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Worksheet 2

1. Questions to be answered individually or in groups

a) The extent to which a country is affected by climate change depends on at least three conditions: How exposed and vulnerable the country is, and what adaptive capacity it has. Explain what is meant by these three terms.

b) Why are the polar bear and other polar species particularly vulnerable to climate change?

c) In what way is the atmospheric system's inertia important to describe and predict climate change?

2. Generate climate-relevant statistics!

Go to http://www.globalis.no/ and choose English language. Then choose four different countries, for instance:

1) your own country in Europe
2) USA
3) China
4) Sudan

For each country, find information about

1) present population and population growth rate, estimated population in 2015
2) present energy consumption per capita
3) present CO₂ emission per capita and how this has changed during the past decades

What can you say from these data about each country's present and possible future contribution to increasing the greenhouse effect?

About this page:

Authors: Ellen K. Henriksen and Camilla Schreiner - University of Oslo - Norway.
Scientific reviewer: Andreas Tjernshaugen - CICERO (Center for International Climate and Environmental Research - Oslo) - Norway - 2004-01-20
Educational reviewer: Nina Arnesen - Marienlyst school in Oslo - Norway - 2004-03-10.
Last update: 2004-03-27.