BUSINESS MANAGEMENT I (ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT)

OPEN BOOK TEST – 40 MARKS – INCONVENIENT TRUTH

Please complete this test in your own handwriting, using your own words. You may use any
source, except your friends, to help you develop your answers. If you copy verbatim from a source,
I will not mark your test. If your answer looks exactly like that of any class mate, I will not mark
your test.

Student name: DG MOUANDAT

Student number: 209325489

Question 1

What is anthropogenically induced climate change (4 marks) and what are the natural and other
processes that cause it? (6 marks)

Anthropogenically induced climate change means that human activities are the cause of climate
change.

Anthropogenic climate change refers to the production of greenhouse gases emitted by human
activities. The main greenhouse gases emitted by human activities are the carbon dioxide (CO2),
methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (NO). Greenhouse gases trap heat and make the earth warmer.

The primary sources of greenhouse gas emitted by human activity are:

Electricity production from burning fossil fuels, mostly coal and natural gas which produce
the largest amount of greenhouse gas emission.
Transportation from burning fossil fuels for our cars, trucks, trains and planes. Fuel used for
transportation is all mainly petroleum based, which includes gasoline and diesel.
Industry from burning fossil fuels for energy, as well as greenhouse gas emission from
chemical reactions to produce goods from raw materials.
Forestry, they absorb CO2 from the earth’s atmosphere than they emit. Therefore the
burning of the forests is wrong.
Coal Plants; Coal Mining

1
Question 2

Al Gore calls his movie “Inconvenient Truth”. What exactly is the inconvenient truth he is referring
to? (4 marks)

Al Gore's movie, "An Inconvenient Truth" is referring to call attention to the risks society faces from
climate change caused by human activities, and it recommends urgent actions that need to be taken
immediately.

Question 3

Briefly describe any five effects of climate change. (5 x 3 marks)

The rising of sea level or melting ice: As a result of climate disruption, the increase in temperature
will melt the ice which will increase the volume of water in the ocean. This will force people who live
close to shore to move out.

Decease: More people will suffer or die from diseases that are associated with high temperatures.
E.g. Malaria

Some species will go extinct as they will struggle to cope with temperature changes and when ocean
becomes more acidic due to climate disruption more species will die which might result pollution.

Storms will be more frequent and extreme. This will destroy infrastructures costing a lot of money to
rebuilt and kill humankind.

Cities and farmlands that depend on on the seasonal accumulation of snow pack and slow spring
melt, arid regions that apportion water from major rivers, and regions that rely on water from
glacier melt all are at risk.

Changes in average rainfall patterns, with some regions experiencing higher rainfall (e.g. Northern
Europe) and other areas experiencing drying (e.g. the Sahel and southern Africa)

Question 4

Please go to www.youtube.com and find the latest video clip featuring Al Gore. Find out what he
says about what the average global carbon dioxide concentration currently is and what has been
done and can still be done to decrease this concentration. (6 marks)

Al Gore said that the average amount of global carbon dioxide concentration is now comparable to
exploding 400,000 hiroshima atomic bombs per day 365 days a year.

In order to decrease this concentration, every nation in the world has to work together to eliminate
all greenhouse gas emissions by: cutting fossil fuel use, shifting from coal to natural gas, shifting to
renewable energy resources.

2
Question 5

Please go to www.environment.gov.za , specifically to their projects and programmes site, find the
climate change site and report on what the newest South African initiative is regarding climate
change. (5 marks)

South Africa has 2 goals regarding climate change:

Manage inevitable climate change effects through interventions that construct and sustain South
Africa’s social, economic and environmental resilience, and emergency response capacity and make
a fair support to the global effort to steady greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a
level that avoids dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system within a timeframe
that enables economic, social and environmental development to proceed in a maintainable
manner.