ANTH 1010E Midterm
What is an ice shelf?
A thick floating tongue of ice, fed by a tributary glacier, extending into the sea off a land mass
How does the IPCC define adaptation?
Adjustment in natural or human systems to a new or changing environment. Adaption to climate change refers to adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli or their effects, which moderates harm or exploits beneficial opportunities. Various types of adaptation can be distinguished,including anticipatory and reactive adaption, private and public adaptation and autonomous and planned adaption.
How does the mosquito benefit from human behavior?
Air transportation has carried the mosquito vector around the world, and countries dependent on tourist dollars do not tend to report outbreaks.
What are symptoms of Dengue?
Also called "Breakbone fever", symptoms include stomach pain, headaches, nausea, vomiting, and pain behind the eyes.
What are some climate change factors that cause indirect and delayed health impacts?
Altered infectious disease risk, mental health risks
How does the trend that nights are warming faster than days global warming is due to humans?
An increased greenhouse effect means nights should warm faster than days. During the day, the sun warms the surface of Earth, but at nighttime the surface cools by radiating heat back into space. Greenhouse gases slow down this cooling process. If global warming was caused by the sun, we would expect the warming rend to be greatest in the daytime. But what we are actually seeing is the number of arm nights is increasing faster than the number of warm days.
What is permafrost?
Any rock or soil material that has remained below 32 degrees F (0 degrees Celsius) continuously
When did the first Earth Day take place?
April 22nd, 1970, but studies show greenhouse gases increased by 75% since then.
How tall will the sea levels rise in this century?
At least 2 feet
What is black carbon?
Black carbon is a greenhouse gas. It's also known as soot which has its own adverse impacts on living organisms that breathe in oxygen.
How responsible is black carbon for global warming? How is it distributed?
Black carbon is responsible for a quarter of observed global warming. It is vastly responsible for arctic ice melt. Black carbon is unevenly distributed around the planet.
How does black carbon differ from carbon dioxide?
Black carbon, unlike carbon dioxide is a short term forcing agent, as it dissipates in the atmosphere within several weeks at most. CO2 has an atmospheric lifetime of at least 100 years.
What is the most important greenhouse gas in the atmosphere?
Carbon dioxide (CO2)
What does cloud cover do?
Cloud cover reflects solar energy back into space
Why is climate change an anthropological issue?
Debates about climate change are as much about the distribution of wealth, power, and authority as they are about whether or not scientists have accurately depicted the natural and human systems that contribute to climate change.
What is DHF?
Dengue hemorrhagic fever
How does the Earth orbital changes contribute to climate change?
Earth makes a full orbit around the sun yearly. Changes in the tilt of the earth can lead to small but climatically important changes in the strength of the seasons, more tilt means warmer summers and colder winters, less tilt means cooler summers and milder winters.
What do studies show about vector borne diseases?
Existing studies suggest that climate change could expose an additional 2 billion people to debilitating and potential lethal vector borne diseases dengue transmission by the 2080s. Dengue has become the most rapidly spreading mosquito-borne viral disease in the world. It is estimated to cause over 50 million infections and around 15,000 deaths annually in around 100 countries.
What are some climate change factors that cause a direct impact on health?
Flooding, heat waves, pollution
Give an example of referent group submission
Frequent viewers of Fox News are more likely to say that Earth's temperature has not been rising, that any temperature increase is not due to human activities, and that addressing climate change would have deleterious effects on the economy.
Explain how melting tundra is a positive feedback loop
Frozen tundra contains vast amounts of methane gas. As tundra thaws because of global warming, it releases this methane into the atmosphere. Each molecule of methane is 21 times as powerful as a greenhouse gas like CO2. If the huge quantities of methane are released, they will significantly boost global warming which will reinforce the greenhouse cycle causing more tundra to thaw and more methane to be released. Permafrost is melting because of this. A report entitled Policy Implications of Warming Permafrost explain that the permafrost carbon feedback is irreversible on human time scales
What are the two cycles of the carbon cycle?
Geological cycle: operates over large time scales (millions of years) Biological cycle: Physical which operates at shorter time scales (days to thousands of years)
Are natural causes sufficient in causing global climate change?
Global warming cannot be explained by the natural causes that dove pre-industrial warming, the change is too great, too swift.
Explain how water vapor is a positive feedback loop
Global warming increases evaporation from bodies of water, which increases the amount of water vapor in the upper atmosphere. Water vapor is a powerful greenhouse gas that traps heat on the earth, causing further heating and more evaporation. As water vapor builds in the upper atmosphere, it causes ozone depletion, which allows more UV radiation to strike the earth (and human skin) as well as vegetation, which, in turn, increases global warming.
What did the IPCC warn about global climate change?
IPCC warned that only strong measures to stop green house gas emissions would prevent serious global warming.
How does a lack of ice cause a feedback loop in melting?
Ice is white and therefore reflects a large part of incoming sunlight back out to space. But where there is no ice, dark ocean water absorbs most of the sunlight and thus heats up. The less ice there is, the more the water heats up, melting more ice, one of the critical climate change feedback loops that once started drives itself without further anthropogenic input.
What is the greenhouse gas effect? How can global climate change not be explained by natural causes?
If the current global warming was caused by a more active sun then scientist would expect to see warmer temperatures in all layers of the atmosphere. Instead they have observed a cooling in the upper atmosphere and a warming at the surface and in the lower parts of the atmosphere. This finding is explained by the existence of greenhouses gases capturing heat in the lower atmosphere.
What is an example of planned doubt?
In 1998 the American Petroleum Institute discussed a plan to recruit a cadre of scientist who share the industry's views of climate science and to train them in public relations so they can help convince journalists, politicians, and the public that the risk of global warming is too uncertain to justify controls on greenhouse gases
When did West Nile first appear in North America?
In 1999. In recent years it has spread across North America and has infected over 20,000 and killed over 800. It's recently been very common in Texas. It's not very deadly, but can cause inflammation of the brain.
How does Cerebral Malaria infect the brain?
In Cerebral malaria, there is a build-up of infected blood cells in the narrow blood vessels of the brain causing blood flow blockage and a potentially lethal lack of oxygen getting to the brain.
When did the Anthropocene start?
In Crutzen's view, the Anthropocene could be said to have started in the latter part of the 18th century, when analyses of air trapped in polar ice showed the beginning of growing global concentrations of carbon dioxide and methane.
Where has Dengue spread?
In Latin America to countries Brazil, Venezuela, and Colombia, including over 12,000 cases of DHF and 183 fatalities. Slowly Dengue is moving into North America as well.
What is a subcultural filter?
In complex societies, which are divided into various subgroups (by ethnicity, region, social class, students, gamers, anthropologists, etc.) it is also possible to talk about subcultural filters (we cement our connection with our cultural groups and strengthen our definition of self) These subcultural filters are strongly influenced by group values and we generally endorse the position that most directly reinforces the connection we have with others in our reference group. Instead of investigating a complex issue, we often simply learn what our referent group believes and seek to integrate those beliefs with our own views.
Where does the mosquito of dengue commonly breed?
In flower pots, discarded automobile tires, and water storage vessels. This breeding behavior reflects an adaptation by the mosquito to reproduce in small amounts of water created by human settlement.
Where is global warming skepticism rising?
In the general population of the U.S, Canada and the United Kingdom. News reports have dominated in recent months convincing many that the threat of warming is vastly exaggerated. A survey in 2010 by the BBC found that only 26% of Britains believed that climate change is happening.
How can increasing soil carbon be helpful to the environment?
Increasing soil carbon storage by putting organic matter back into the soil and through soil management can increase soil fertility, improve land productivity for food production, and prevent land degradation
What mosquitoes are responsible for Dengue fever?
Invasive Aedes Aegypti Mosquitoes
How is black carbon formed?
It is formed anthropologically by the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, bio fuels, and intentional burning of bio mass, as well as naturally through wildfires.
Where is West Nile Disease found?
It was first found in Uganda. West Nile Virus had been identified in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, west and central Asia, and parts of Oceania.
What is Malaria?
Malaria is the most common life-threatening infection which causes 1.5-2.7 million deaths per year. 90% of these deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa and most of the victims are children under 5 years old or pregnant women.
How is permafrost correlated to methane?
Melt permafrost area release large quantities of methane
What is methane?
Methane is a greenhouse gas that comes from dairy cows, goats, pigs, buffaloes, camels, horses and shee. Methane is also emitted during the process of oil drilling, coal mining, leaking gas pipelines, landfills and waste dumps.
Where has Malaria been seen in the U.S?
New Jersey, Queens, New York, and Michigan.
What promotes arctic melting?
Oil drilling and associated shipping in the artic
What are cultural filters?
Paying particular attention to some things and ignoring others based on their experience of the world
What are some climate change factors that cause ecosystem-mediated health impacts?
Population, displacement, livelihood loss
What are proxies?
Proxies can be used to inform predictions about climate change in the future. Ice inside glaciers and ice caps in Antarctica and Greenland offer important proxy measures of past climate and other conditions.
How does less heat escaping out to space prove humans have an impact in climate change?
Satellites measure infrared radiation as it escapes out to space, giving us a clear picture of the greenhouse effect. A comparison between satellite data from the period 1970 to 1996 found that even less energy is escaping at the wavelengths that greenhouse gases absorb energy. This pattern is described by researchers as "direct experimental evidence for a significant increase in the Earth's greenhouse effect".
What is the largest reservoir of the terrestrial carbon cycle?
Soils : They contain much more carbon than is contained in vegetation. Plowing and overgrazing deplete souls of carbon and emit it into the atmosphere.
How is climate change connected to solar radiation?
Some gases block infrared radiation. Changes in the concentration of the gases could bring climate change.
Did the Cancun agreement have an impact?
The Cancun agreement produced only modest results as it did not require the change that climate scientists say are needed to avoid dangerous climate change
Why do positive feedback loops occur?
The Earth is not a passive entity, it has reactions
What statement has the IPCC released in terms of threats facing small island nations?
The IPCC affirms that of all the threats facing small island nations as a result of climate change, sea-level rise is by far the greatest both economically and socially.
Does the IPCC conduct original research? What are its sources?
The IPCC does not conduct any original research or monitor climate related data or parameters. Thousands of scientists from all over the world contribute to the work of the IPCC on a voluntary basis. IPCC aims to reflect a range of views and expertise and ensure an objective and complete assessment of current information.
What is the Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)?
The IPCC is a scientific body: its job is to review and assess the most recent scientific, technical and socio-economic information produced worldwide that is relevant to understanding climate change. It is the leading international body for the assessment of climate change.
What is the largest series of ice shelf losses documented?
The Larsen B ice shelf collapse into the Weddell Sea remains the largest in a series of Larsen ice shelf losses
In 1992 at the Earth summit in Rio de Janeiro, what was signed by 178 countries? What did it agree upon?
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate change which agreed to prevent dangerous warming from greenhouse gases and set voluntary targets for reducing emissions.
How does the IPCC define Resilience?
The ability of social or ecological system to absorb disturbances while retaining the same basic structure and ways of functioning, the capacity for self-organization, and the capacity to adapt to stress and change.
What did the IPCC release in its Fourth Assessment Report in 2007?
The arctic could become ice-free somewhere near the end of this century, but experts now think it'll be closer to 2030.
What is planned doubt?
The conscious self-interested promotion of uncertainty about and denial of climate change
Define denialism
The employment of theoretical tactics to give the appearance of argument or legitimate debate, when in actuality there is none. These false arguments are used when one has few or no facts to support one's viewpoint against a scientific consensus or against overwhelming evidence to the contrary
What is El nino and how does it relate to vector borne diseases?
The features known as El Nino are important temperature fluctuations in the surface waters of the tropical Eastern Pacific Ocean, it is the flow of warm water, and La Nina is the flow of cold nutrient water. This can lead to many environmental patterns. Water-borne diseases as well as vector-borne diseases have cycles associated with El Nino.
What is a referent group?
The group we identify with, an affiliation that helps define our sense of self. Sub cultural filters are strongly influenced by our referent group. Instead of investigating a complex issue, we often simply learn what our referent group believes and seek to integrate those beliefs with our own views.
Are changes in the carbon cycle expressed uniformly?
The impact of changes in the carbon cycle and resulting climate is not expressed uniformly across time or place. Global warming finds expression in erratic weather and weather extremes of various and even opposite local sorts.
What shows that fossil fuel burning has dramatically increased the level of CO2 in the atmosphere?
The measurement of the type of carbon found in the atmosphere. Carbon-12 is the isotope of carbon plants prefer and that's given off when burning fossil fuels because fossil fuels are ancient plants. Carbon-12 is found abundantly in the atmosphere and in the ocean.
What does the term global carbon cycle refer to?
The movements of carbon as it exchanges between reservoirs (sinks) and occurs because of various chemical, physical, geological, and biological process (ex. plant photosynthesis)
Explain how ocean currents are a natural source of climate change
The oceans are a major component of the climate system with ocean currents moving vast amounts of heat across the planet. Winds push horizontally against the sea surface and drive ocean current patterns. Interactions between the ocean and atmosphere can also produce El Nino which occur every 2-6 years. Deep ocean circulate cold water from the poles towards the equator and move warm water from the equator back to the poles. The oceans play an important role in determining the atmospheric concentration of CO2
What did the IPCC discover in 2007?
The planet had warmed about 1.35 degrees F since the start of the 20th century and 90% over the last 50 years is due to human activity.
What is carbon sequestration?
The process by which carbon sinks remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere
How do solar variations contribute to climate change?
The sun is a source of energy for Earth's climate. Some scientist suspect that a portion of the warming in the first half of the 20th century was due to an increase in the output of solar energy. Changes in solar energy created a puzzle called "faint young sun paradox"/
Define the greenhouse effect
The trapping of the sun's warmth in a planet's lower atmosphere due to the greater transparency of the atmosphere to visible radiation from the sun to infrared radiation emitted from the planet's surface.
How do humans effect the ocean warming pattern?
The world's oceans have been building up heat noticeably over the last 40 years. The specific pattern of ocean warming with heat penetrating from the surface is only explained by greenhouse warming.
Does West Nile have a vaccine?
There's no vaccine, or drug that specifically targets the virus that is the immediate cause of disease.
Why has there been a decline in the efficiency of natural land and ocean sinks which soak up carbon dioxide?
There's too many greenhouse gases in the air, natural sinks are removing a smaller proportion of CO2 emissions from the air than they used to.
How range do vectors have?
They were previously restricted by seasonal temperatures and have begun to invade new areas. A temperature rise of only 2 degrees Celsius would more than double the metabolism rate of mosquitoes. Warming at this level could also expand malaria's domain of active infection from 42% to 60% of the planet.
What caused the Little Ice Age and Medieval Warm Period?
Variations in solar irradiance and volcanism which together account for 40 to 60% of the reconstructed temperature variability
What are vector borne diseases and how much death do they cause?
Vector-borne diseases are infectious diseases which are responsible for 37% of all deaths in the world
What are some natural causes of climate change?
Volcanic eruptions, ocean current, the earth's orbital changes, and solar variations.
Why has Antarctica seen rapidly accelerating ice loss over the last decade?
Warming ocean water is melting the ice from below
Compare weather vs. Climate
Weather is what is going on in terms of atmospheric conditions at any point time locally, including temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, precipitation, etc. Climate refers to longer term trends and directions in these factors: the difference between the two involves the time scales. Climate is often defined as the "average weather".
What are some vector-borne diseases with expanding range?
West Nile Virus, Rift Valley Fever, Yellow Fever, Lyme disease, plague, Zika & Dengue.
Explain how volcanic eruptions is a source of climate change
When a volcano erupts it throws out large volumes of SO2, water vapor, dust, and ash into the atmosphere. Large volumes of gases and ash can influence climatic patterns for years by increasing planetary reflectivity causing atmospheric cooling. Tiny particles called aerosols are produced by volcanoes because they reflect solar energy back into space they have a cooling effect on the world.
What causes glacier flow to accelerate?
When an ice shelf melts sufficiently or breaks off and floats away into the ocean, it no longer impedes glacier flow off the continent, so that glacier flow would accelerate.
What is albedo?
When black carbon falls on snow covered areas, such as the arctic and high mountains, it causes the earth to absorb more sunlight, instead of reflecting it back into the atmosphere as snow does
Give an example of a sink taking up and releasing carbon
When plants perform photosynthesis they convert carbon dioxide into carbohydrates, releasing oxygen in the process. But deforestation and land clearing obliterate this sink and force carbon into the atmosphere. Carbon-filled dying plants and animals are converted over millions of years into coal, oil, and natural gas which remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Burning fossil fuels reverses this process and emits carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Explain how the amazonian drought is a positive feedback loop
With the planet's climate increasingly threatened by carbon emissions, the Amazon has been one of the few forces (the oceans being another) keeping goal warming in check. The rain forest absorbs 2 billion tons of atmospheric CO2 annually. Researches report that billions of trees died in record drought that hit the amazon in 2005 and 2010. An area in the Amazon twice the size of California is experiencing what scientist call a mega drought. An increase in wildfires and tree die-offs follow these droughts. The amazon is receiving less and less rainfall per year. All the trees deaths caused by this drought could lead to the forest transforming from a carbon sink to an emission source of CO2 leading to further warming
What energy sectors are responsible for producing 1/5 of methane emissions and nitrous oxide?
fossil fuel companies which are used to run vehicles and generate electricity for industries and households.
Improved terrestrial management can make what kind of impact?
improved terrestrial management over the next 50-100 years could sequester as much carbon as the amount released to the atmosphere since the mid-nineteenth century as a result of past agricultural conversion of grasslands, wetlands, and forests.
What were the key parts of the agreement that took place at the United Nations conference in Cancun 2010?
- An overall target limit of 2 degrees Celsius on temperature rise - Measures that developed and developing countries should adopt - A system to assess how countries are living up to their promises on emissions - The Green Climate Fund to help developing countries go low carbon - To slow, halt and reverse the destruction of trees - to help developing countries access low carbon technologies
What causes sea level rise?
- Land ice contributes to ocean rise - Ice shelf break up - When an ice shelf melts sufficiently or breaks off and floats away into the ocean, it no longer impedes glacier flow off the continent, so that glacier flow would accelerate. This new source of ice volume flows down from above sea level, resulting in its total mass contributing to sea rise.
What are the factors that contribute to global warming skepticism?
1. Complexities: scientific, multiple disciplinary languages, types of data, uncertainty 2. Confusion about weather versus climate 3. Frightening nature of global warming 4. Competing issues (economy, war, terrorism) 5. Loss of personal dreams, material wealth, and its benefits
What are the two categories of planned doubt and examples of them?
1. Economic self interest: The fossil fuel industry have an obvious self-interest in the continued use of fossil fuels 2. Ideological conviction: some people are willing to overlook the evidence on climate change because they worry that if we allow the government to intervene in the marketplace to stop climate change, it will lead to further expansion of government power that will threaten our rights and freedoms
What are the two drivers of planned climate change denial promotion?
1. Economic self-interest: The fossil fuel industry wants to continue making money 2. Ideological conviction: Some people are willing to overlook the evidence on climate change because they worry that if we allow the government to intervene in the marketplace to stop climate change, it will lead to further expansion of government power that will threaten our rights and freedoms.
What are the four major carbon sinks?
1. Forests, phytoplankton and other life forms 2. The terrestrial biosphere (which usually includes freshwater system and non-living organic material such a soil carbon) 3. Oceans 4. Sediments (which include fossil fuels)
What two phenomena produce sea level rise?
1. Thermal expansion as sea water increases in volume because ocean temperature rises 2. Flows of melt-water from the ice and snow of glaciers, ice sheets, and other land ice that is vanishing across the planet from Greenland to the Himalayas
What are the five components of the climate system?
1. atmosphere 2. Hydrosphere (combined mass of water found on, under, and over the surface of Earth) 3. Cryosphere (area of Earth's surface where water is in solid form) 4. Land surface (terrain, altitude) 5. Biosphere (the zone of life)
How much carbon does our economic system release?
400 years worth of naturally stored carbon every year
Who is Paul Crutzen and what is his argument?
A dutch atmospheric chemist argues that the geographic age of Earth in which we now live should be called the Anthropocene (Age of People) because of the significant human role in shaping the bio-geological environment of the planet over the last 150 years. (impact on planet and its climate)
What is a carbon sink?
A forest, ocean, or other natural environment capable of absorbing and storing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
In terms of climate change what is a positive feedback loop and a negative feedback loop?
A positive feedback loop is when the temperature rises (enhances the change) A negative feedback loop is when the temperature decreases (maintains the change or dampers it)