Mark Potosnak DePaul University My research focuses on the effects of climate change on plants, with links to air quality mark.potosnak@depaul.edu

What is global climate change? What human activities drive climate change? What is the physical process that causes climate change? What are the impacts of climate change? NCAR press release Photo © 2002 Richard Lord / UMCOR

Global Warming: Is it really happening? YES! https://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/graphs/ http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/graphs_v3/

What causes this warming? Burning fossil fuels Coal Oil (gasoline) Natural gas Releases energy that generates electricity, moves cars and heats homes But also releases carbon dioxide (CO2) Anthracite coal, USGS

Linking CO2 and warming CO2 concentrations are increasing in the atmosphere due to fossil fuel combustion These elevated CO2 concentrations cause climate to change by increasing the greenhouse effect Graphic from the Scripps CO2 program (http://scrippsco2.ucsd.edu) Transition to my first research project. Hypothesis: isoprene emissions will be stimulated under elevated CO2 Why? Isoprene is linked to photosynthesis, and photosynthesis is stimulated by elevated CO2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi3ERes0h84 6 http://nas-sites.org/americasclimatechoices/more-resources-on-climate-change/climate-change-evidence-and-causes/climate-change-evidence-and-causes-figure-gallery/#jp-carousel-1314 6

Impacts and ethics The poor and vulnerable face disproportionate impacts Domestically Hurricane Katrina Internationally Flooding in Bangladesh Most affluent are responsible for emissions NASA/Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team

Questions on climate fundamentals?

What can we do? Alternative energy How much has wind energy grown since 2001? What percentage of our (US) electricity comes from wind?

The good news Wind generation increased over 3600%!

The bad news Wind was about 6.3% of total electricity in 2016 AZ: coal 41%, Natural gas 19%, nuclear 31%, hydro 5%, Solar/PV %3

Some more good news: US emissions peaked in 2007 https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2017-02/documents/2017_executive_summary.pdf

Questions on alternative energy? By Rob Faulkner, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36343987

Local and regional climate impacts By Payton Chung https://www.flickr.com/photos/paytonc/3785616575/ , CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9696705

Shifting climate Average Annual 5-Day Maximum Temperature Geographic Area Modeled Historical (1976-2005) Mid-21st Century (2036-2065) for Lower Scenario (RCP4.5) Mid-21st Century (2036-2065) for Higher Scenario (RCP8.5) Northern Minnesota 88 °F 93 °F 95 °F Southern Missouri 97 °F 102 °F 103 °F Data from 4th National Climate Assessment Table 21.1 Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US_50_states_K%C3%B6ppen.svg

Record heat in 2012 City of Chicago State of Illinois Warmest year State of Illinois Warmest full year Contiguous 48 States http://climateillinois.wordpress.com/

Great Lakes & climate change The duration of seasonal ice cover decreased in most areas of the Great Lakes between 1973 and 2013, while summer surface water temperature (SWT) increased in most areas between 1994 and 2013. 4th National Climate Assessment Figure 21.8 The Changing Great Lakes

US EPA climate change indicators report https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indicators-heavy-precipitation

Note: link may lack graph https://www.isws.illinois.edu/statecli/climate-change/cc.htm

Chicago flooding https://www.mwrd.org/irj/portal/anonymous/tarp https://www.nrdc.org/experts/rob-moore/chicago-floods-2013-highlight-need-green-infrastructure

Thank you