Unit 8 Lesson 1: Human Impacts on Climate

Which human activity contributes the MOST carbon dioxide to the atmosphere?

• Fishing
• Breathing
• Burning Fossil Fuels
• Farming

What is climate change?

•  What's going on with the atmosphere at any particular time
• A belief or opinion

• An area's pattern of weather over a long period of time
• a long-term change in the earth's climate, especially a change due to the increase in the average atmospheric temperature.

The graph shows changes in carbon dioxide

(CO2) concentrations and surface temperatures

on Earth from the years 1880 to 2000.

Why do carbon dioxide concentrations and

surface temperatures show the relationship seen

in the graph?

• because lower carbon dioxide levels mean more

  heat is retained in Earth's atmosphere

• because higher carbon dioxide levels mean

  more heat is retained in Earth's atmosphere

• because lower carbon dioxide levels mean less

  heat is retained in Earth's atmosphere

• because higher carbon dioxide levels mean less

  heat is retained in Earth's atmosphere

_____________ is transferred between the atmosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere(lithosphere) and biosphere in the Carbon Cycle.

• Oxygen

• Carbon

• Water

• Nitrogen

Why are forests important in reducing climate change? Trees ____

• use Carbon Dioxide to make food & release oxygen into the atmoshpere

• provide building materials

• are an important food source

• reflect all sunlight away from the Earth

Which two are likely to result from climate change?

• increase in surface temperatures

• reduction in greenhouse gases

• rise in ocean levels

• decrease in air pollution

What is the main gas responsible for causing an increase in global temperatures?

• Oxygen

• Carbon Dioxide

• Helium

• Nitrous Oxide

Which is an EFFECT of climate change?

• melting of sea ice 
• burning of fossil fuels
• cutting down trees 
• vehicle exhaust

What is the greenhouse effect?

• the burning of fossil fuels causes gases to mix with water in the atmosphere
• ground level ozone and vehicle exhaust react in the presence of sunlight
• certain gases such as carbon dioxide act like a blanket and keep the sun's energy close to earth

Global warming could cause the polar ice caps to melt increasing the amount of fresh water in the ocean and disrupting the flow of natural currents that cycle heat around the world. This change would most likely result in which of the following?

• An increase in climate change

• The collision of tectonic plates

• An increase in producer populations

• The reduction of ocean sediments