1. On a sheet of white paper
1. Draw the greenhouse effect and how it works (Try your best)
2. Write 5-10 facts about climate change
3. Is climate change a hoax, naturally caused, man-made, or a mix of natural and man-made?
Give at least 2 reasons to support your answer

2. Greenhouse Effect, Climate Change

3. Greenhouse effect
Natural heating of Earth’s surface

4. How Greenhouse Effect Works
Infrared, visible, and ultraviolet light enter our atmosphere
Ground, water, and vegetation absorb this light – reradiates from ground as infrared light
GHG can absorb the infrared radiation, causing vibration and reradiation of infrared radiation throughout space
Selective absorption

5. Clues to Earth’s Climatic Past
Can be found in glaciers and ice core samples
Scientists sample gases in ice and infer climatic changes
High concentrations of sulfur can be linked to volcanic eruptions
Dendrochronology
Tree ring growth
Vary in size based on climate during year

6. Climate for past 1000 years
Warm period during 11th-14th centuries, but still cooler than 20th century
15th-19th centuries – slight cooling
Little Ice Age in Europe – unusually cold summer followed by bitterly cold winter

7. Temperature Changes over 100 Years
Early 1900s – global temps began to rise
Late 1900s and early 2000s – warmest temperatures on record for past 1000 years
Has risen 0.6°C over past 100 years
Earth’s climate hasn’t risen more than 2°C in past 10,000 years
Heating is not uniform
US experiences less of the warming than the rest of the world
Most warming is noticeable at night

8. What Stabilizes Earth’s Climate
1. The ocean
2. Plants
3. Weather

9. Ocean Impact on Global Temperatures
Currents - moderate climate – transport warmer air and water around Earth
Upper ocean stores 3 times heat of atmosphere
IF there is a surplus of carbon dioxide, it will react with water and form carbonic acid, which will lower ocean pH and kill organisms, cause coral reefs to bleach

10. Impact of CO2 Levels on Photosynthesis and Methane Emissions
More CO2 = photosynthetic organisms can absorb it and use it for photosynthesis
Depends on the type of plant and the climate it was originally found in (plant maturity)

11. Methane Emissions Methane – 4x more powerful than CO2
Wetlands, cows, landfills
Methane could be released if the permafrost in the tundras start to melt or methane hydrate is extracted from the ocean floor for natural gas supplies

12. Water vapor – greenhouse feedback (positive feedback)
Earth enters warming trend
Slowly causes more rapid evaporation
More water vapor can trap more infrared energy, intensifying greenhouse effect
**If unchecked, would go until all water evaporates from oceans**

13. Snow-albedo feedback (positive feedback)
Increase in surface temperatures would cause snow and ice to melt in polar latitudes
Melting would reduce albedo, allowing more solar energy to reach surface, increasing temperatures

14. Negative Feedback Warming planet emits more infrared radiation
Overtime, it would slow the rise in temps and stabilize climate

15. Current CO2 Levels
400ppm
Projected to rise to ppm by the end of the century
Other greenhouse gas levels (methane, nitrous oxides, etc.) are increasing, which compounds the warming problem
Projected total warming is about 3°C

16. What Will Have Largest Impact?
Water vapor greenhouse feedback loop because it will cause the largest climate change in the shortest time

17. Ocean Acidification

18. How Ocean Acidification Works
CO2 (aq) + H2O H2CO3 HCO3− + H+ CO32− + 2 H+.
1. Ocean’s pH = slightly basic
2. CO2 reacts with seawater to produce carbonic acid, releasing hydrogen
3. Hydrogen binds with carbonate ions to form bicarbonate, reducing carbonate ions in water
Corals, mollusks, sea stars, and other organisms having more difficult time absorbing carbonate

19. Global Warming vs. Greenhouse Effect
Natural process of heating our atmosphere by trapping infrared radiation
Natural process but influenced by humans
Steady rise in Earth’s average temperature

20. Human Activities that influence Earth’s climate
Industrial Revolution – fossil fuels
Deforestation
Cultivation of rice paddies – (methane) provide food
Landfills – methane

21. Possible Consequences of Global Warming
Landmasses heat faster than anywhere else, especially northern latitudes (North Pole, Greenland)
Boreal forests (low albedo) surround tundras (high albedo)
If melting occurs and boreal forests expand, they can accelerate warming

23. Local Precipitation Shifts
Projected to increase in northern latitudes, less in subtropics
In 20th century, 10% increase of precipitation levels in middle and high latitudes
Direct change in local water supplies
Possible desertification in Amazon

24. Rise in Sea Level During 20th century, there was a 15cm rise globally
Sea levels are predicted to rise by at least 30cm during next century

25. Changes in Polar Ice
North Pole is melting while South Pole is adding ice (Antarctica)

26. 2007 – IPCC
Wrote a paper outlining findings and predictions of Earth’s climate shifting
Some of the things written:
Cold days and nights are decreasing; being replaced with hot days, hot nights, and heat waves
Water vapor concentrations have significantly increased since 1980s
Since 1961, ocean temperatures have increased to a depth of at least 3000m beneath the surface and oceans are absorbing 80% of heat

27. Average temps. In the Arctic have increased twice as fast as anywhere else on Earth
Mid-latitude winds have increased in intensity in both hemispheres
Tropical cyclonic storms will likely intensify (wind speeds and rainfall amounts) due to warmer oceans
More intense droughts in tropics and subtropics since 1970
Glaciers and ice caps have declined in both hemispheres (not including Antarctica or Greenland)
Even if we stopped CO2 today, we’d still feel effects for 1000 years until CO2 cycled out of atmosphere
With all factors included, it is extremely unlikely that Earth’s climate change is due to natural causes alone

28. Curbing Global Warming
Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by reducing fossil fuel consumption

29. What has been done to reduce greenhouse gas emissions?
1992 – Rio Earth Summit
106 nations committed to reducing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to 1990 levels by 2000
Convention did not require countries to meet this requirement

30. 1997 – Kyoto Protocol 161 nations involved Resulting treaty said that:
38 developed nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2% below 1990 levels
Developed were targeted because average per capita emissions are 6 times higher than developing country
Developing countries do not have to make any cuts in greenhouse gas emissions
Allows for emission trading
By 2001, US Congress had not ratified the treaty (still haven’t ratified in 2012)

31. 2016 – Paris Agreement
Goal – strengthen global response to climate change
Keep global temperature rise this century below 2 degrees C above pre-industrial levels
Pursue efforts to limit temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees C
To strengthen countries to combat climate change with technology