Students examine the human causes of change to the environment on a global scale along with the impact of these changes on the lives of humans.
12.1 Analyze global climate change (sometimes referred to as “global warming”) and assess the validity of this idea, the variable climate changes it forecasts for different parts of Earth, and the implications of these changes for humans.
12.2 Explain the concepts of linear and exponential growth, and apply these concepts to geographical themes while analyzing the consequences of various human responses. Examples: The “doubling time” for global population and the implications of this doubling in various world regions (1750–present), economic growth curves for various countries and the implications for resource use and environmental pollution (present)
Linear Growth—A model of growth that involves adding a fixed amount to constant base over a period of time.
Exponential Growth—A model of growth in which a constant rate of growth is applied to a continuously growing base over a period of time.