Climate change: causes, effects and responses

What you'll learn

1. 1

   The greenhouse effect is natural and necessary — without it Earth would be far too cold.

2. 2

   Burning fossil fuels, deforestation, farming and cement production have raised carbon dioxide and methane well above pre-industrial levels.

3. 3

   What is the problem with the greenhouse effect?

4. 4

   Responses split into two kinds. Mitigation reduces the cause — renewables, carbon capture, planting trees. Adaptation lives with the effect — sea walls, drought-resistant crops, flood warnings.

5. 5

   Building a sea wall is an example of what?

6. 6

   Apply it: mitigation reduces the cause — renewables, carbon capture, international agreements. Adaptation copes with the effect — flood defences, drought-resistant crops. Most countries need both.

7. 7

   Building sea walls against rising seas is an example of what?