The Climate Changers Reading Answers

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16-09-2025

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The Climate Changers Reading Answers are provided below in the table for the questions (1-14). 

1. B 5. far-fetched 9. False 13. Not given
2. C 6. climate-warming 10. Not given 14. True
3. C 7. recorded history 11. True  
4. ancestor 8. ice age 12. False  

The Climate Changers Reading Answers will gain you the key strategies and techniques necessary to perform well in the examination. Practice this reading test to improve your reading comprehension and grasping skills. According to the IELTS aspirants, the IELTS reading is one of the toughest modules in the IELTS exams.

To perform better in the IELTS reading section, you need to understand how to approach and solve each of the Reading Module's Question types. In this article, we have given you three various kinds of questions to increase your problem-solving skills. Review The Climate Changers Reading Answers along with brief explanations. 

  • IELTS reading multiple choice questions
  • IELTS reading summary completion
  • IELTS reading true false not given

Also, Review other IELTS reading question types to enhance your knowledge about the IELTS reading test.

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IELTS Reading Passage - The Climate Changers

Read the following passage carefully and respond to the following questions (1-14). Compare your final results with the ones provided in The Climate Changers Reading Answers with explanation.

The Climate Changers

  1. The idyllic idea that prehistoric humans were able to coexist peacefully with their natural surroundings has been heavily criticized in recent years. Modern humans may have begun eradicating other species from the very beginning; our ancestors have been blamed for eradicating megafauna, including giant flightless birds in Australia, mammoths in Asia, and ground sloths in North America, as they spread across the globe. In spite of this, there were only about 12 million people in the world by about 6,000 years ago, which is less than a quarter of the current population of Great Britain. That's a lot fewer people than the 6.6 billion who currently inhabit the Earth, most of whom consume fossil fuels, produce greenhouse gases, and generally mess with the planet's climate as if there is no tomorrow. That humans have been the primary cause of global warming ever since our forefathers began clearing forests to plant crops at least 7,000 years ago may seem implausible to some.

  2. But that's the opinion of William Ruddiman, a climate scientist who retired from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. He claims that climate-warming carbon dioxide and methane were being released into the atmosphere by ancient farmers well before written history was even invented. However, early farmers actually prevented Earth from entering another ice age and kept temperatures stable for thousands of years. It's hard to believe that a few stone-age farmers could have altered global weather patterns. You are not alone if you find this hard to believe. Since Ruddiman first suggested it in 2003, his idea has generated intense debate. The majority of novel ideas, especially divisive ones, are quickly forgotten. He claims that scientists can quickly eliminate such individuals using scientific methods. Even now, five years later, nobody has abandoned his concept. Instead, he claims that recent developments only serve to bolster his position. Natural explanations for the increase in greenhouse gases over the past few thousand years are the ones that are not measuring up, he claims, so we can reject them.

  3. There can be no doubt that human activities are responsible for the skyrocketing levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that we see in the atmosphere today, which have contributed to a 0.7° C increase in average global temperature during the 20th century. Ruddiman, however, began to have doubts in the late 1990s that humankind's contribution to the global greenhouse had not become significant until well after the advent of industrialization. Atmospheric C02 and methane levels have fluctuated over the past 400,000 years, as discovered by an ice core drilled at the Vostok station in Antarctica. The ancient atmosphere during the last three interglacials can be pieced together from bubbles preserved in the ice.

  4. We observe a periodic pattern of increases and decreases that coincides with the arrival and departure of ice ages and has a period of about 100,000 years. These reoccurring patterns can be explained by the fact that the amount of sunlight striking Earth is subject to change due to regular shifts in the Earth's orbit and axis of rotation. This is one of the brief, warm interglacial periods that occur after an ice age. Within this overall trend, methane levels tend to peak at regular intervals of about 22,000 years, coinciding with the times when the Earth's orbit causes the northern hemisphere to experience its warmest summers. Because warm northern summers cause strong tropical monsoons in southern Asia, which both promote the growth of vegetation and cause flooding, which results in vegetation rotting in oxygen-poor water, emitting methane. When summers are particularly warm in the Arctic, permafrost melts for longer periods of time, allowing plants to grow and methane emissions to occur once more.

  5. Recent years have seen a deviation from this previously observed pattern. Around 11,000 years ago, methane levels peaked at about 700 parts per billion (ppb), before declining. Atmospheric methane levels had been declining, but they reversed course around 5,000 years ago and have been rising ever since, despite Ruddiman's estimates that they should be no more than 450 parts per billion today. Ruddiman, in collaboration with climate modelers Stephen Serves and John Kutzbach, has demonstrated that vast areas of northern Canada and Siberia would currently be covered by ice sheets if levels of these gases had continued to fall rather than rise when they did. Another ice age would be upon the world. Why, then, have atmospheric concentrations of both methane and carbon dioxide increased over the past few hundred and thousand years? What makes this interglacial period unique in comparison to others? What if we're to blame?

  6. Some 11,000 years ago, agriculture first appeared in the eastern Mediterranean, then in China, and finally in the Americas. Clearing forests releases large amounts of stored carbon as the wood decays or is burned, and flooded rice paddies release methane in the same way that wetlands do. Ruddiman started looking into agricultural history books and articles to learn more about the origins of farming. Based on these findings, we know that rice cultivation in Asia experienced a dramatic upswing sometime around the year 5000 BCE, with the trend quickly spreading across China and Southeast Asia. At least this explained where the sudden increase in methane levels could have come from.

The Climate Changers Reading Questions

Questions 1-3

Choose the correct letter, a, b, c, or d

1. The title's climate-altering offenders are

  1. Farming in its earliest stages
  2. All-Natural causes
  3. Today's humans
  4. Weather forecasters

2. To what extent is this the first time this information has been made public thanks to the studies conducted at Vostok?

  1. that there was a rise in methane levels around the year 5,000
  2. we are currently in a warm interglacial
  3. that methane levels leveled off around the year 11,000
  4. methane bubbles exist in Antarctica's ice

3. Ruddiman claims, for instance,

  1. His viewpoints aren't even remotely divisive
  2. Climate change predictions made by scientists have been wrong so far.
  3. World temperatures are rising because of a rise in the human population.
  4. Humans have been changing the weather for eons.

Click to know more about IELTS reading multiple choice questions

Questions 4-8

Complete the summary.

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Many people believe the controversial theory that 4.___________ are to blame for global warming appears 5.____________. Carbon dioxide and methane are both 6._____________, or greenhouse, gases, and Ruddiman thinks that significant amounts of both were being released into the Earth's atmosphere in times prior to 7._____________. But according to Ruddiman, this actually had a beneficial effect, as it may have prevented another 8.____________.

Click to know more about IELTS reading summary completion

Questions 9-14

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage? 
In boxes 9-14 on your answer sheet write

 TRUE                   if the statement agrees with the information
 FALSE                 if the statement contradicts the information
 NOT GIVEN         if there is no information on this

9. The 20th century saw the greatest increase in global temperatures in recorded history.
10. There is now undeniable evidence in the scientific community that confirms Ruddiman's theory.

11. Temperatures around the world can be influenced by small shifts in the Earth's orbit.

12. Today, agriculture is blamed as one of the main contributors to climate change.

13. In the last 100 years, humans have wiped out some species of megafauna.

14. In the scientific community, there was a lot of back and forth about Ruddiman's theory.

Click to know more about IELTS reading true false not given

The Climate Changers reading answers with explanation

The following section contains The Climate Changers reading answers with explanation with exact location, that correspond with the questions provided above.

(Note: The text in Bold mentions the location and answer given in the passage itself. The lines in italics show the explanatory sentences from the reading passage.)

1. a

Explanation: The last line of paragraph A explains that That humans have been the primary cause of global warming ever since our forefathers began clearing forests to plant crops at least 7,000 years ago may seem implausible to some.

2. a

Explanation: 3rd line of paragraph E describes that Atmospheric methane levels had been declining, but they reversed course around 5,000 years ago and have been rising ever since, despite Ruddiman's estimates that they should be no more than 450 parts per billion today.

3. d

Explanation: The last line of paragraph A depicts that That humans have been the primary cause of global warming ever since our forefathers began clearing forests to plant crops at least 7,000 years ago may seem implausible to some.

4. ancestors

Explanation: 2nd line of paragraph A justifies that Modern humans may have begun eradicating other species from the very beginning; our ancestors have been blamed for eradicating megafauna, including giant flightless birds in Australia, mammoths in Asia, and ground sloths in North America, as they spread across the globe.

5. implausible

Explanation: The last line of paragraph A notifies that That humans have been the primary cause of global warming ever since our forefathers began clearing forests to plant crops at least 7,000 years ago may seem implausible to some.

6. climate-warming

Explanation: 2nd line of paragraph B portrays that He claims that climate-warming carbon dioxide and methane were being released into the atmosphere by ancient farmers well before written history was even invented.

7. written history

Explanation: 2nd line of paragraph B says that He claims that climate-warming carbon dioxide and methane were being released into the atmosphere by ancient farmers well before written history was even invented.

8. Ice age

Explanation: 3rd line of paragraph B narrates that However, early farmers actually prevented Earth from entering another ice age and kept temperatures stable for thousands of years.

9. Not given

Explanation: There is no information in the passage related to the question. 

10. False

Explanation: 7th and 8th line of paragraph B suggests that He claims that scientists can quickly eliminate such individuals using scientific methods. Even now, five years later, nobody has abandoned his concept. Instead, he claims that recent developments only serve to bolster his position.

11. True

Explanation: 1st and 2nd lines of paragraph D state that We observe a periodic pattern of increases and decreases that coincides with the arrival and departure of ice ages and has a period of about 100,000 years. These reoccurring patterns can be explained by the fact that the amount of sunlight striking Earth is subject to change due to regular shifts in the Earth's orbit and axis of rotation.

12. Not given

Explanation: There is no information in the passage related to the question.

13. False

Explanation: 2nd and 3rd line of paragraph A tells that Modern humans may have begun eradicating other species from the very beginning; our ancestors have been blamed for eradicating megafauna, including giant flightless birds in Australia, mammoths in Asia, and ground sloths in North America, as they spread across the globe. In spite of this, there were only about 12 million people in the world about 6,000 years ago, which is less than a quarter of the current population of Great Britain.

14. True

Explanation: 6th line of paragraph B clearly states that Since Ruddiman first suggested it in 2003, his idea has generated intense debate. 

Check the other reading passages

Conclusion

Attempting the practice test by comparing your answers with The Climate Changers Reading Answers can help you to gain knowledge about the test's structure, timing, and question types. By taking the practice exam provided here, you will not only increase your grasping skills but also various skills like reading, comprehension abilities.

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About Author Dinesh Pandiyan

Dinesh is a highly experienced content writer who specializes in language proficiency tests like IELTS, GRE, PTE, TOEFL, and study abroad. He provides valuable insights and tips to students on various modules of these tests, including reading, writing, speaking, and listening. His articles are well-researched, informative, and engaging, offering practical guidance to students looking to succeed in their academic pursuits. Additionally, Dinesh has coordinated with IELTS trainers to prepare test preparation materials, guides, practice tests, and mock tests, and worked closely with counsellors for study abroad consultancy, providing guidance on choosing the right institution, preparing for interviews, and writing effective statements of purpose (SOP) and letters of recommendation (LOR). Students can benefit from Dinesh's comprehensive knowledge and experience by checking out his articles.

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