Environmental Systems and Societies · Topic 6: Atmosphere and climate change
ES6.2 — Climate change: causes and impacts
Environmental Systems and Societies · SL / HL · syllabus-mapped notes
Climate, rising CO₂ and proxy evidence
Climate as typical atmospheric conditions, the accelerating anthropogenic rise in CO₂ since the Industrial Revolution, and the ice-core, tree-ring and sediment record.
Enhanced greenhouse effect and its impacts
How anthropogenic GHGs enhance the greenhouse effect, and the resulting impacts on ecosystems (local to global) and on societies.
Feedback loops, planetary boundary and perspectives
Systems diagrams with positive and negative feedback, evidence the climate-change planetary boundary is passed, and why perspectives on climate change differ.
Measuring and modelling climate
Direct and indirect (proxy) data sources, global climate models built from equations, hindcasting to test validity, and the use of scenarios.
Tipping points and tipping cascades
Critical thresholds that shift the climate to a new equilibrium, named examples driven by positive feedback, and how interacting tipping points cascade.
Responsibility, vulnerability and climate justice
How countries differ in responsibility and vulnerability, using per-person and cumulative emissions, and the equity and climate-justice implications.