Practise IB ESS SL/HL 006.002.006 by applying climate change impacts on societies concepts to exam-style environmental systems questions.
In 2016, the Earth's atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide reached 400 ppm .
Suggest the potential impacts of high levels of greenhouse gases on human societies in different locations.
Impacts may include:
increased mean global temperature causing increased use of A/Cs (especially in developed countries); greater frequency/intensity of extreme weather events causing damage to infrastructure (especially in cities);
long-term changes in climate/weather patterns requiring cultural changes/adaptation in societies; ocean acidification killing plankton/reducing fisheries (especially significant for coastal populations);
melting permafrost increasing productivity/arable land/water availability (for tundra populations);
decreased water availability/desertification leading to migration/relocation (especially for tropical populations); biome shifts reducing/enhancing crop productivity (especially significant in crop
growing areas); biodiversity loss reducing aesthetic value of ecosystems (significant for tourism
dependent societies);
disruption of ecosystem services causing increased flooding (particularly in high rainfall locations); rise in sea level causing coastal erosion (especially significant to areas dependent on coastal tourism);
coastal inundation causing salinization of underground aquifers/soils (especially for coastal populations); wider spread of tropical diseases (especially significant for previously sub-tropical areas);
Marking guidance:
Award [4 max] if there is no reference to different locations (as in brackets above). Do not credit effects of high levels of greenhouse gases that are not linked to some impact on human societies, at least implicitly as in examples above.