GEOG 207

Define Anthropocene

• Humans have changed the world so much that we’re now living in a major force shaping earths environment

What impact did the industrial revolution have

• Major increase in human environmental impact due to an increase in coal

What impact did the Great Acceleration (1950) have

• Rapid increase in human activity & environmental impact

Define Climate Change

• Refers to changes in the Earth’s climate system including changes in temperature & other climate patterns

Define GreenHouse effect

• Certain gases in the atmosphere trap heat, keeping earth warmer

What are the main GHG

• CO2: Carbon Dioxide

• CH4: Methan

• N2O: Nitrous oxide

What does more GHG do

• More heat → More warming

Define Human causes of climate change

• Human activities cause current global warmin

Define Evidence for Human caused warming

• Scientists used evidence to prove humans cause warming

What are some of the key evidence to prove humans cause warming

• Rising GHG

• Fossil fuel carbon matches increased atmospheric CO2

• Fossil fuel carbon alters atmosphere

• Natural + human models explain observed warming

Define climate models

• Climate models predict future climate changes

Define peer review

• Experts check research for accuracy and reliability

Define Mitigation

• Reducing greenhouse gases to slow climate change

• Ex. Renewable energy, Reducing fossil fuels use, protecting/expanding forests

Define Adaptation

• Responding to the impacts of climate change by adjusting systems to reduce harm

• Ex. Growing drought resistant, protecting communities

Define climate risk perception

• People perceive risks differently from scientific evidence

Define Perception of Nature

• Your views of nature affect climate beliefs

• Ex. If someone views nature as delicate & if someone views nature as very stable

Define Climate justice

• Asks whether its fair that some people/countries contribute less to climate change but experience greater impacts

• Ex. Low income community

What does climate justice raise the question of

• Who caused the problem, who pays/experiences the consequences

What does IPCC stand for

• International Panel on Climate Change

What does IPCC do

• Reviews climate science so governments & others can guide decisions

What does UNFCCC stand for

• United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

What does UNFCCC do

• International framework for countries working together for climate change

What’s the 3 working groups that IPCC use to assess climate science

1. Science: physical science of climate change

2. Impacts: vulnerability, impacts & adaptation

3. Mitigation: ways to reduce GHG

What does the Kyoto protocol do

• International climate agreement that gave certain countries specific emissions reduction commitments

When was the Kyoto protocol introduced & when was it enforced

• Introduced: 1997

• Enforced: 2005

Why did it take so long to enforce the Kyoto protocol

• Countries had to agree on the rules

• Major countries delayed joining or ratifying it

• It needed enough countries to ratify before taking effect

• Countries disagreed about who should reduce emissions and by how much

Define sustainable development

• Meet peoples need without damaging the environment & wasting it for future generations

Define Transformative change

• Instead of small improvements to existing systems we may need to fundamentally change how society operates

What is the Paris Agreement

• Countries work together to limit warming, with each country developing its own climate commitments

When was the Paris agreement create & by who

• 2015

• Under UNFCCC

Main goal of the Paris agreement

• Limit global warming to below 2 degree celsius

Define weather

• What the atmosphere Is like at a specific place & time

• Ex. A cold day

Define Climate

• Average weather in a place over many years

• Ex. A place usually having cold winters

Define System

• A group of connected things that work together

• Ex. Grassland includes plants, animals, water & nutrients

Define stock

• Amount of something

• Built based up from flow

• Ex. Water in a lake, wood on a tree

Define Flow (& 2 types of flows)

• How something enters or leaves a stock overtime

• Inflows: Something enters

• Outflows: Something leaves

• Ex. Water entering & leaving a stream

Define feedback

• When change causes effects that eventually influence the original thing

What are the two types of feedback

• Amplifying: Increases change; Ex. More people leave a party making others leave too

• Stabilizing: Reduces change, causes balance; Ex. A party gets crowded so people leave so it’s less crowded and others stay

Define Climate variability

• Natural changes in average climate conditions

• Ex. El Niño, La Nina, other volcanic eruptions

Define climate change

• Long term changes in average climate conditions over decades

What doesn't;t count as climate change

• A. single heat wave

• A single cold snap

Explain El Niño & what it causes

• Warm phases of the Pacific Ocean cycle

• Can cause: flood in some places & droughts in other

Explain La Niña and what it causes

• Cold phase

• Can cause: More rain in some area & droughts in others

Explain the process of El Niño

• Trade winds push warm water east

• Cold nutrients rich water rises near South America (upwelling)

• Marine life gets less food

Explain the process of La Niña

• Trade winds pushes warm water moves west

What are the 5 main parts of the earths climate system

1. Atmosphere: Gases surrounding Earth

2. Hydrosphere: All water on earth

3. Biosphere: All living things

4. Geosphere/Lithosphere: Rocks, soil Earths solid materials

5. Cryosphere: All frozen water on earth

Explain atmosphere

• Contains oxygen

• Holds GHG’s

• Controls heat & water

Explain hydrosphere

• Oceans absorb heat & CO2

• Water vapours traps ear

• Help regular climate

Explain biosphere

• Plants absorb CO2

• Plants change how much sunlight the Earth reflects

• Provides fossil fuels over millions of years

Explain Geosphere/Lithosphere

• Volcanos release gases

• Stores fossil fuels

• Burning fossil fuels releases CO2

Explain Cryosphere

• Includes glaciers, snow, ice

• Reflects sunlight

• Stores trapped methane

What does more ice mean

• More sunlight reflected

What does less ice mean

• Less sunlight reflected, more heat absorbed

What are the 2 types of gases in the atmosphere

1. Permanent gasses: Amounts stay mostly the same

2. Variable gasses: Amounts change by strongly affect climate

Explain water vapour

• Biggest contributor to the natural greenhouse effect

• Enters the atmosphere through evaporation

• Usually stays in the atmosphere for only a few days doesn’t build up over many years

How does CO2 leave and enter the atmosphere

• Enters: Respiration, Decomposition, Forest fire, Burning fossil fuels

• Leaves: Mainly photosynthesis

Define the Keeling curve

• Shows CO2 levels in the atmosphere over time

What’s the history behind the keeling curve

• Charles Keeling started measuring CO2 in 1950s Hawaii CO2 measured in ppm

• Shows that CO2 levels have steadily increased

Describe CO2 in the spring & summer

• Plants grow

• Photosynthesis increases

• More CO2 is absorbed

• Atmospheric CO2 decreases

Describe CO2 in the fall & winter

• Leaves fall

• plants decompose

• CO2 returns to the atmosphere

• Atmospheric CO2 decreases

Define Ice cones and what they help scientists do

• Long cylinders of ice taken from glaciers & ice sheets

• Helps scientists study ancient atmospheric conditions, provide records going back approximately 800,000 years

Why does increasing CO2 matter

• Modern CO2 levels are very high compared with the period when human civilization development

Why is society vulnerable to increasing CO2

• Billions live in coastal coast

• Food supply chains depend on stable conditions

• Infrastructure depends on predictable climate

What are the 2 types of ozone

1. Good ozone: 10-40km above the earth & protects the earth from harmful UV-B radiation, prevent skin cancer

2. Bad ozone: Ground level, acts as a minor GHG, can harm living things

Explain the Montreal protocol

• International agreement created in 1987

• Aims to reduce chemicals that damage the ozone level

What are Methane released from & through

• Released from: fossil fuel activities

• Released through: livestock digestion

True or False: Air becomes less dense as altitude increases

• True

True or False: Troposphere temperature decreases about 0.65°C per 100 metres

• True

True or False: The ground doesn’t warms the air above it

• False

True or False: Ozone doesn’t absorbs radiation and warms the stratosphere

• False

True or False: Mesosphere extends to about 80 km

• True

What are the 5 main atmospheric layers

1. Exosphere (800 to 3000km)

2. Thermosphere (80-90 to 800km)

3. Mesosphere (40-50 to 80-90km)

4. Stratosphere (11 to 50km)

5. Troposphere (0 to 12-18km)

Describe the Thermosphere

• Temperature increase with height

Describe the Mesosphere

• Coldest atmospheric layer

Describe the Stratosphere

• Coldest Atmospheric layer

Describe the Troposphere

• Closest to Earth

• Temperature decreases with height

True or False: How we view nature affects how willing we are to take action on climate change

• True

What are the 2 views of nature

• Benign nature: people may feel nature can handle changes so major action is less necessary

• Ephermal nature: people may believe nature is fragile so protecting resources & climate is urgent

Define equilibrium

• Inflows equal outflows

Define lag

• Time between action and effect

Define Albedo

• How much sunlight Earth reflects