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Global Climate Change
causes changes in sea levels, precipitation patterns, ecosystems, human health, agriculture, and wildfires.
Sea-level Rise
an effect of global climate change. Two factors cause this to happen; thermal expansion and melting of glaciers/polar ice caps. It impacts small island nations, causing lowland flooding, storm surges, and a decrease in water supply and food production.
Thermal Expansion
a rate at which water expands as it warms. The rate is increasing and contributes to more than half of the sea level rise.
Melting of Glaciers and Polar Ice Caps
occurs at the South Pole. It has a positive feedback effect on heating; water absorbs heat, which causes ice to melt, resulting in more water and less ice. Then, there’s more water absorbing heat again; repeating the process.
Ekimo Inuit
the indigenous people of Alaska’s and Canada’s far north that pursue a way of life dictated by frigid climate. Their population is being threatened by climate change because it causes reduced snow cover, shorter river ice seasons, thawing of permafrost, contaminated water supplies, and displacement of wildlife.
Permafrost
permanently frozen subsoil characteristic of the tundra and boreal forests of Alaska, Canada, Russia, China, and Mongolia. It provides the foundation on which tundra plants and forest trees are anchored and on which houses and roads are built.
Melting of Permafrost
causes the foundation to collapse; sinking homes and telephone poles at odd angles in the ground. It also releases methane and other greenhouse gases, creating a positive feedback loop.
Changes in Precipitation Patterns
an effect of global climate change. These changes are causing some areas to have frequent droughts, heavier snow, and intense rainstorms (flooding). It decreases the availability and quality of fresh water.
Warmer Sea-Surface Temperatures
an effect of global climate change. It will result in hurricanes with higher maximum wind speeds and increased total precipitation. As the earth warms, more water evaporates; releasing more energy into the atmosphere. This energy will generate more powerful storms.
Organisms
this population is affected by global climate change. Plant species are having earlier flowering times while aquatic species are changing migration patterns. Some species have shifted their geographic ranges, in direction or altitude. Ecosystems at greatest risk of species loss in the short term include coral reefs, mountain ecosystems, coastal wetlands, tundra, and polar spas.
Coral Reefs
systems that include corals, symbiotic organisms living within the reefs, and other organisms that live, eat, and reproduce around the reefs. They are impacted by climate change through acidification and temperature increases.
Acidification
CO2 from the atmosphere is absorbed and stored in oceans. However, as more is absorbed, more CO2 reacts with water to form carbonic acid, making the ocean more acidic. Aquatic organisms, that undergo a chemical process to incorporate CaCO3 into their shells, are sensitive to acidity.
Coral Bleaching
occurs when water temperature exceeds a threshold, affecting the coral symbiotes and making them and the corals more susceptible to disease-causing organisms that healthy corals are normally resistant to.
Human Health
this factor is affected by global climate change. Ranges of mosquitoes and other disease carriers have expands to newly warm areas. They can spread malaria, dengue, fever, schistosomiasis, and yellow fever. Changes in temperature and precipitation increase certain food and waterborne diseases.
Agriculture
this factor is affected by global climate change. It’ll increase the frequency/duration of droughts, increase populations of agricultural pests and disease-causing organisms, decrease soil moisture, and change nighttime temperatures. Rises in sea level also overwhelm river deltas (the world’s best agricultural lands).
Efforts to Reduce Carbon Emissions
include increasing energy efficiency, limiting fossil-fuel use, and developing alternative energy programs.
Developed Countries
are the least affected by global climate change and are open to efforts in reducing CO2 emissions. They argue that the booming economic growth and much greater population in developing countries will threaten to overwhelm the world with CO2 emissions as the developing countries become industrialized.
Developing Countries
are the most affected by global climate change and are not open to efforts in reducing CO2 emissions. They ask why they should have to take actions to curb Co2 emissions when the rich industrialized nations historically have been the main cause of the problem.
Dissolved Organic Compounds
comes from the decomposition of dead organisms and are present even in the cleanest, least polluted lakes. It acts like sunscreen, absorbing UV radiation so that it penetrates only a few inches into the water.
Lakes
affected by global climate change. Climate warming and acid deposition increase how far UV radiation penetrates lake water. Climate warming causes water to evaporate, reducing the amount of dissolved organic compounds reaching lakes. Acid deposition causes organic matter to clump and settle on the lake floor. Increased UV penetration disrupts photosynthesis in algae and causes sunburn damage in fishes.
Mitigation
an action that diminishes the causes of climate change, thereby reducing the rate at which climate changes. It focuses on limiting greenhouse gas emissions and buying time to pursue solutions that stop/reverse the change.
Adaptation
preparatory actions that help humans tolerate the effects of changing climate. It focuses on learning to live with the environmental changes and societal consequences of global climate change. The world will most likely have to resort to this action.
Cap and Trade System
an economics-based solution that limits the total amount of carbon worldwide but lets people buy and sell carbon emission rights.
Carbon Management
ways to capture and store CO2.
Carbon Capture and Storage
also known as CCS or carbon sequestration; requires a dramatic shift in where fossil fuels are used. Most proposals involve generating electricity or hydrogen at a fixed location where CO2 can most easily be captured.
Sequestering Carbon in Trees
a way to mitigate global climate change. It involves removing atmospheric carbon dioxide from the air by planting and maintaining forests. Trees incorporate carbon into organic matter, letting it remain in their roots and stems for a relatively long time.
Geoengineering
used to mitigate climate change. It refers to projects that take place on a global scale. Examples include seeding the ocean with iron to allow more carbon to be taken up by algae, building devices that extract massive amounts of carbon from the atmosphere, and ejecting sulfur particles into the atmosphere to reflect sunlight.
UNFCCC
also known as the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change; its ultimate goal was to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at levels low enough to prevent dangerous human influences on the climate.
Kyoto Protocol
an international treaty, legally binding, that provides operational rules on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, the United States has not ratified this protocol.
Biotic Pollution
the introduction of a foreign species into an ecosystem in which it did not evolve. It often upsets the balance among the organisms living in the area and interferes with the ecosystem’s normal functioning. It’s usually permanent.
Invasive Species
foreign species whose introduction causes economic/environmental harm, competing with native species for food or habitat, or prey on them. They spread rapidly in a new area, and are introduced by natural means/humans (mostly). Islands are particularly susceptible to these species.
Overexploitation
when a species becomes endangered or extinct as a result of deliberate efforts to eradicate/control their numbers. Many of these species feed on game animals or livestock; thus, ranchers, hunters, farmers, and government agents have been reducing the populations of these species.
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