Year 10 Science · Unit 4 · Lesson 11

Environmental Sustainability: Unit Synthesis and Review

Foundation Worksheet

Name

Date

Class

Learning Goals

Recall the four connected threads of the unit: climate science, impacts, action, and sustainability.
Define key terms including enhanced greenhouse effect, mitigation, adaptation, and intergenerational equity.
Identify the evidence that links human activity to recent climate change.

Warm Up

Fill the gap

Choose the correct word from the word bank to complete each sentence. Use each word once. Two words will not be used.

climate enhanced mitigation adaptation sustainability acidification circular weather cultural

1. Burning fossil fuels has strengthened the natural greenhouse effect, creating the greenhouse effect that is warming the planet.

2. The long-term average of atmospheric conditions over 30 or more years is a region's , not its day-to-day weather.

3. Switching to solar and wind power to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is an example of .

4. Building sea walls and choosing drought-tolerant crops to cope with changes already happening is an example of .

5. Meeting the needs of the present without compromising future generations is the definition of .

6. As the ocean absorbs CO₂, it forms carbonic acid and surface pH falls, a process called ocean .

7. A economy replaces the linear "take, make, waste" pattern with reduce, reuse, repair, and recycle.

Your Turn

Sort it!

Write each item from the pool into the correct column of the table below.

Building a sea wall to protect a coastal suburb CO₂ rose from about 280 ppm to over 420 ppm Coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef Replacing coal power with solar and wind farms The falling ¹³C/¹²C ratio fingerprints fossil-fuel carbon Choosing drought-tolerant crop varieties Sea level rising about 3.7 mm per year The 800,000-year ice-core record of CO₂ Using pumped hydro and batteries to store renewable energy

Evidence / Science

Mitigation

Adaptation

Show What You Know

1. In one sentence each, explain the difference between mitigation and adaptation. Give one example of each.

Recall 2 marks

2. Name two separate pieces of evidence scientists use to show that recent warming is caused by human activity.

Recall 2 marks

3. Give one example of an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander practice that helps care for the environment sustainably.

Recall 1 mark

Answer Key (Teacher)

Fill the gap: 1. enhanced; 2. climate; 3. mitigation; 4. adaptation; 5. sustainability; 6. acidification; 7. circular. (Unused words: weather, cultural.)
Sort it! Evidence / Science: CO₂ rose from about 280 ppm to over 420 ppm; the falling ¹³C/¹²C ratio fingerprints fossil-fuel carbon; sea level rising about 3.7 mm per year; coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef; the 800,000-year ice-core record of CO₂. Mitigation: replacing coal power with solar and wind farms; using pumped hydro and batteries to store renewable energy. Adaptation: building a sea wall to protect a coastal suburb; choosing drought-tolerant crop varieties. (Accept coral bleaching and sea-level rise as observed impacts/evidence of warming.)
Q1: Mitigation reduces or removes greenhouse gas emissions to slow climate change (e.g. switching to renewable energy). Adaptation adjusts to changes already locked in to reduce harm (e.g. building sea walls or planting drought-tolerant crops). 1 mark for each clear distinction with a correct example.
Q2: Any two of: the Mauna Loa Keeling Curve showing rising CO₂; the 800,000-year ice-core record; the falling ¹³C/¹²C ratio that fingerprints fossil-fuel carbon; attribution models that only reproduce observed warming when human emissions are included. 1 mark each.
Q3: Any one of: cultural (cool) burning; using seasonal calendars to time harvesting; totemic protection of species; sustainable harvesting; Caring for Country. 1 mark.

Wrap Up

In one sentence, what was the main idea of this lesson?