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Year 8 - Citizenship

What actions can we take to address climate change?

What can we do about global problems?

Unit Summary

Using a range of case studies from human rights to fracking and climate action, pupils consider how they can take responsible action to tackle some of the challenges currently facing society.

Lesson Summary

You will learn to critically examine different arguments about climate change and explain what actions we can take to address climate change.

Key Notes

  • Global warming is the process of our planet heating up. Global warming has led to climate change.
  • There are significant consequences of climate change that impact our global environment.
  • Activists have campaigned in different ways to highlight the impacts of climate change.
  • Some sceptics doubt global warming science, but the IPCC says 97% of scientists agree humans are mainly causing it.

Vocabulary To Learn

  • climate change: the long-term changes in the Earth's weather patterns and temperatures, often caused by human activities such as burning fossil fuels, deforestation and pollution
  • global warming: the gradual increase in Earth's average temperature; caused by human activities that release gases, such as carbon dioxide, that trap heat in the atmosphere
  • fossil fuels: energy sources like coal, oil, and natural gas that release harmful gases into the atmosphere
  • deforestation: the cutting down or clearing of trees and forests, usually for farming, logging or development

Common Mistakes To Avoid

  • Climate change is just a natural part of Earth's cycles, and humans aren't responsible for it.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

1. Explain the lesson in two key points.

Global warming is the process of our planet heating up. Global warming has led to climate change. There are significant consequences of climate change that impact our global environment.

2. What does this key word mean in this lesson? 'climate change'

the long-term changes in the Earth's weather patterns and temperatures, often caused by human activities such as burning fossil fuels, deforestation and pollution.

3. Correct this common mistake.

Mistake: Climate change is just a natural part of Earth's cycles, and humans aren't responsible for it. Correction: While Earth's climate has naturally changed in the past, the IPCC shows that the current rapid warming is mainly caused by human activities, like burning fossil fuels and deforestation.

More Lessons In This Unit

Browse all guides in the Year 8 Citizenship guide library.