IB Geography Responding to Global Climate Change

Resilience

The capacity of individuals, societies, organisations, or environments to recover and resume functions following a hazard event or other system shock

Location & Vulnerability

Low-lying coastline, islands, mountains(Himalayas), polar regions

Wealth, Education & Vulnerability

More wealth = more ability to adapt
More education = more knowledge on how to adapt + more opportunities

Age, Gender & Vulnerability

Very old + very young = less ability to adapt + escape
Women = less physical strength, less education + financial freedom

Risk Perception & Vulnerability

Teenagers take more risks, less educated/older people less able to assess risks

Government Strategies(3)

Do nothing, adapt(coastal defences), mitigate(CCS)

Cities + Rising Sea Levels

London's Thames Gate, Rotterdam's Storm Surge Barrier

Global Geopolitical Efforts

1992 Earth Summit(Rio de Janeiro), 1995 COP(Berlin), 1997 Kyoto Protocol(Kyoto), 2009 COP15(Copenhagen), 2015 COP21(Paris), 2021 COP26(Glasgow)

Solution: Nuclear Fusion

Still under development, currently requires more energy than it produces, plasma has to be 100,000,000°

Solution: EPR Nuclear Fission

European Pressurised water Reactor, non-renewable, obvious danger

Solution: Shale Gas Fracking

Natural gas is cleaner than oil and coal, contaminates aquifers, causes earthquakes, destroys ecosystems, still a fossil fuel

Solution: Carbon Capture and Storage

Difficult + expensive, not well-developed, capture is difficult

Solution: BECCS

Bio Energy + CCS, bioenergy(wood, biogas), CO2 is captured and turned liquid, stored underground, requires large amounts of land, reduces biodiversity

Solution: Geoengineering

CCS, sun shades, stratospheric aerosols, afforestation, ocean fertilisation, all have their own difficulties, politically difficult on a large scale

Case Study: Biochar

Tamale, Northern Ghana, Pond Foundation + WhatIf Foods
Issue: crops impacted by extreme weather events, droughts, desertification, soil degradation
Biochar: pyrolysis of waste products(groundnut shells), improved water retention, fungal activity, soil nutrition, sequesters carbon for 100-1000 years

Case Study: Ricehouse

Biella, Northern Italy, Pond Foundation
Issue: livelihoods impacted by extreme weather events, construction accounts for 39% of energy-related GHG emissions, uses up water(1/10 in Europe) + resources + creates waste(1/3 of all EU waste)
Ricehouse: rice-straw + rice-husks are used to make building materials, sequestered >1,100t CO2 from the atmosphere

European Union

World's largest political grouping of high-income countries, acknowledged responsibility in CO2 levels, cut emissions by 20% by 2020(cf.1990), 80% by 2050

CET

Carbon Emissions Trading, Cap&Trade, mitigation, 1 carbon credit=1 tonne of CO2, extra credits sold, credits reduced annually

EUETS

EU Emissions Trading System, includes power stations, cement works, factories, oil refineries, chemical plants, established 2003, largest CET scheme

Solution: Carbon Offsetting

Offset emissions by funding equivalent CO2 saving elsewhere, risks greenwashing, not accountable or monitored

NGO: Swiss Glaciers Initiative

• Swiss Association for the Climate Protection: Group of citizens calling for CO2 emissions to be 0 by 2050(set in Swiss constitution)

• Glacier Initiative: Get Paris Agreement in Swiss constitution, remove fossil fuels by 2050

• 2022: Government passed counter-proposal: goals, net-zero timetables for companies, risk protection, promotion of new developments, impulse program for heating replacement + energy efficiency, good start but not enough

NGO: Climeworks

• Direct air capture (launched in 2017, 15 machines in operation, 1st large scale plant in Iceland) → either sold or stored as stone via reaction with basalt rock

• Benefits: location-independent(need renewable energy source+storage), fast scalability(1000x more efficient than trees, work of 200,000 trees in 1,000 times less space), efficient land usage(0.42 acres, 4,000 tons removed per year vs 4.62 tons from 220 trees in the same space)

• Mineralisation: CO2 dissolved in water, injected into basalt rock, forms solid carbonate minerals(<2 years)(other methods)

• Swiss Re signs long-term agreement w Climeworks; $10 million over 10 years

• Plan: 1% of global CO2 emissions by 2025(750,000 shipping containers worth of collectors)