Video: How can humans adapt to climate change?

﻿Hello my name is Miss Adamson and welcome to lesson seven in the climate change unit of work. In today's lesson, we're going to look at how humans can actually adapt to climate change, how it can change the way that we live to cope with any future climate changes as well. For the lessons today, you will need a pen or pencil and an exercise book, or at least a piece of paper to write on. If you need to go and get any of these pieces of equipment, you can pause the video now to go and get them, and resume it when you're back. Before we make a start on today's lesson though, I would like to write down the title, which is how can humans adapt to climate change, nice and neatly at the top of your page and underline it too. Let's have a quick think about how climate change might actually affect us before we look at how we can adapt to it. These images show four ways climate change and global warming might affect humans. Can you remember what each one is? Write a list onto your page. When you're happy to have a go at this, you can pause the video and of course resume when you're finished. Well done, let's go through each one. So the first one, image number one, is droughts. And of course this is caused by a long period of time without rainfall. Number two is flooding or you might've said extreme weather, and this can be caused by rising sea levels and also changes in the atmosphere. Number three is actually crop failure, and this could be caused by lack of water, but also high temperatures. And then number four is a lack of clean water specifically in reservoirs such as this one, this could be caused by higher rates of evaporation. Before we move on, if you've got any of those four that you need to correct on your page, make sure you do correct them. Before we look at adaptations though, I'd like you to have a quick think. Out the four of these, which do you think is the biggest problem climate change might bring. Might your answer be different as well if you lived in a different part of the world. Today though we're thinking about adaptation and how it can help us cope with a changing climate. You probably heard about adaptation in plants and animals in different habitats. However, we can also adapt. This actually involves us changing some ways that we live to cope better. In this case with any expected future climate changes. There are three main ways though that we can actually adapt to a changing climate, that we're going to look at today. The first one is changing farming practises, changing maybe what we grow or how we grow things to suit the climate slightly better. The second one is coping with rising sea levels that we know are likely to be an issue with global warming and climate change. And the third one is managing water supply, specifically managing water supply more effectively to make sure that everybody has access to the water they need. So the first one we're going to look at are changing farming practises. Changing rainfall patterns and also higher temperatures are going to affect the productivity, the basically the amount of crops that can grow, of existing farming systems. It might be necessary to plant new crop types that are more suitable to the new climatic conditions in an area. For example, as you can see here, soya, peaches, or grapes maybe could be grown in Southern England in the future. And there are actually already vineyards growing grapes in Cornwall in the Southwest of England, which even 10 years ago would have been unheard of. In some regions, for example, along the Sahel, new drought resistant crops might need to be introduced, so the people in such areas have a food supply. However, the use of these drought resistant crops could be very expensive, which would also cause the price of food to increase as well. And this could lead to some varieties of food, no longer being available. On your screen there, you have a quick statement. It says crops that could be grown in Southern England if temperatures rise include grapes, peaches, and soya. Do you think this is true or false? Have a quick think and point at the correct answer on your screen. Well done. The correct answer then is true. The new crops that could potentially be grown in Southern England will give farmers a new source of income, and this is already being done in areas such as Cornwall in the Southwest. The second aspect or the second method of adaptation we're going to look at is coping with sea level rise. And we know sea levels are predicted to rise by 82 centimetres by 2100. And this is likely to flood many islands and coastal locations. Even in the capital city of the UK, London is at risk. The first thing that we could do to cope with this, to adapt to this is building physical barriers, flood embankments or levies. For example, the Thames Barrier, as you can see in this photo actually helped reduce the risk and hold back the water from any sea level rise and any storm surges that might occur as well. In poorer countries houses are already been built on raised grounds or on stilts. And this means that people can continue to live in these areas and they're not going to have to migrate away from their family homes. However, these barriers, these methods, and building these are very, very expensive and countries with large coastlines might not be able to fund these projects due to the scale of them. For example, the Maldives, which has 650 kilometres of coastline would have to pay a lot of money to protect the whole of their coastline from any sea level rise. In addition to this, the predictions regarding sea level rise might be incorrect. We don't quite know what might happen. They may be higher than predicted, so the defences might not be enough or they might be lower than predicted, and while that is a good thing, the defences then might have been a waste of money that could have been spent on other things. So again, I'd like to have a look at your screen. You've got four different statements. Option one says houses could be built on stilts to prevent flooding. Option two says physical barriers can prevent flooding from sea level rise. Option three says water can be drained away from the sea to prevent sea level rise. And option four says embankments or levies can be built to prevent flooding, sorry. Which of these four is not correct? Have a quick think and then point to the one you think is not correct on your screen now. Well done. The correct answer is indeed option three. This would not be possible as it would be a much too large scale. And there's also the question of where the water would go. The other three are all possible options and are already being done in some places, such as London with the Thames Barrier and also Bangladesh with houses in some regions, which are at risk of a high risk of flooding are being built on stilts to protect them. The final method of adaptation we're going to look at today is managing water supplies. Now dry areas are predicted to get drier and drier due to higher temperatures and also changing rainfall patterns, less rainfall in certain areas. And this could lead to more water shortages in bigger areas, in wider areas of the world. So that means very simply people most start to use water more efficiently. Now one way of doing this would be to add water metres to homes. And the hope of this is that they could discourage people from using lots of water, potentially wastefully, as if they're using more water, it would cost them more money. The second thing that we could do is to collect and use rainwater and purify rainwater as well. And the third thing that we could do to manage water supplies more efficiently is actually a recycle wastewater called grey water to increase the water supply. Now grey water is dirty water technically, but it doesn't involve any sewage. So it could be used to water gardens or crops instead of using clean water that could be used for drinking water instead, However, water metres might not change usage in rich countries. As the extra actual cost to people might not be a deterrent. It might not stop people from using that extra water. All three of these as well have very little impact. There's simply not enough rain. Now that we've looked at managing water supplies, let's have a quick think about this sentence. You've got two blank spaces, is an adaptation method that aims to discourage people from using lots of water. You've got four options for two missing words. Option one says wastewater recycling. Option two says rainwater collection. Option three says new reservoirs or option four says water metres. When you're ready to have a quick go at this, pause the video to write down the full sentence and then resume it when you've finished. Well done. So your full sentence should read water metres are an adaptation method that aims to discourage people from using lots of water. Make sure to correct your sentence if you need to, before you move on. Now we've gone through the three main ways that we can adapt to a changing climate. Let's have a think about the positives and negatives of each one. The first thing I'd like you to do is write down the three methods down the side of your page. So that's changing farming practises, coping with sea level rise, and managing water supply. Make sure you leave plenty of space either next to or underneath each one. Then I'd like you to read the statements in the table on your screen. There are two statements for each method, one positive statement, and one negative statement. Decide first of all, which method each statement links to and then writes it next to or underneath each one. Remember there's going to be two for each though. When you're ready to have a go make sure you pause the video to complete your task. And of course, resume it again once you finished. Well done, let's go through the answers then. So for changing farming practises, you're positive for this is that drought resistant crops and changing farming methods means that people have a more reliable food supply. You're negative for changing farming practises will be using drought resistant crops may be expensive, which could cause the price of food to go up. For coping with sea level rise your positive is building physical barriers reduces the risk from rising sea levels by holding back the water. Your negative here is barriers are expensive, and countries with large coastlines may not be able to fund such projects due to the scale of them. Now your third one, for managing water supply, your positive here would be water supply can be increased by technology such as water metres, which discourages people from using too much water. And then your negative for this one is water metres may not change water usage in rich countries, as the cost might not be an issue for people. well done if you've got all six of those statements in the right place. It's not an issue if you didn't, however. Just make sure you correct any answers you need to before you move on, so you've got a full set of notes from today's lesson. That then brings us to the main task for today's lesson. On your screen, you can see three people or groups of people who are either being affected by climate change at the moment or likely to be affected by climate change and global warming in the future. Each person or group of people will have a preferred method of adapting climate change that we've looked at in today's lesson. Your first person is a farmer in Morogoro, in Tanzania. He has been losing crops every year for the past 10 years due to the warming climate. Your second person is a fishermen from the Netherlands. His way of life is under threat as sea levels are rising on a Dutch coastline. And your third group of people in this case is a South African family. They've had water shortages every summer due to a lack of rainfall and increased evaporation. For your task, you need to state which adaptation methods they would prefer that we've looked at today, and also explain why. Before you have a go though, let's have a go at the first one together. So this is an example based on the Tanzanian farmer. You can see the answer just here. The farmer from Tanzania would prefer changing agricultural practises. Remember that's one of the adaptation methods we've looked at today. So that's the first point you need to make. You can then go on to explain why. To say this is because it means that they can continue to work using different crops and farming techniques, which means that they can continue to earn money. Now, the important thing about this answer, you can see it doesn't just explain it once it then develops it further to say why that is such a good thing for that person. Why it's a real benefit for them if that method of adaptation is used. So now we've gone through the example of the Tanzanian farmer, it's your turn to complete the other two. Make sure you don't write another paragraph though about the Tanzanian farmer, because that's the one we've just gone through together. You can use the structure you saw in the example answer to write your answers about the fishermen and about the South African family. Think very carefully about how each one will be affected by climate change and global warming and which adaptation method they would prefer. When you're ready to have ago then, make sure you pause the video to complete your task, and of course resume it again when you've finished. Well done for writing your two paragraphs. Let's go through now what your two should look like. So the first paragraph that you wrote should have been about the Dutch fishermen, and it should look something like this. The fishermen from the Netherlands would prefer strategies to cope with sea level rise. This means that the habitats of the species of fish he catches will be protected. As a result of this he can continue with his livelihood and earn money. So you can see how with that first sentence we've said exactly which strategy he would prefer. We've then gone on to explain it a little bit. So why that would be a good thing, but then we've linked it directly back to why it would benefit him, so he can continue to earn money basically. Your second paragraph should have been about the South African family. The family from South Africa would prefer managing water supply. If water supplies were managed more effectively, they would have a more secure source of water, which means they would have access to cleaner water all year in the future. Again, we've stated exactly which one they would prefer, explained why that's a good thing and what that would do, then linked it back to why it would benefit them. So they've got access to cleaner water all year round. If your paragraphs looks something like that really, really well done. If you need to add anything to your paragraphs to make sure they're full and complete for today's lesson, that's not a problem. You can pause the video quickly now to add anything you need to. We're now at the end of today's lesson. Well done on all the fantastic learning you've achieved while we've looked at the adaptations that humans can do to cope with climate change. Before we finish your day, I would like you to take some time and just write down three bullet points about three main facts that you're going to take away from today's lesson as a quick summary at the end of your notes. You're welcome to pause the video now to do that. Before you close the lesson completely, make sure you do have a go at the quiz just to test your learning from today's lesson. Remember if there's anything in the quiz that you're not too sure about, you can come back this video and go through everything again. Today we've been looking at how humans can adapt to climate change. Next lesson, we're going to focus on a specific area of the world. We're going to look at how people in Bangladesh have adapted to climate change already. I'll see you next time.

Exit Quiz: How can humans adapt to climate change?

Completed: How can humans adapt to climate change?

During this lesson you will learn about the range of strategies humans can use to adapt to a changing climate, including changing farming practices, and coping with sea level rises.

Geography

How can humans adapt to climate change?

Video

Final Quiz

Lesson Complete