Theme 8: environmental challenges

• In Component 2 Section B you answer on Theme 7 or Theme 8, not both. This page is for Theme 8.
• An ecological footprint is the area of land and water needed to supply what a person uses and to absorb their waste. A footprint above what the Earth can regenerate is unsustainable.
• E-waste (old phones and computers) holds valuable metals and toxic substances. Harm happens when it is broken up, burned or dumped, as toxic metals leach into soil and water.
• Short-term effects of climate change arrive soon, such as heatwaves and floods. Long-term effects build over decades, such as sea-level rise and species moving.
• Responses work at different scales. The Paris Agreement of 2015 is international. A scheme run by one town council is local.

Ecological footprint

The land and water needed to supply a person's resources and absorb their waste.

E-waste

Discarded electrical goods such as phones and computers.

Consumerism

Buying and using more and more goods.

Ecotourism

Tourism that protects nature and brings income to local people.

Agri-business

Large-scale, intensive farming run as a business, often using chemicals and monoculture.

• Calling sea-level rise a short-term effect. Short term means soon, such as a heatwave; sea-level rise is long term.
• Giving a local scheme as an answer to an international-scale question. Match the scale in the question.
• Stating an effect only for the environment, such as sea level rises, and not linking it to people. Add which means: homes flooded, crops fail, people move.
• Writing about the harmful side of a waste method when the question asks how it helps. Say its purpose first, for example incineration reduces the volume of waste.

5 questions, 6 marks. Answer, then press Check. The marking guide explains how the marks are worked out. Nothing is saved.