Religion and Planet Earth
• Aim: To be able
to recognise and
create a good
answer to a
GCSE question.
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a) Explain what is meant by global
warming. ( 2 )
b) Explain two reasons why many
religious believers are concerned
about climate change. ( 4 )
c) “ Planet earth is God’s world.”
What do you think? Explain your
opinion.
(3)
d) Explain actions religious people
might take to look after the planet.
(3)
e) “It’s more important to enjoy life
than worry about using up the
world’s resources.”(6)
Do you agree? Give reasons for your
answer, showing that you have
thought about more than one point
of view. Refer to religious arguments
in your answer.
(6)
a)Explain what is meant by global
warming. ( 2 )
Global warming is the term scientists use to
describe the increase in the temperature of the
earth’s atmosphere. This has been caused by the
build up of greenhouse gases, such as CO2 from
car exhausts and other pollution.
b) Explain two reasons why many religious believers are
concerned about climate change. ( 4 )
• Many religious believers are concerned about the
effects climate change because it is causing severe
weather particularly in poor countries where
droughts, floods and famines are being made
worse. Christians are concerned about this because
they believe God has given them stewardship of
the earth and all of it’s people so they have a
responsibility for the planet. Buddhists are
concerned because climate change causes loss of
life and damage to crops and animal habitats, and
they try to keep the first moral precept, do not
harm any living thing.
c) “ Planet earth is God’s world.” What do you
think? Explain your opinion.
(3)
• I don’t think that planet earth is God’s world
because I am an atheist, so I don’t believe in
God, or that he created the earth. I think the
planet happened by chance and is the result of
the “Big-bang” which is the scientific theory of
how the earth was formed. Humans are the
dominant species so I think the world belongs to
us and we are responsible for it.
d) Explain actions religious people might take to
look after the planet.
(3)
• Christians might do a number of things to help
look after the planet because they believe they
are stewards of the earth. They could avoid
causing pollution by using renewable energy,
using energy saving light bulbs , recycling and
reducing their carbon footprint. They could also
support charities like Tearfund that campaign
about environmental issues such as climate
change.
e) “It’s more important to enjoy life than worry
about using up the world’s resources.”
• Do you agree? Give reasons for your answer,
showing that you have thought about more
than one point of view. Refer to religious
arguments in your answer.
(6)
e) “It’s more important to enjoy life than worry
about using up the world’s resources.”(6)
• I don’t agree because we need to think about
future generations and the fact that natural
resources such as coal and oil are running out.
However others would agree because life is for
living, you only live once and doing things like
recycling probably won’t make any difference to
things like global warming in the end.
Christians wouldn’t agree because they believe
God gave them stewardship of the earth so they
should look after the world’s resources by
recycling and using products that are kind to the
environment.