Tile hill wood school & language college

Geography department

GCSE Case Study Revision Guide

UNIT 1 – CLIMATE, THE ENVIRONMENT AND PEOPLE

Global Warming: Causes and Effects

In this case study you learned:

• How human activities can change the climate
• Global warming is an issue of global concern

What is Global warming?

• A rise in temperature over the earths surface,
• Thought to cause extremes of weather e.g. drought, floods, hurricanes etc,
• Thought to be caused by human activity,
• Possibly caused by pollution. Chiefly the amount of carbon we add or leave in the
atmosphere.
• It may increase temperature levels word wide.

How does global warming happen?

• Burning fossil fuels – coal, gas oil etc – releases harmful gases into the atmosphere,
• Carbon Dioxide (CO²) is one of these gases – it is called a “greenhouse” gas because it
stops heat escaping from the atmosphere,
• By continually producing CO² we are trapping even more heat in the atmosphere causing
global warming,
• CO² has increased by 10% in the last 100 years.

What are the consequences of Global Warming?

• Polar ice caps could melt – evidence suggests this is already happening – increasing
sea/ocean levels,
• Causes flooding to low lying land – particular problems for countries like Netherlands and
Bangladesh,
• Less water vapour in the atmosphere leading to more drought,
• Causes extremes of weather – hurricanes, flooding and droughts – which is very
problematic for areas which do not normally have these types of weather conditions,
• Reduction in Ozone Layer which protects the world from ultra violet rays from the sun.
Global emission of Greenhouses Gases

Methane - Waste dumps and rice fields

10%
CO² -
Destruction Nitrous Oxide Transport
5%
of Rainforest
and burning
fossil fuels
72% 13% CFC’s – Fridges, aerosols

Humans give off CO²

In respiration and through human
activity/industry
Why should we be worried?
• More skin cancer caused by the depleted ozone layer.
• Many homes and lives threatened by rising sea levels.
• Difficulties in coping with extreme weather conditions.
• Difficulties in growing crops because of weather variations.
• There are certainly many unforeseen problems/disasters that we cannot even guess at.

What can we do to help prevent it?

• We can stop the unnecessary destruction of the rainforest,

• Plant more trees,
• Reduce our energy consumption,
• Stop using CFCs,
• Use less vehicles on roads

REMEMBER – Unfortunately the more industrialised countries are

responsible for causing high levels of carbon in the atmosphere. More
industrialised countries (MEDCs) have more to lose to try to stop the
levels of greenhouse gas emissions. LEDCs cause less pollution because
they are less industrialised. But destruction of the rainforest is a very
significant cause of global warming.
These are some case study questions that you can now answer
if you have revised the global warming case study.
Have a go at these questions.

• CASE STUDY: The effects of people on climate.

Write about one way in which people have changed the climate.

(i) Describe the way in which people have changed the

climate. (6 lines)
(ii) Explain how the climate has been changed. (6 lines)

• CASE STUDY: Human activity can indirectly change the

weather.
Write about the way that human activity can indirectly change
the weather.
(i) What types of human activity can indirectly change the
weather (6 lines)
(ii) Describe these changes (6 lines)

• CASE STUDY: Human activity may change the climate.

These changes may be of global concern.
(i) Describe human activities that may change the climate.
(6 lines)
(ii) Why are these changes of global concern (6 lines)