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Climate Change: Causes, Evidence, Responses — HS Environmental Science practice questions

14 multiple-choice questions and 14 flashcards on Climate Change: Causes, Evidence, Responses, about 9% of the HS Environmental Science bank. Every one carries a written rationale.

Written and maintained by the CoStudy team · last updated 2026-10-02 · how we write and review questions

What this chapter covers

Climate Change: Causes, Evidence, Responses is one of 11 chapters in CoStudy's HS Environmental Science bank, and it holds 14 of the bank's 150 multiple-choice questions — roughly 9% of the total. That proportion is not arbitrary: chapters follow the certifying body's published exam outline, and the number of questions in each is set by that domain's published weight, so the share of your practice time this chapter takes matches the share of the real exam it accounts for.

Studying by chapter is worth doing once you have a diagnostic score. A single overall percentage tells you whether you are close; it does not tell you which domain is dragging. Working a weak chapter in isolation, and re-testing it in isolation, is the fastest way to move a score that has stalled — and it is why the mock exams in CoStudy report by domain rather than as one number.

Free Climate Change: Causes, Evidence, Responses practice questions

5 questions drawn from this chapter, with the full rationale shown — the controlling principle behind the right answer, and why each wrong option tempts and fails.

Under the Paris Agreement (2015), countries:

  1. set their own emissions goals (NDCs)
  2. accept binding targets set by the UN
  3. agreed to ban CFCs
  4. only developed countries take part

Answer: A — set their own emissions goals (NDCs)

A) Correct — The aim is to keep warming well below 2°C. B) Goals are nationally determined. C) Was the Montreal Protocol. D) Nearly all countries participate.

Scientists learn about CO₂ levels from hundreds of thousands of years ago by studying:

  1. growth rings in very old trees
  2. air bubbles trapped in ice cores
  3. satellite images of the atmosphere
  4. ocean waves

Answer: B — air bubbles trapped in ice cores

B) Correct — The bubbles preserve samples of ancient air. A) Tree rings go back only thousands of years. C) Satellites cover only recent decades. D) Do not record past air.

Melting Arctic ice speeds up warming because:

  1. ice releases CO₂ as it melts
  2. open water reflects more sunlight
  3. ice blocks the greenhouse effect
  4. darker ocean water absorbs more sunlight

Answer: D — darker ocean water absorbs more sunlight

D) Correct — This loss of reflectivity (albedo) is a positive feedback. A) The main effect is reduced reflection. B) Reverses the effect. C) Ice does not block greenhouse gases.

The main cause of the rise in atmospheric CO₂ since the 1800s is:

  1. volcanic eruptions
  2. animal breathing
  3. changes in the sun's output
  4. burning fossil fuels

Answer: D — burning fossil fuels

D) Correct — Deforestation adds to it. A) Release far less CO₂ than human activity. B) Is part of the natural carbon cycle. C) Do not add CO₂.

Greenhouse gases warm Earth by:

  1. absorbing and re-emitting infrared heat
  2. reflecting sunlight back to space
  3. blocking ultraviolet light
  4. creating heat through chemical reactions

Answer: A — absorbing and re-emitting infrared heat

A) Correct — They slow heat from escaping to space. B) Reflection cools Earth. C) Is what stratospheric ozone does. D) They trap heat; they do not make it.

Climate Change: Causes, Evidence, Responses flashcards

4 cards from the 14 in this chapter.

Paris Agreement?

International climate treaty (2015). Goal: limit warming to 1.5-2°C above pre-industrial.

Ice–albedo feedback?

Ice reflects sunlight (high albedo). As ice melts, darker water and land absorb more heat, causing more melting: a positive feedback.

Climate change effects?

Sea level rise, melting ice, more extreme weather, ocean acidification, ecosystem shifts, species loss.

Global warming?

Long-term increase in Earth's average temperature. Mostly anthropogenic since industrial revolution.

Practise the full chapter

These are a sample. The full Climate Change: Causes, Evidence, Responses chapter runs 28 items with per-chapter progress tracking, on the web and in the iOS app.

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