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Browse syllabus-aligned IB Environmental systems and societies revision notes by topic. Open each chapter for explanations, examples, and summaries.
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1.1A Perspective, values, and worldview
19 minute read
1.1B Environmental value system
14 minute read
1.1C Environmental movements
27 minute read
1.2A Systems
26 minute read
1.2B Negative feedback loops
13 minute read
1.2C Positive feedback loops
12 minute read
1.2D Models
9 minute read
1.2E Emergent properties
7 minute read
1.2F Resilience of a system
1.3A Sustainability and its pillars
1.3B Sustainable development
4 minute read
1.3C Unsustainable use of natural resources
1.3D Common indicators of economic development
8 minute read
1.3E Environmental justice and inequality
1.3F Sustainability indicators
15 minute read
1.3G Biocapacity
6 minute read
1.3H Citizen science
1.3I Frameworks and models for sustainability
2.1A Organisms
2.1B Population
2.1C Ecological Niche and Population Interactions
2.1D Carrying capacity
3 minute read
2.1E Population size and growth
21 minute read
2.1F Population abundance estimation
22 minute read
2.1G Community
2.1H Habitat
2.1I Ecosystems
11 minute read
2.1J Keystone species
2.1K Planetary boundaries model and biosphere integrity
17 minute read
2.1L Classification methods (HL)
2.1M Niche (HL)
2.1N r- and K strategists (HL)
2.1O Knowledge of species' classification (HL)
2.2A First law of thermodynamics
2.2B Photosynthesis and cellular respiration
2.2C Second law of thermodynamics
2.2D Food Chain and Energy Loss
10 minute read
2.2E Gross productivity and Net productivity
2.3A Biogeochemical cycles
2.3B Carbon cycle
28 minute read
2.3C Carbon in lithosphere (HL)
2.3D Methane (HL)
2.3E Nitrogen cycle (HL)
30 minute read
2.4A Climate
2.4B Biomes
2.4C The tricellular mode of atmospheric circulation
16 minute read
2.4D Climate in biomes (HL)
2.4E El Nino (HL)
2.5A Zonation
2.5B Succession
2.5C Ecosystem resilience
2.5D Community and productivity in succession (HL)
2.5E Climax communities and plagioclimax (HL)
3.1A Biodiversity
3.1B Natural selection and speciation
3.1C Species diversity
3.1D Genetic Diversity and Reproductive Isolation (HL)
3.1E Biodiversity hotspots (HL)
3.1F Human activities and selective forces (HL)
3.1G Earth history and the Anthropocene (HL)
3.2A Human impacts on biodiversity
3.2B Invasive species
3.2C IUCN
3.2D Tragedy of the commons
3.2E Key biodiversity hotspots and areas (HL)
3.3A Arguments for conservation and strategies
3.3B Regeneration and rewilding
3.3C Choice of conservation
3.3D Success in conservation and eco-tourism (HL)
3.3E Rewilding projects (HL)
4.1A Hydrological cycle
4.1B Characteristics of water (HL)
4.1C Oceans as a carbon sink (HL)
4.1D Stratification (HL)
4.1E Thermohaline circulation (HL)
4.2A Water security
4.2B Water supply
4.2C Water scarcity
4.2D Water conservation
4.2E Freshwater resources and use (HL)
4.3A Phytoplankton and macrophhytes
4.3B Consumption of organisms from freshwater and marine environments
4.3C Maximum sustainable yield
4.3D Impact on freshwater and marine ecosystems
20 minute read
4.3E Productivity, thermal stratification, nutrient mixing, and loading (HL)
4.4A Water pollution
4.4B Water quality
4.4C Eutrophication
4.4D Pollutants in water (HL)
4.4E Algal blooms and anoxic/hypoxic waters (HL)
5.1A Soil system
5.1B Contribution of soil
5.1C Soil texture
5.1D Soil as a carbon sink
5.1E Soil horizons (HL)
5.1F Soil formation (HL)
5.1G Soil properties (HL)
5.2A Land and land use
5.2B Agriculture systems
29 minute read
5.2C Synthetic fertilizers
5.2D Soil conservation
5.2E Diet and food security
6.1A Atmosphere
6.1B Tricellular model of atmospheric circulation
6.1C Greenhouse effect
6.1D Atmosphere system (HL)
6.1E Milankovitch cycles (HL)
6.1F Quaternary period (HL)
6.2A Climate and anthropogenic GHG emissions
6.2B Climate change
6.2C Climate models (HL)
6.2D Tipping cascades (HL)
6.2E Varying responsibility for climate change (HL)
6.3A Mitigation and adaptation strategies
24 minute read
6.3B Stakeholder responses (HL)
37 minute read
6.3C Technology to aid mitigation of climate change (HL)
6.3D Challenges to overcome (HL)
6.3E Geoengineering (HL)
6.4A UV radiation
6.4B Ozone depletion
6.4C The Montreal protocol
6.4D Stratospheric ozone depletion and ODSs (HL)
7.1A Natural resources
7.1B Ecosystem services
7.1C Natural capital
7.1D Resource scarcity and use of natural resource
7.1E Management and intervention of strategies to influence use of natural resources (HL)
7.1F Environmental impact assessment (HL)
7.1G Unsustainable extracting, harvesting, transporting, and processes
7.1H Economic interests (HL)
5 minute read
7.1I Natural resource insecurity and security (HL)
7.2A Energy sources, global energy consumption and energy choices
7.2B Energy storage systems
7.2C Energy conservation and energy efficiency
7.2D Energy security (HL)
7.2E Global economy and fossil fuels (HL)
7.3A Solid domestic waste
7.3B Waste disposal and management
8.1A Birth and Immigration as Inputs to Population Growth
8.1B Human population management
8.1C Age-sex pyramids and demographic transition model
8.1D Rapid population growth (HL)
8.1E Dependency ratio and population momentum (HL)
8.1F Environmental migration (HL)
8.2A Urban systems
8.2B Urbanization and suburbanization
23 minute read
8.2C Urban planning
8.2D Principles of ecological urban planning (HL)
8.2E Sustainable urban systems (HL)
8.3A Urban air pollution
8.3B Acid rain
8.3C Photochemical smog (HL)
8.3D Tropospheric ozone (HL)
HL.aA Environmental law
HL.aB Environmental constitutionalism
HL.aC Drafting environmental law
HL.aD International law
HL.aE Legal personhood
HL.aF Legal and economic strategies to maintain sustainable use of the environment
HL.bA Environmental economics and its key concepts
HL.bB Environmental accounting
HL.bC Ecological economics
HL.bD Economic growth
HL.bE Eco-economic decoupling
HL.cA Environmental ethics
HL.cB Instrumental and intrinsic values
HL.cC Moral standing
HL.cD Approaches of traditional ethics
HL.cE Rights-based ethical systems
2.2F Food Web and Biomass
2.2G Ecological Pyramids
2.2H Pollutants and human activities
2.2I Productivity and Ecological efficiency (HL)
2.2J Modes of nutrition (HL)
2.4F Tropical cyclones (HL)
3.2F Traditional indigenous approaches to land management (HL)
3.2G Environmental justice and conservation efforts (HL)
3.2H Loss of biosphere integrity (HL)
4.2F Water footprints and Citizen Science (HL)
4.2G Water stress (HL)
4.3F Conservation and Management of Global Fisheries (HL)
4.3G Ethical Issues in Harvesting Seals, Whales, and Dolphins (HL)
4.4F Sewage treatment (HL)
4.4G Water quality management (HL)
18 minute read
5.2F Agricultural choices and farming approaches (HL)
5.2G Sustainability of different diets (HL)
5.2H Traditional or indigenous methods (HL)
25 minute read
5.2I Uneven distribution of food (HL)
6.3F Climate change perspectives (HL)
6.3G Tragedy of the commons in action (HL)
7.2F Nuclear power and battery storage (HL)
HL.bF Concepts of ecological economics
HL.cF Appeal to nature fallacy
HL.cG Environmental and social justice movements
