Section 3.1: Climate Change & Section 3.2: Environmental Awareness

Greenhouse Effect

For centuries, humans have been burning fossil fuels to power their lives. This process releases additional greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, trapping heat that would escape into space otherwise.

asthma

The same dirty fossil fuel emissions that contribute to the greenhouse effect can lead to respiratory diseases – such as _____ – in children and adults. And they can be quite dangerous.

7 million

Air pollution kills an estimated ____ people worldwide every year, according to the World Health Organization.

carbon emissions

By trapping heat into our planet, _____ also damage the human body and mind in other ways.

heat strokes

We’ve all heard about the risks of _____. But did you know that warmer temperatures are linked to a 2 percent increase in mental health issues such as stress, anxiety.

7 to 8 inches

There’s really no place like home. But for many living in coastal communities, sea-level rise could lead to an unwanted (and sudden) move. As our globe warms, glaciers melt and ocean water expands, leading seas to rise about _____ on average since 1900 – about 3 inches of that since 1993. The added volume of water creeping up coastlines slowly swallows land and homes and fuels more flooding inland .

2005 to 2015

in the United States, from ______, the median annual number of flood days more than doubled on the East Coast between Florida and North Carolina, thanks in part to rising sea levels.

climate gentrification

In Miami, even residents that live far away from the beach could be forced to relocate. Lower-income, people of color, and immigrants could lose their homes to wealthy residents who want to move away from the coast and into neighborhoods safe from the water, driving property values and rents up and out of reach of regular people. This is called “_______,” and it’s a hot topic within the environmental justice movement.

fossil fuels

The same CO2 accumulating in our atmosphere thanks to _____ is actually changing the composition of fruits and vegetables that we eat, making them less nutritious.

Extra CO2

_____ is speeding up photosynthesis and causing plants to grow with more sugar and less calcium, protein, zinc, and important vitamins.

carbon emissions

According to Harvard researchers, if we don’t reduce ______ right now, this could spell big problem for our diets. By the middle of the century about 175 million more people could develop a zinc deficiency and 122 million people could become protein deficient as a result of these changes to plant physiology.

Climate Change

Refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns, mainly driven by human activities like burning fossil fuels.

Burning Fossil Fuels

Generates greenhouse gas emissions that act like a blanket wrapped around the Earth, trapping the sun’s heat and raising temperature.

Carbon Dioxide, Methane, CFCs (Chlorofluorocarbons), Ozone, amd Nitrous Oxide.

Green house gases examples (5)

The greenhouse effect is produced when gases in the Earth's atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide, methane, and water vapor, trap heat from the sun, preventing it from escaping back into space and thereby warming the planet’s surface.

How is the greenhouse effect produced?

Health, Home, Food

3 ways that Climate Change is already affecting people’s lives.

Environmentalism

is an ideology that evokes the necessity and responsibility of humans to respect, protect, and preserve the natural world from its anthropogenic (caused by humans) afflictions.

Environmental awareness

is an integral part of the movement’s success. By teaching our friends and family that the physical environment is fragile and indispensable, we can begin fixing the problems that threaten it.

Oil Drilling

This issue is one that causes a great deal of environmental destruction. Our dependence on fossil fuel is a global addiction that affects every aspect of the world.

Oil Drilling

This poison marine life, suffocates the earth, and the combustion of fossil fuels add to the increased atmospheric CO₂, which in turns causes the progression of global warming and ocean acidification.

Deforestation

Millions of acres of forest are cut down for industrial benefit, such as large scale farming, oil mining, and the production of paper goods.

Deforestation

causes wildlife and biodiversity extinction because the loss of habitat threatens many species’ existence.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

(Under Deforestation) They have a Red List of environmentally threatened species with up-to-date information.

Production of Plastic Goods

Currently our society creates a great deal of waste and much of that waste consists of plastic.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

According to the _________ in 2010 alone 31 million tons of plastic waste was created.

Great Pacific Garbage Patch

This waste ends up all over the globe in both land and water, a good example is the ______. Not only is plastic waste an issue, but the production of plastic is also dependent on fossil fuel combustion.

U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)

According to the __________ in 2010 191 million barrels of liquid petroleum gases(LPG) and natural gas liquids (NGL) were used in the U.S. alone to produce plastic goods.

Environmental Awareness

Means being aware of the natural environment and making choices that benefit the Earth, rather than hurt it.

Oil Drilling, Deforestation , Production of Plastic Goods

Cause and Effect of Environmental Awareness (3)

Carbon Emmision

CO₂ released from burning fossil fuels

Nutrient deficiency

Lack of essential nutrients due to CO₂ effects on plants

Climate Gentrification

Displacement caused by climate-related relocation