Chapter 19 Environmental Science (Be thankful I didn't put password :P)

Evidence

*Evidence of Climate Change* 1. Earth's global surface temp. rose by 1C (1.8F) 2. Warmest year was 2015 (2nd=2014) 3. Arctic floating summer sea ice shrinking 4. Glaciers that existed for thousands of years are melting. 5. Permafrost melting, sea levels rising 6. Average sea level is mostly due to the expansion of ocean water due to temperature increase. 7. Excess of CO2 8. Species are migrating due to temp. rise.

Carbon and Energy Taxes

*Taxes* Advantages 1. Simple to administer 2. Clear price on carbon 3. Covers all emitters 4. Predictable revenues Disadvantages 1. Tax laws can get complex 2. Vulnerable to loopholes 3. Doesn't guarantee lower emissions 4. Politically unpopular

Biochar

Involves burning biomass such as chicken waste or wood in a low-oxygen environment to make a charcoal-like material. Makes an excellent organic fertilizer that helps to keep carbon in the soil.

Greenland

Largest island with a population of about 57,000 Atmospheric warming is key factor behind their glacier melting. Greenland's glaciers contain enough water to raise the global sea level by as much as 7 meters (23 feet) Responsible for 1/6 of the global sea-level rise over past 20 years.

Nitrous Oxide (Increasing)

Reasons for increase: 1. Nitrogen fertilizers 2. Livestock production Remains in atmosphere for 114 years and each molecule has nearly 300 times the warming potential of CO2. *Accounts for about 9% of greenhouse gas emissions from human activities*

What can you Do? (Reducing CO2 Emissions)

1. Calculate your carbon footprints 2. Drive a fuel-efficient car, walk, bike, etc. 3. Reduce garbage by recycling/reusing/reducing 4. LED light bulbs/appliances 5. Wash clothes in warm/cold water and hang them up to dry 6. Close window curtains to keep heat in/out 7. Use low-flow showerhead 8. Eat less meat/no meat 9. Heavily insulate your house/seal air leaks 10. Set hot water heater to 49C (120F) 11. Plant trees 12. Buy from businesses trying to reduce emissions.

Countries Responsible (List of most carbon dioxide emission)

1. China 2. United States 3. Russia 4. Brazil 5. India 6. Germany 7. United Kingdom

Major Conclusions

1. Climate change is happening now and is caused mostly by the burning of carbon-containing fossil fuels, which adds CO2 to the atmosphere, and the clearing of forests, which removes trees and other plants that take up some of the excess CO2 from the atmosphere. 2. Climate change is likely to accelerate, unless we act now to slow it. 3. Immediate and sustained action to curb climate change is possible and affordable and would bring major benefits for human health and economies, as well as for the environment. 4. The sooner we act to slow climate change, the lower its environmental and economic costs are likely to be.

Effects of Sea Levels (Rising)

1. Degradation/destruction of the world's coastal estuaries, wetlands, coral reefs, and deltas where much of the world's rice is grown. 2. Disruption of the world's coastal fisheries. 3. Flooding in large areas of low-lying countries such as Bangladesh. 4. Flooding and erosion of low-lying barrier islands and gently sloping coastlines such as Florida, Texas, Louisiana, New Jersey, South Carolina, and North Carolina 5. Submersion of low-lying islands in the Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean, and the Caribbean Sea. (home to 1 of every 20 people) 6. Flooding of some of the world's largest coastal cities. 7. Saltwater contamination of freshwater coastal aquifers resulting in degraded supplies of groundwater used for drinking/irrigation.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions (Reducing)

1. Electric/hybrid cars (batteries only with electricity produced from renewable energy) 2. Shift to renewable energy 3. Engineers designed zero-carbon buildings and can reduce carbon footprints of buildings. 4. Dealing with climate change will create jobs and profitable businesses.

Effects of Atmospheric Warming

1. Floods in low-lying coastal cities from a rise in sea level. 2. Many forests being consumed in vast wildfires 3. Grasslands turning into dust bowls. 4. Rivers drying up 5. Ecosystems collapsing 6. Extinction of up to half the world's species 7. More intense and longer-lasting heat waves 8. More destructive storms/flooding 9. Rapid spread of infectious tropical diseases.

Human Health (Threats)

1. Heat waves 2. Increased illnesses (mosquito/tick population causing West Nile virus, Lyme disease, and dengue fever) 3. Warming favors microbes, molds, and fungi (allergy attacks)

Removing carbon dioxide

1. Implement global tree-planting and forest restoration programs 2. Restore wetlands that have been drained for farming. 3. Plant large areas of degraded land with fast-growning perennial plants (switchgrass) 4. Use biochar to grow crops. 5. Remove some of the CO2 from smokestacks (CCS)

Food Production (Threats)

1. Lower crop yields 2. Growing pest populations 3. Decline in agricultural production 4. Meat/dairy production will drop because cattle are not heat-tolerant animals, 5. Phytoplankton dying will disrupt aquatic food webs.

Adaptive steps (Solutions to climate change effects)

1. Reduce water waste 2. Develop crops that need less water 3. Stockpile 1- to 5-year supply of key foods 4. Connect wildlife reserves with corridors 5. Expand wildlife reserves toward poles 6. Move people away from low-lying coastal areas 7. Move hazardous storage tanks away from coastal areas

greenhouse effect

A natural process that plays a major role in determining the earth's average atmospheric temperature and thus its climate. Occurs when solar energy absorbed by the earth radiates into the atmosphere as infrared radiation (heat). AS this radiation interacts with molecules of several greenhouse gases in the air, it increases their kinetic energy and warms the lower atmosphere/earth's surface.

10-fold

Amount of increase in cases of dengue fever since 1973.

Outdoor Air Pollution (Atmospheric Warming)

Aerosols (suspended microscopic droplets and solid particles) from human activities can affect the rate of atmospheric warming. Released by volcanic eruptions/human activities. Can hinder/enhance greenhouse effect/cloud formation. Light-colored sulfate particles tend to reflect incoming sunlight and cool the lower atmosphere. (Eastern US temp dropped slightly from 1930-1990) black carbon particles (soot) warm the atmosphere. Sciences do not expect aerosols/soot to affect climate change over next 50 years because 1. They fall back to the earth/washed out of atmosphere within weeks 2. We are reducing emissions because of impacts.

Coastal Nourishment

Consists of hauling large volumes of sand to coastal areas and replenishing beaches and estuaries that have been eroded by rising seas.

Tropical Wetlands

Another increasing methane emission source. As rainfall increases as projected, these biomes will expand and produce more plants, which will eventually decay and release methane through anaerobic decomposition. *Methane Time Bombs*

The Big Melt

Arctic sea ice melting during the summer months due to temperatures rising.

400

Average number of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (In ppm)

Alaska

Considered to be a bellwether. Warming at twice the average rate of the rest of the US. A persistent ridge of high pressure stretches from Alaska to California and it carries warm, moist air from the south to the Arctic as part of the jet stream during winter. This air then cools and descends back to the south, plunging Eastern US into extra-cold winters, while Alaska gets warmer. Permafrost covers 85% of this, dangerous when it thaws every summer. Spruce bark beetles: exploded population in 2006 and killed mature white spruce forests. Warmer air and this increasing wildfire damage in Alaska.

climate

Determined by the average weather conditions of the earth or of a particular area, especially atmospheric temperatures, over periods of at least *three decades*.

Sea Levels (Rising)

Estimated to rise by 40-60 centimeters (1.3-2ft) by the end of this century. Between 50% and 66% of this rise will likely come from the melting of Greenland's ice. Bangladesh's sea level could rise by as much as 4 meters (13 ft) by 2100. (Rising 4 times faster than the global average along the U.S Atlantic Coast)

greenhouse gases

Gases that absorb and release energy that warms the troposphere- from human activities are overwhelming the natural factors that led to climate change in the past. 1. Water Vapor (most important) 2. Carbon Dioxide (Burning of fossil fuels) 3. Methane (Cows) 4. Nitrous oxides (Industry/Agriculture) (Others include CFCs and ozone when located in troposphere)

albedo effect

Light-colored ice and snow in regions cool the earth by reflecting incoming solar energy back into space. (Process is called _____ ______) By snow melting, the darker land reflect less and absorb more sunlight (positive feedback loop)

Geoengineering

Manipulation of earths climate system to counteract the effects of climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions. (Ex: Mount Pinatubo erupted and the average temperature cooled for about 15 months after eruption; sulfate particles thought to reflected incoming sunlight)

Options (Mitigation vs. Adaptation)

Mitigation- Slow down climate change to avoid its most harmful effects (attempting to solve/reverse the issue) Adaptation- Recognize that some of the climate change is unavoidable because we have waited too long to act and that people will have to adapt to the harmful effects.

Permafrost

Occurs in soils found beneath about 25% of the exposed land in Alaska, Canada, and Siberia int he Northern hemisphere. Human-caused climate change is projected to thaw significant amounts of this. A lot of methane and carbon dioxide will be released by this thawing/melting. (Predicted to hold 2-4 times as much carbon as all the carbon ever released by human) Arctic Sea floor __________ is said to be leaking bubbles of methane.

Netherlands

One of the most densely populated countries in the world (most people live below sea level here) Famous for their dikes, built to hold back the rising North Sea. Dealt with rising seas for 800 years. Uses dike rings to hold back this water. Experiencing climate change, now increasing subject to flooding. Taking their problem by the horns, making 200-year plan for dealing with climate change.

snowpack

The accumulation of winter snowfall from precipitation in the winter.

Mountain Glaciers

Plays a vital role in the water cycle by storing water as ice during cold seasons and releasing it slowly to streams during warmer seasons.

Sun

Plays the key role in the earth's temperature. Can't be the cause of climate change because troposphere is warming meanwhile the stratosphere is cooling. If the ___ got hotter, it would heat atmosphere from top-down. Instead, atmosphere is heating from bottom-up

Slowing Climate Change (Solutions)

Prevention 1. Cut fossil fuel use (coal) 2. Shift to natural gases 3. Repair leaky pipelines 4. Improve energy efficiency 5. Reduce deforestation 6. Put a price on greenhouse emissions Cleanup 1. Use biochar for soil 2. Put CO2 in deep ocean 3. Remove CO2 from smokestacks 4. Planting trees

carbon capture and storage (CCS)

Process of removing carbon dioxide gas from coal-burning power (smokestacks) and industrial plants and storing it somewhere (usually underground or under the seabed) so that it is not released into the atmosphere, essentially forever. Can force oil out of deposits (help afford the cost) 200 needed to keep warming below 3C (Places put: Depleted oil/gas fields, porous basalt bedrock, saltwater aquifer, and depleted coal beds)

Methane (Increasing)

Reasons for increase: 1. Livestock production 2. Rice production 3 Natural gas production 4. Leaky coal mines 5. Landfills 6. Flooding of land behind large dams. *Tripled methane levels since 1700s*

carbon footprint

Refers to the amount of CO2 generated by an individual, an organization, a country, or any other entity over a given period.

Oceans (Effects on atmospheric warming)

Removes 25% of the CO2 pumped into the lower atmosphere by human activities. Stored as carbon compounds in marine algae and vegetation; buried in bottom sediments for several hundred million years. Also absorbs heat. 90% of the heat held in the atmosphere since 1970 ended up in the ______. Ability of the ocean to absorb CO2 decreases as water temperatures rises.

weather

Short-term changes in atmospheric variables such as temperature, precipitation, wind, and barometric pressure in a given area over a period of *hours/days*.

tipping point

Threshold level at which an environmental problem causes a fundamental and irreversible shift in the behavior of a system.

Climate change tipping points

Tipping Points 1. Atmospheric carbon level of 450 ppm 2. Melting of all arctic summer sea ice 3. Melting of Greenland ice sheet 4. Ocean acidification, collapse of phytoplankton, sharp drop in the ability of the oceans to absorb CO2 5. Massive release of methane from permafrost/arctic seafloor 6. Melting of Antarctic ice sheet 7. Shrinkage of Amazon rain forest

Biodiversity (Threatened)

Up to 85% of the Amazon rain forest- one of the world's major centers of biodiversity- could be lost and converted to tropical savannas if temperature continues rising. The hardest hit species will be: 1. Cold climate plant/animals 2. Species that live at higher elevations 3. Species with limited ranges Primary cause of extinction will be caused by loss of habitat. Rocky Mountains' forests could die due to effects of cimate change, drought, wildfires, and beetle infestations. *Insects and fungi are being boosted by warmer climates, higher population growth*

Cloud brightening

Using seawater to make clouds more reflective (cooling the earth overall)

Cloud Cover (Effects on atmospheric warming)

Warmer temperatures increase evaporation, making more of this. It can either cool or warm the atmosphere. Cumulus ______ at low altitudes can have a cooling effect by reflecting more sunlight back into space Cirrus _____ at high altitudes would warm the lower atmosphere by preventing some heat from escaping into space.

Extreme Weather (More common)

Will be more common because overall chances of events are increasing. Intensifies with increasing droughts, and a more intensified water cycle with more water vapor int he atmosphere will also bring more flooding due to heavy snowfall/rainfall. Climate change can cause extreme versions of El Nino and La Nina to occur nearly twice as often.

50-85%

World needs to make a __-__% cut in emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050 to stabilize concentrations of these gases in the atmosphere.

Kyoto Protocol (1997)

a treaty to slow global warming and the resulting projected climate disruption by cutting emissions of CO2, CH4, and N2O to 5.2% below their 1990 levels by 2012. (187/194 countries ratifying the agreement)

no-regrets strategy

climate and environmental scientists and economists call for us to implement changes now that will prevent climate disruption in the future

ice core samples

cores removed from ice sheets to reconstruct the climate record over hundred of thousands of years

Ocean Acidification

decreasing pH of ocean waters due to absorption of excess atmospheric CO2 from the burning of fossil fuels Scientists warn that higher acidity threatens corals, snails, oysters, and other organisms with shells/body structure composed of calcium carbonate (hinders ability to build/repair shells) Decreases populations of phytoplankton, which removes CO2 into the atmosphere. Could also collapse food webs since they are the primary producer species. (carbonic acid)

bellwether

leading indicator of trends

carbon neutral

making no net release of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, especially through offsetting emissions by planting trees. (Costa Rica aiming to be the first by 2030)

cap and trade system

market-based pollution control system in which the government sets an overall limit on how much of a pollutant is acceptable and issues vouchers to pollute to each company, which companies are then free to trade. Advantages: 1. Clear legal limit on emissions 2. Rewards cuts in emissions 3. Record of success 4. Low expense for consumers Disadvantes 1. Revenues not predictable 2. Vulnerable to cheating 3. Rich polluters continue to pollute 4. Puts variable price on carbon

iron fertilization

the addition of iron to the upper ocean to make a growth of phytoplankton bloom (needs sunlight nutrients and takes in CO2) trying to remove CO2 (a green house gas) from the atmosphere.