Humanity & Greenhouse Gases Flashcards

All 7 cards in this deck

Give two human activities that increase the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Burning fossil fuels and deforestation.

Give two human activities that increase the amount of methane in the atmosphere.

Farming cattle (livestock) and growing rice; also decomposition of waste in landfill.

How can an increase in world population have caused the increase in carbon dioxide concentration?

More energy and transport are required, so more fossil fuels are burned; more farmland is required, so there is more deforestation.

How can an increase in world population have caused the increase in methane concentration?

More food is required, so more methane-producing food production (e.g. cattle and rice); more waste is produced, which releases methane as it decomposes.

Why is peer review of climate change results important?

Other scientists check the evidence and conclusions, so the results are more likely to be valid and reliable.

Why may media reports about global climate change be unreliable?

They use simplified models and may present speculation or opinion based on only part of the evidence, so they can be biased.

Give one reason why some scientists do not accept that greenhouse gases have caused the rise in mean global temperature.

There may be other reasons for the temperature change, e.g. the Earth goes through natural cycles of temperature change.