Carbon Dioxide Flashcards
Net Primary Productivity
Representation of the primary source of food for organisms on Earth that require organic compound for food and energy
Global Sources of CO2
Energy supply (25.9%), industry (19.4%), forestry (17.4%), agriculture, and transport
Greenhouse Effect
Gases in the atmosphere trap heat, natural and necessary for life on earth
Greenhouse Gases
CO2, methane (CH4, more effective than CO2), N2O, CFCs, water vapor
U.S. Source of CO2
Electricity > transportation > industry Fossil fuel (94% in U.S.), land use practice
Sources of Methane
Landfills, enteric fermentation
Sources of N2O
Agricultural soil management (synthetic fertilizer use and biomass burning)
Climate
Long period of time, stable. Statistical properties of atmospheric variables like mean temperature
Weather
Short time, changes frequently
Sea level rise causes
Warming the ocean, glacier and ice sheets melting, reduction of liquid water storage on land
Impacts of climate change
- 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
Overall mitigation
Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to prevent dangerous climate change (cap and trade, carbon taxes)
Alternative energy
Renewable and nuclear
Energy efficiency
Building and transport
Sinks
Tree planting and conservation
Geoengineering
Biomass, carbon capture, and storage
Adaption
Alteration of activities to minimize consequences of climate change
Enhancing adaptive capacity
Reducing poverty, improving access to resource, education, infrastructure, and reducing inequality
Agricultural production
Drought tolerant crops, improve irrigation
Mitigation
Climate refugees
Institution
Climate free-riders (not everywhere affected by CO2 emission, all countries benefit from reduction of greenhouse gas)
Kyoto Protocol
An agreement between signatory countries to reduce carbon emissions. Countries can trade carbon emission with each other.
Market Environmentalist
- Emissions are an externality
- Command-and-control is inefficient, so market-based solutions are the best way to account for the costs.
Market Solutions
- 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.
