needed for the same job.
- Food: more sustainable food choices, such as a plant-based diet, seasonal food and locally produced food. A reduction in livestock farming cuts methane.
- Reforestation is replanting trees where forest was cut down. Afforestation is planting trees where there was no forest. Trees take in carbon dioxide.
- Carbon sequestration is the capture, removal and storage of carbon dioxide, for example by storing it deep underground.
- Governments can act through transport policies, taxation on fuels and emissions, and international agreements and policies in which countries agree on targets.
- A reduction in the number of children per woman slows population growth, so less energy and food are needed.
- Research and climate models improve predictions. Artificial intelligence is used to predict the impacts of climate change and to develop strategies to reduce them.
- Climate change adaptation means altering behaviour, practices and infrastructure to adapt to the impacts of climate change.
- Adaptation strategies: crops that resist warmer, drier or wetter conditions; improved flood defences; laws about building near coasts and on floodplains; and building designs and materials that cope with heat and floods.
- Limitations. Changing energy systems is costly and slow. People resist changing their diet and travel. International agreements are hard to reach and to enforce. Adaptation treats the effects and leaves the cause untouched, and poorer countries cannot always afford it.
Worked example
A coastal city faces more floods. Classify each plan as reducing the carbon footprint or adaptation: building a higher sea wall, running buses on electricity, banning new houses on the floodplain.
- A higher sea wall is an improved flood defence: adaptation.
- Electric buses reduce the use of fossil fuels: reducing the carbon footprint.
- A ban on building on the floodplain is legislation that keeps people out of danger: adaptation.
Tips and tricks
- Reducing the footprint tackles the cause. Adaptation deals with the effects. A question on one does not want examples of the other.
- Reforestation replaces forest that was lost. Afforestation makes forest where there was none.
It lands in your notebook with its questions as flashcards.
Reducing and adapting to climate change: 6 questions and answers
These are the quiz’s questions. Do the quiz first, then come back here for the ones that got you.
What is carbon sequestration?
The carbon dioxide is kept out of the atmosphere.
What is afforestation?
Replanting lost forest is reforestation.
Which is an adaptation to climate change?
It deals with an effect, not the cause.
Why does reducing livestock farming help?
Methane is a greenhouse gas.
Which food choice lowers a carbon footprint?
Less transport and heating means fewer emissions.
A farmer plants a variety of maize that survives with less rain. What is this an example of?Stretch
The practice changes to fit the new climate.
Quiz
6 questions
Tap an answer and you’ll see straight away whether it’s right, and why.
Worksheet
3 questions, 8 marks. Write your answers on paper, then check them.
Reducing and adapting to climate change
Cambridge IGCSE Environmental Management 0680 · 8 marks · papermunch.org
Name ______________________________ Date ______________
Define climate change adaptation.[2]
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Altering behaviour, practices and infrastructure to adapt to the impacts of climate change.
Describe three food choices that reduce a person's carbon footprint.[3]
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Eating a plant-based diet. Eating seasonal food. Buying locally produced food.
Explain why international agreements on climate change have limitations.[3]
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Countries find it hard to agree on targets, because cutting emissions costs money. Some countries do not sign. Targets are difficult to enforce, so countries may miss them.
Answers: Reducing and adapting to climate change
- 1. Altering behaviour, practices and infrastructure to adapt to the impacts of climate change.
- 2. Eating a plant-based diet. Eating seasonal food. Buying locally produced food.
- 3. Countries find it hard to agree on targets, because cutting emissions costs money. Some countries do not sign. Targets are difficult to enforce, so countries may miss them.