What this lesson teaches
I can use evidence of past climates to explain the natural ways climate varies.
Syllabus K229, Topic 2.2, Key Question 1. What is the natural variability of climate?
Make a guess
Before the Industrial Revolution the air held about 280 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide. Roughly how much does it hold now?
- About 2,800 ppm, ten times more.
- About 290 ppm, almost no change.
- Over 420 ppm, half as much again.
Show the answer
Over 420 ppm, half as much again.
Burning coal, oil and gas has added carbon dioxide faster than it is removed. A rise from 280 to 420 ppm is about one and a half times the old level.
A named place with a date or figure, linked to your point, turns a general answer into a developed one.
This lesson collects the 5 named examples from the lessons in this chapter, so you can revise them in one place. Each one is also a recall card below, so you can save the whole set and review it before an exam.
Human causes of climate change: Carbon dioxide levels.
Climate change and the oceans: Great Barrier Reef, Australia; Rising seas.
Climate impacts on people: Pakistan floods, 2022; European heatwave, 2003.
To use a case, name the place or organisation, give its date or a figure, then say what it shows about the question. One developed case earns more than a list of names.
- Carbon dioxide levels
- Before the Industrial Revolution, the air held about 280 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide. It now holds over 420 ppm, mainly from burning coal, oil and gas.
- Great Barrier Reef, Australia
- Unusually warm seas caused mass coral bleaching in 2016, 2017, 2020, 2022 and 2024.
- Rising seas
- Global average sea level has risen by about 20 cm since 1900, as water warms and expands and land ice melts.
- Pakistan floods, 2022
- Extreme monsoon rain flooded about a third of the country, killed about 1,700 people and affected 33 million.
- European heatwave, 2003
- An extreme summer heatwave caused tens of thousands of extra deaths, especially among older people.
Step by step
Name it
The place, event or organisation.
Prove it
A date, number or specific fact.
Link it
Say what it shows about the question.
Worked example: From a name to a developed point
Weak: "There are real examples, such as Carbon dioxide levels." Strong: "Before the Industrial Revolution, the air held about 280 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide. It now holds over 420 ppm, mainly from burning coal, oil and gas." The strong version gives the place and the evidence, so it can earn a development mark.
Watch out for this
Naming a famous example is enough to earn the mark.
Examiners credit a developed case: a place, a date or figure, and a clear link to the question.
Check your understanding
Which is the strongest way to use a named example in an answer?
- List several example names, with no details.
- Give the place, a date or figure, and its link.
- Describe the example in general terms, without a place or figure.
Show the answer
Give the place, a date or figure, and its link.
Yes. A located, evidenced and linked case is what earns development marks.