Carbon Dioxide

Question 1

Net Primary Productivity

Answer 1

Representation of the primary source of food for organisms on Earth that require organic compound for food and energy

Question 2

Global Sources of CO2

Answer 2

Energy supply (25.9%), industry (19.4%), forestry (17.4%), agriculture, and transport

Question 3

Greenhouse Effect

Answer 3

Gases in the atmosphere trap heat, natural and necessary for life on earth

Question 4

Greenhouse Gases

Answer 4

CO2, methane (CH4, more effective than CO2), N2O, CFCs, water vapor

Question 5

U.S. Source of CO2

Answer 5

Electricity > transportation > industry
Fossil fuel (94% in U.S.), land use practice

Question 6

Sources of Methane

Answer 6

Landfills, enteric fermentation

Question 7

Sources of N2O

Answer 7

Agricultural soil management (synthetic fertilizer use and biomass burning)

Question 8

Climate

Answer 8

Long period of time, stable. Statistical properties of atmospheric variables like mean temperature

Question 9

Weather

Answer 9

Short time, changes frequently

Question 10

Sea level rise causes

Answer 10

Warming the ocean, glacier and ice sheets melting, reduction of liquid water storage on land

Question 11

Impacts of climate change

Answer 11

• Potential agricultural losses
• Islands and coastal areas lost
• Species extinction and ecosystem collapse
• Increase in disease incidence
• Changes in rainfall patterns
• Increase in frequency and intensity of extreme weather events

Question 12

Overall mitigation

Answer 12

Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to prevent dangerous climate change (cap and trade, carbon taxes)

Question 13

Alternative energy

Answer 13

Renewable and nuclear

Question 14

Energy efficiency

Answer 14

Building and transport

Question 15

Sinks

Answer 15

Tree planting and conservation

Question 16

Geoengineering

Answer 16

Biomass, carbon capture, and storage

Question 17

Adaption

Answer 17

Alteration of activities to minimize consequences of climate change

Question 18

Enhancing adaptive capacity

Answer 18

Reducing poverty, improving access to resource, education, infrastructure, and reducing inequality

Question 19

Agricultural production

Answer 19

Drought tolerant crops, improve irrigation

Question 20

Mitigation

Answer 20

Climate refugees

Question 21

Institution

Answer 21

Climate free-riders (not everywhere affected by CO2 emission, all countries benefit from reduction of greenhouse gas)

Question 22

Kyoto Protocol

Answer 22

An agreement between signatory countries to reduce carbon emissions. Countries can trade carbon emission with each other.

Question 23

Market Environmentalist

Answer 23

• Emissions are an externality

- Command-and-control is inefficient, so market-based solutions are the best way to account for the costs.

Question 24

Market Solutions

Answer 24

• Consumer driven: green consumerism, buying carbon offsets
• Producer driven: cap and trade, carbon market, supplying carbon offsets (people purchase low-emission products)
• Political economists prefer regulatory solutions instead of markets because contradictions in the economy are producing the problem in the first place.

Question 25

Political economy’s solutions

Answer 25

• Massive public investment in green infrastructure
• Changes in subsidy structures
• Strong regulatory system
• Green taxes

Question 26

Cap and trade

Answer 26

• Emissions are capped at a certain level

- A company or country that wants to emit more will buy the right to emit from a company or country that emit less