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Environmental Science
Grade 6-12
Climate Change Causes & Effects Cheat Sheet
A printable reference covering greenhouse gases, fossil fuels, feedback loops, warming trends, sea level rise, extreme weather, mitigation, and adaptation for grades 6-12.
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Climate change is the long-term shift in Earth’s average temperature, weather patterns, oceans, and ecosystems. This cheat sheet explains the main human and natural causes of climate change and the effects that scientists observe today. Students need these ideas to understand environmental news, data graphs, and decisions about energy, land use, and conservation. It also helps connect chemistry, Earth science, biology, and human systems in one reference.
Key Facts
- The greenhouse effect happens when gases such as CO2, CH4, N2O, and water vapor absorb outgoing infrared radiation and warm the lower atmosphere.
- Burning fossil fuels adds carbon dioxide to the air because coal, oil, and natural gas contain carbon that reacts with oxygen: C + O2 = CO2.
- Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas released by livestock, landfills, rice fields, and leaks from natural gas systems.
- Deforestation increases climate change because fewer trees remove CO2 by photosynthesis: 6CO2 + 6H2O + light energy = C6H12O6 + 6O2.
- Global temperature anomaly means measured temperature minus a long-term average temperature, so anomaly = measured value - baseline average.
- Melting land ice raises sea level, while melting floating sea ice mostly changes reflectivity and does not directly add much water to the ocean.
- A positive feedback loop increases the original change, such as warming causing ice melt, which lowers albedo and causes more warming.
- Mitigation reduces the causes of climate change, while adaptation reduces harm from climate change impacts that are already happening or expected.
Vocabulary
- Climate Change
- A long-term change in average temperature, precipitation, wind patterns, sea level, or other parts of Earth's climate system.
- Greenhouse Gas
- A gas in the atmosphere that absorbs and re-emits infrared radiation, helping trap heat near Earth's surface.
- Fossil Fuel
- Coal, oil, or natural gas formed from ancient living matter and burned to release energy.
- Carbon Cycle
- The movement of carbon among the atmosphere, oceans, living things, soil, rocks, and human-made sources.
- Albedo
- The fraction of sunlight a surface reflects, with bright surfaces like ice having higher albedo than dark surfaces like ocean water.
- Mitigation
- Actions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions or increase carbon storage to limit future climate change.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Confusing weather with climate is wrong because weather describes short-term conditions, while climate describes long-term patterns over many years.
- Saying the greenhouse effect is always bad is wrong because the natural greenhouse effect keeps Earth warm enough for life, but extra greenhouse gases increase warming.
- Assuming all greenhouse gases have the same impact is wrong because gases differ in concentration, heat-trapping strength, and time spent in the atmosphere.
- Thinking volcanic eruptions explain current warming is wrong because human greenhouse gas emissions are much larger and match the observed long-term warming trend.
- Ignoring feedback loops is a mistake because processes like ice-albedo feedback and thawing permafrost can amplify climate changes over time.
Practice Questions
- 1 A city has a baseline average temperature of 14.2°C. This year's average temperature is 15.1°C. What is the temperature anomaly?
- 2 Burning 1 kilogram of a carbon-rich fuel produces about 3.7 kilograms of CO2. How much CO2 is produced by burning 12 kilograms of the fuel?
- 3 A surface reflects 30 units of sunlight out of 100 units received. What is its albedo as a decimal and as a percent?
- 4 Explain why cutting down a forest and replacing it with a dark paved surface can increase local and global warming.