Climate Change

Lecture 3

What evidence exists for global climate change?

shrinking ice sheets in Greenland and Antartica by satellite analysis

Declining Arctic sea ice

Rising Ocean levels

Glacial retreat —> Alps, Himalayas, Andes, Rockies, Alaska, and Africa

Coral bleaching

What yeat is the hottest year on record?

2024

What two countries contribute 40% of CO2 emissions?

U.S. and China

The planet has warmed how much since the pre-industrial age?

1.5 degrees Celsius

What is one of the most mobile forms of carbon?

Carbon dioxide

Explain how greenhouse gases contribute to global warming.

they act like the glass of a greenhouse

sun comes in through atmosphere —> absorbed and re-emitted by gas molecules —> heat trapped in lower atmosphere

Define carbon sequestration.

process of capturing and storing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere

What is defined as the long term, prevailing pattern of temperature, precipitation, and other weather variables at a given locations, described by statistics, such as means and extremes?

climate

What is defined as the environmental conditions that we experience outside every day over a smaller, regional area?

weather

Who described climate change as an adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli or their effect, which moderates harm or exploits beneficial opportunities?

International Panel on Climate Change

List potential economic imapcts of climate change.

trade restrictions

insurance

incentives

stock market function

property values

job loss/job creation

List potential societal imapcts of climate change.

job loss/job creation

climate poverty impacts

climate bom pockets

population shifts

political shifts —> democratic, non-democratic-terror

mass migration

Hydrocarbon fuels are used for what percent of electricity source?

62%

True or false: Lower level life forms will be able to adapt through natural selection faster than higher level life forms such as humans.

True