Climate Change Flashcards
when was the first glimpse of global warming?
June 1988, it was declared a problem in a newspaper article
When does climate change occur?
- long term weather patterns start to shift
- goes up and down with global cooling and warming
- it is a natural process, but human caused climate change has increased global warming
What is the greenhouse effect?
when CO2 prevents heat radiation from leaving the atmosphere
How does carbon effect climate change?
it evaporates from plants and water, then slowly is stored and absorbed into rocks, (limestone) which is burned as fossil fuels and released into the atmosphere.
Merchant of doubt book
talks about the dangers of CO2 and hiding the research done about it’s effect on the environment
Who was Svante Arrhenius?
first scientist to connect global warming to the release of carbon emissions
until the 60’s, there was an attitude of doubt that we couldn’t influence the climate.
What was the Stockholm Conference?
UN conference in 1972 - first ever to adress global environment issues
they connected economic development, environment and poverty reduction
What was the Brundtland Commission?
1983 - first to talk about climate change.
pushed for sustainable development - meeting social needs without impeding the ability of future generations.
What were the three pillars of the Brundtland comission?
- Economic growth
- environmental protection
- social equality
Who was James Hansen?
climate scientist with NASA Goddard institute for space studies (GISS)
went to senate hearings, said he was 99% sure that the earth was warming
- he bridged the gap between emissions and global warming
- also said that freak weather events would happen, but were not normal or good
what is the ideal level of CO2 in the air?
350 ppm
- going above this will result in positive feedback, increasing the ppm in the atmosphere.
it is now at 427 ppm
What is IPCC?
international panel on climate change
- assessed the risk of climate change in 1988 based on scientific data.
2nd report of IPCC
happened in 1995 - lead to the kyoto protocol in 1977
- a reduce in greenhouse gas emissions
in 2012 Canada withdrew from the conference because they didn’t want to pay for a fine for not meeting expectations.
the IPCC made it clear that CC poses a great threat to the earth.
5th report of IPCC
happened in 2013-14, lead to the 2015 Paris agreement where countries pledged to keep the average global temperature increase to 2 degrees.
