1. Global Warming Flashcards
What are three key climate change impacts?
- Agricultural output changes - hotter, flooding, droughts 2. Natural ecosystems suffer - forest boundaries change & more diseases 2a. Ocean acidfication - warmer waters kill reefs & oceans are absorbing large amounts of CO2 3. Sea-level is rising - ice caps melting will result in flooding - Catastrophic outcome if ice sheets melt in Greenland & West Antarctic
What four economic questions are asked about global warming?
1) How much pollution is too much? 2) Is the government up to the job? 3) How can we do better? 4) Can we resolve global issues?
What is global warming?
It is a consequence of the greenhouse effect - which results in a carbon blanket that warms the earth.
Explain why there are positive and negative feedback of the greenhouse effect?
Changing temperatures affect different parts of the earth and surface - leading to an acceleration of warming (positive feedback) or deceleration (negative feedback)
Give two examples of negative feedback of the greenhouse effect?
1) increasing cloud cover will reduce the amount of radiation entering the earth’s atmosphere 2) higher rates of carbon dioxide will lead to higher rates of plant growth and thus trapping carbon dioxide
Give four examples of positive feedback of the greenhouse effect?
1) higher temperatures may generate widespread forest fires & forest dieback 2) emission of methane & CO2 currently trapped in frozen bogs & peat fields at high latitudes 3) heat-absorbing darker earth under ice shields exposed 4) reduced capacity of ocean organisms to fix carbon dioxide in their shells.
What is a runaway greenhouse effect?
Where warming feeds on itself and quickly accelerates the driving up of temperatures
What are the ways to determine how much is too much?
1) The Efficiency Standard - which relies on formal benefit-cost analysis 2) The Safety Standard -which reduces pollution to ‘safe’ levels unless the costs of doing so are prohibitive 3) The Ecological Sustainability Standard - requires protection of natural ecosystems from major changes unless costs are so prohibitive
What do efficiency advocates argue?
That aggressive actions will impose excessively high costs on the current generation and reduce investment in capital goods, research and education and reduce the welfare of future generations.
What do safety and ecological sustainable advocates argue?
That major greenhouse gas cutbacks are needed for welfare of future generations.
What is the ethical debate?
Is the debate over which standard is ‘right’ between efficiency vs. safety/ecological sustainability.
What are the two obstacles that stand in the way of effective government action?
- Imperfect information - difficult to obtain accurate information on the benefits and costs - opportunity for political influence - how should political power be used? where? and is it effective?
What are the two sides of the political influence?
1) Conservatives - believe government intervention is a necessary evil and should be minimised - Conservative claim government serve special interest groups 2) Progressives - view government as capable of promoting an activist agenda and to serve the public interest
What are the possible actions that government could take to control carbon emissions?
1) Command and Control regulation 2) Incentive based regulation 3) Government intervention for clean technologies -such as building codes etc.
What is command and control regulation?
Government regulates CO2 emissions by mandating the adoption of particular types of CO2, abatement technology. It is criticised for being centralised, inflexible and is more costly.
