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Climate Change

Compare natural and human causes of climate change and their effects.

  • Define and explain Climate Change in your own words
  • Use key terms such as evaporation accurately
  • Apply what you have learned to new examples and questions
  • Avoid the common mistakes learners make with this topic

This lesson focuses on Climate Change: compare natural and human causes of climate change and their effects.

Definition: Climate Change

Compare natural and human causes of climate change and their effects.

Key ideas

The greenhouse effect is natural — humans are strengthening it

Gases such as carbon dioxide trap some of the Sun's heat, keeping Earth warm enough for life — without them the planet would freeze. Burning fossil fuels and cutting down forests add extra greenhouse gases, trapping more heat and warming the climate. That is why scientists distinguish the natural greenhouse effect from the enhanced one.

Five factors shape a climate

Latitude decides how directly the Sun's rays hit; altitude cools the air as you climb; distance from the sea brings milder, wetter weather near coasts and more extreme temperatures inland; prevailing winds carry warm or cold, wet or dry air; and ocean currents, like the warm North Atlantic Drift, can heat or cool coastlines.

Key term — evaporation: When liquid water gains heat energy and turns into invisible water vapour, rising into the air.

Worked example: Climate Change

Name one natural and one human cause of climate change.

Natural: changes in solar output or volcanic eruptions. Human: burning fossil fuels, deforestation.

Answer: Natural: changes in solar output or volcanic eruptions. Human: burning fossil fuels, deforestation.

Common mistakes
  • Calling the greenhouse effect entirely bad The natural greenhouse effect keeps Earth habitable. The problem is the enhanced effect from extra gases released by human activity.
  • Saying 'today is cold, so climate change is wrong' One cold day is weather; climate change is about long-term global averages measured over decades. Local cold snaps still happen in a warming world.

Practice

A town on the coast has milder winters than a town far inland at the same latitude. Why?
Water heats up and cools down more slowly than land.

The sea moderates temperatures, warming the coastal town in winter and cooling it in summer; inland places have more extreme continental climates.

On a climate graph, what do the bars and the line show?
One is measured in millimetres, the other in degrees.

Bars show monthly rainfall (mm); the line shows mean monthly temperature (°C).

Why does the UK have a milder climate than other places at the same latitude, such as parts of Canada?
Think about ocean currents and wind direction.

The warm North Atlantic Drift and prevailing south-westerly winds bring warm, moist air to the UK.

Why is it colder at the top of a mountain than at its base?
Think about what happens to air as you climb.

Temperature falls with altitude because the air is thinner and under less pressure.

Quick check

Climate Change — quick check

Which of these best defines "evaporation"?

When liquid water gains heat energy and turns into invisible water vapour, rising into the air.

Put these in order: condensation, precipitation, evaporation.

Evaporation → condensation → precipitation.
Key takeaways
  • Climate Change: compare natural and human causes of climate change and their effects.
  • The greenhouse effect is natural — humans are strengthening it: Gases such as carbon dioxide trap some of the Sun's heat, keeping Earth warm enough for life — without them the planet would freeze.
  • condensation: When water vapour cools and turns back into tiny liquid droplets, forming clouds.
  • Watch out for: calling the greenhouse effect entirely bad
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