What is global warming? Explain its causes and its effects on the climate of India.
How to lay out the answer. Follow the frame, then write it in your own words.
1 · Open with the meaning. Global warming is the rise in the Earth's average surface temperature caused by extra greenhouse gases.
2 · How it happens. The Earth's surface absorbs about 51 percent of the Sun's energy and sends heat back out. Carbon dioxide and other gases trap part of this heat.
3 · Causes. Burning fossil fuels, industrialisation, urbanisation, cutting forests and population growth add carbon dioxide; CFCs also harm the atmosphere.
4 · Effect on the seasons. The cycle of seasons is disturbed and the monsoon becomes less regular, bringing floods in some years and droughts in others.
5 · Effect on farming and life. Farming, on which many Indians depend, suffers; health and transport are affected too.
6 · Remedies. Countries have signed a UN convention to cut greenhouse gases; each of us can save energy, use public transport and plant trees.
7 · Close in one line. So global warming needs both global and personal action.
Scoring tip: Split the answer into meaning, causes, effects and remedies. Name carbon dioxide at least once.
