Climate Change
Explain climate-change features and causes, assess local and global effects and evaluate management at different scales.
How to study National 5 Geography
Start from located evidence, identify the geographical process, develop each causal link and test management against the people and environments affected.
Core concepts
Concept 1
Climate-change evidence can include long-term trends in temperature, ice, sea level, precipitation and extreme events.
Exam cue: Separate a long-term climate trend from short-term weather.
Concept 2
Natural influences operate alongside an enhanced greenhouse effect driven by human emissions and land-use change.
Exam cue: Trace a greenhouse-gas source through the enhanced greenhouse effect.
Concept 3
Mitigation reduces causes or increases sinks; adaptation reduces exposure or vulnerability to unavoidable effects.
Exam cue: Classify and evaluate a response as mitigation, adaptation or both.
Risk pitfalls and guardrails
Using one weather event as proof of a global trend.
Guardrail: Revise and answer only the prescribed Physical pair and two Global Issues taught by your centre; check the live paper rubric.
Confusing ozone depletion with the enhanced greenhouse effect.
Guardrail: Check the command word, option, scale, location, time period and whether the evidence supports every link in the answer.
Claiming one strategy can prevent every effect.
Guardrail: Show the conversion or calculation and give the requested unit.
Memory anchors
Climate versus weather
Climate is the long-term pattern; weather is the short-term atmospheric condition.
Enhanced greenhouse effect
More greenhouse gases retain more outgoing heat in the lower atmosphere.
Human drivers
Fossil fuels, land-use change, agriculture and industry.
Physical drivers
Natural variation can include orbital, solar and volcanic influences.
Mitigation
Reduce emissions or strengthen carbon sinks.
Adaptation
Adjust places and systems to reduce climate harm.
Checkpoint rule
Do the check-up only after you can summarize each concept in one sentence and identify one dangerous pitfall from memory.
Knowledge Check (after reading)
Short check-up to confirm understanding of this module.
Check-up Questions
Which is evidence of recent global warming?
Which natural factor can alter climate?
Answer all questions to submit.
Next step personalized recommendations
Continue learning
Move forward only after this module is stable.
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