Consequences and sustainable habits

Name three consequences of climate change and briefly explain one of them.

Name two consequences of climate change for people and two for nature.

Explain two causes of sea level rise (the melting of ice caps and glaciers, and the thermal expansion of water as it warms) and one consequence for coastal areas and islands.

What is carbon footprint? Name two actions from your daily life that would reduce it.

Many devices keep using electricity on standby even though they seem to be off. Name two examples from home and explain which habit avoids this consumption and how it helps the climate.

The average annual carbon footprint of a citizen in Spain is distributed approximately as follows: transport (2,1 t of $\text{CO}_2$), heating/cooling and electricity consumption at home (1,6 t), food (1,3 t), and consumption of manufactured goods (0,9 t).

A person sets a goal to reduce their total footprint by at least 20 % in one year and is hesitating between two independent alternatives:

• Alternative A: Replace all light bulbs with state-of-the-art LEDs and always turn off appliances on standby, achieving a 10 % reduction in home energy consumption.

• Alternative B: Replace their private vehicle with public transport and a bicycle for their regular commutes, reducing their transport impact by 40 %.

1. a) Calculate the baseline footprint and verify quantitatively whether either of the two alternatives allows reaching the 20 % target.
2. b) Many people believe that acting only on domestic electricity savings is enough. Based on the numerical results, justify why having an impact on transport and diet is quantitatively much more decisive in curbing global warming.

Order the three Rs — recycle, reduce, and reuse — according to their environmental priority and give an everyday example of each.

State which bin each item of waste should go in and explain why separating them is important: a glass bottle, a battery, a banana peel, a can, and a plastic bag.

Composting organic waste prevents it from decomposing in landfill and releasing methane, and it also produces natural fertiliser. Explain this double benefit for the climate and for the soil.