7.

2 Climate Change-Cause and

Impact
Significant ideas:
1) Climate change has been a normal feature of the
Earth's history,. but human activity has contributed to
recent changes
2) There has been significant debate about the causes of
climate change
3) Climate change causes widespread and significant
impacts on a global scale.
In 2016, scientists reported the largest die-off ever on the
Great Barrier Reef.
Higher-than-normal sea temperatures force corals, which are
animals, to jettison the algae on which they depend for
survival, draining the color from reefs and turning them white.
If temperatures remain high, the corals typically die within
months.
7.2.U6 There has been significant debate due to conflicting EVSs
surround the issue of climate change

http://sites.uci.edu/climatechangenews/
7.2.U6 There has been significant debate due to conflicting EVSs
surround the issue of climate change
Debate does not mean
“equal proportions of
people”. It simply means
there are opposing views

There are differing viewpoints on the causes of

climate change and its predicted impacts.
• The overall scientific consensus is that
climate change is occurring and is
contributed to by human activity.
• Individuals such as Al Gore (former US
Vice-President), and more recently Pope
Francis together with organisations such as
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) have helped to raise the
issues of climate change on the political
agenda. https://makewealthhistory.org/tag/consensus/
Broadly speaking, viewpoints on climate change can be divided into two
opposing views; the climate sceptic and the climate advocator views. 

• Climate sceptic view

• Groups which do not believe that climate change is occurring or is caused by
humans are lobbying to make their views heard.
They argue
• That human induced global warming is not proven, changes in climate have always
occurred and warming has occurred before prior to humans changing GHG levels.
• Warming is a natural phenomenon and a result of natural cycles
• Climate change models used are inaccurate and impacts are exaggerated.
• Data that is technologically verifiable has been collected for only relatively short
time period.
• Scientists manipulate results to attract future funds for research.
Broadly speaking, viewpoints on climate change can be
divided into two opposing views; the climate sceptic and the
climate advocator views. 

• Climate advocator view

• believe that climate change is predominately human induced
and major reforms are required to stop emissions. They argue:
• There is sufficient scientific data from a variety of sources as
evidence of warming occurring (e.g. data from sediments and
ice cores and direct measures).
• Levels of GHG emissions from human activity since the
industrial revolution correlates with rise in average global
temperature.
• There is scientific consensus that climate change is occurring.
7.2.U6 There has been significant debate due to conflicting EVSs
surround the issue of climate change

Climate Change
7.2.U6 There has been significant debate due to conflicting EVSs
surround the issue of climate change

Fossil Fuels
7.2.U7 Global climate models are complex and there is a degree
of uncertainty regarding the accuracy of their predictions

Climate change models are complex and levels of

uncertainty can arise from:
• Use of incomplete data sets.
• Use of data measured using different protocols and
equipment.
• Yet unknown contribution of 
positive and negative feedback systems, such as effects
of clouds on climate change.
• Incomplete understanding of effects of ocean circulation
system.
• Yet unknown tipping points.
• Difficulty in predicting human behaviour and associated
GHG emissions.
• Difficulty in predicting when major volcanic events will
occur.
• Differences in interpretation of information from models
leading to differing predictions. NASA Climate
Change Model
Animation
7.2.A2 Evaluate contrasting viewpoints on the issue of climate
change
 • Cluster 1: Ms.Rainupur students
• Summarize the viewpoints of the
following EVS models when discussing
climate change -Ecocentric -
Technocentric –Anthropocentric
ACTIVITY
• Cluster 2: Ms. Shigee students TOK:
• Students need to write their responses and
submit on Toddle There has been
considerable debate about the causes of
climate change. Does our interpretation of
knowledge from the past allow us to
reliably predict the future?