PWS Midterm 2 Quizzes

According to Dr. Hayhoe, human greenhouse gases and albedo change are causing excess energy to accumulate in the Earth system how quickly?

4 atomic-bomb's worth every second

Global warming potential (GWP) is used to compare different footprints of personal and communal actions related to climate change.

False

The primary way that we know climate change is caused by humans is the results of computer simulations.

False

How much has the Earth's mean annual air temperature increased relative to 1850-1900?

1.1 C

Approximately how much of the observed warming in the past 100 years can be attributed to human causes?

100%

Rank the following economic sectors by contribution to total greenhouse gas production globally (highest to lowest):

Electricity Agriculture/land use Industry/manufacturing Transportation

In your opinion, which of the greenhouse gas sources from the previous question could be most easily decarbonized in the next decade? Why?

Electricity production could most easily be modified because there are many new technologies such as nuclear power and wind turbines that have gained considerable footing and would provide a financial incentive to turn to more and more renewable energy.

Most species typically stabilize their population near the carrying capacity of their ecosystem?

False Species do not self-regulate, typically. There can be environmental constraints that keep them below the carrying capacity, but "boom-and-bust" dynamics are very common.

Rank the following anthropogenic greenhouse gases from highest to lowest heat-trapping capacity per molecule?

Fluorinated gases N2O CH4 CO2

True

Fossil fuels create enormous amounts of pollution that directly impact human health The global trend is shifting towards more renewable energy production

Which of the following best describes the likely impact of global warming on precipitation?

Likely an increase in the intensity of storms but a decrease in their reliability

What causes many populations to experience an "S" shaped growth curve?

Low numbers initially and limited resources eventually

Which of the following best describes how warming over land compares to warming over the ocean?

Much greater warming over the land

Look at the figure below from Ripple et al., 2020. Pick two of the panels, one of which you interpret as an overall encouraging trend and one with a discouraging trend. Justify what you see as potentially hopeful and troubling in the two panels.

Panel g is encouraging because it means that overall, the rate of deforestation in the Amazon forest has greatly decreased over the years even though it is slightly up recently. This overall decreased rate means that less trees will come down, more carbon will be secuestered, and loss of biodiversity in the forest will be slowed down. Panel d is very discouraging becaus meat consumption contributes to a huge amount of greenhouse gas emissions and deforestation/changing of land. Another reason it is discouraging is because it not only correlates to the rising world population, which puts a heavy strain on the world, but the fact that the world's human inhabitants are living a more and more luxurios/wasteful lifestyle.

In IPCC lingo, what does SSP stand for?

Shared socio-economic pathway

According to J.P. Morgan's internal report, which of the following are true regarding the potential socioeconomic consequences of climate change? (select all that apply)

The consequences of climate change are likely massively underestimated Reaching net zero emissions by 2050 will likely require a global carbon tax Neither developed or developing countries are likely to take adequate measures to prevent climate change

Climate change can be viewed as a risk management scenario. Which of the following best describes how we should think of that risk?

The greater the warming the greater the risk

If we could decarbonize a sector of the U.S. economy completely, which would have the biggest effect on U.S. greenhouse gas emissions?

Transporation

The death of 90% of the population of the Americas due to diseases from European colonists caused what response in the climate system?

afforestation decreased CO2 and decreased temperature