Climate Change Flashcards
Climate Change
Why does it not make sense that ‘big climate’ is trying to sell us all a lie about climate change?
The following doesn’t make sense to me: The scientists who entered their field to advance our knowledge base and publish new findings are actually just in it for the money (although they went into a profession where they would on average make less than $100K per year).
This does: Wealthy special interest groups like the oil and gas industry are sowing disinformation and exaggerating/inventing dissenting opinons via online and political mediums (just like tobacco corporations did when the science emerged on the dangers of smoking).
Climate Change
How hot and/or cold would the earth be if not for the greenhouse effect?
-18°C
(It is a natural phenomenon that is necessary to our survival; we’ve simply ramped it up severely in the case of climate change.)
Climate Change
If certain atmospheric compounds (e.g. CO2) trap light (and resultant heat) and create the greenhouse effect, why didn’t they just reflect the light in the first place?
The light enters as visible light (which can get through the atmosphere);
it loses energy as heat;
it tries to leave as infrared light (which is blocked and retained)
Climate Change
How long ago did Joseph Fourier figure out the mechanism of the greenhouse effect and predict an increase in temperatures if these gases were added to the atmosphere?
The 1820s
(We’ve known about the greenhouse effect and its impact on the planet for 200 years.)
Climate Change
The earth has only fluctuated in temperature by ~_____°C for the past 10,000 years.
The earth has only fluctuated in temperature by ~ 1 °C for the past 10,000 years.
Climate Change
Describe the fluctuations of atmospheric CO2 over the past 800,000 years.
Climate Change
Give an example of what can happen when CO2 levels change dramatically (specifically, an example that occurred 250 million years ago)?
The Siberian Traps
2 million years of excessive volcanic activity (and drastically increasing CO2 levels) in SIberia that resulted in the End-Permian extinctions
Climate Change
The earth temperature rises by ~____°C for every doubling in [CO2].
The earth temperature rises by ~ 3 °C for every doubling in [CO2].
Climate Change
The planet’s average surface temperature has risen about ____ degrees Fahrenheit since the late ___ century, a change driven largely by increased carbon dioxide and other ________-produced emissions into the atmosphere.
The planet’s average surface temperature has risen about 1.2 °C since the late 19<strong>th</strong> century, a change driven largely by increased carbon dioxide and other human-produced emissions into the atmosphere.
Climate Change
Human effects have already caused the earth to warm by 1.2 °C.
Small, island nations are severely threatened at ____°C.
Global catastrophe begins at ____°C.
Human effects have already caused the earth to warm by 1.2 °C.
Small, island nations are severely threatened at 1.5 °C.
Global catastrophe begins at 2. °C.
Climate Change
Assuming we go on as we are, in what year does Michael Mann (leading climate scientist) predict that we will hit a 2°C increase due to human-produced emissions (and thus, catastrophic outcomes)?
2036
(We are at a warming speed of about 0.25°C per decade and are already 1.2°C up.)
Climate Change
According to NASA and the NOAA, the current warming trend is of particular significance because there is a greater than _____% probability that it is the result of human activity since the mid-20th century and is proceeding at an unprecedented rate.
According to NASA and the NOAA, the current warming trend is of particular significance because there is a greater than 95 % probability that it is the result of human activity since the mid-20th century and is proceeding at an unprecedented rate.
Climate Change
Atomospheric carbon dioxide from human activity is increasing more than _____ times faster than it did from natural sources after the last Ice Age.
Atomospheric carbon dioxide from human activity is increasing more than 250 times faster than it did from natural sources after the last Ice Age.
Climate Change
How much of the carbon dioxide produced every year is produced by the richest billion?
50%
Climate Change
Which country in the world is the worst offender per capita for carbon emissions?
The U.S.
(Although, think of the potential per capita ramifications as China and India become more industrialized.)
Climate Change
List/order the countries that are contributing the most to global climate emissions (bold each over 2%).
1. China (30%)
2. U.S. (15%)
3. European Union (10%)
4. India
5. Russia
- Japan
- Germany
- South Korea
- Iran
- Saudi Arabia
- Canada
Climate Change
How much does Michael Mann (a leading climate scientist) predict the Paris Climate Accord will help curb emissions and our nearing of 2°C over where we’d like to be?
It will help with about 50% of the issue
Climate Change
Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the acidity of surface ocean waters has increased by about ____%. The ocean has absorbed between 20% and 30% of total anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions in recent decades.
Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the acidity of surface ocean waters has increased by about 30%. The ocean has absorbed between 20% and 30% of total anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions in recent decades.
Climate Change
In the past century, ocean levels have risen ~____ inches.
In the past century, ocean levels have risen ~ 8 inches.
Climate Change
True/False.
The rate of ocean level rise is accelerating.
True.
Climate Change
Name some of the observable physical features of the world that indicate a drastic rise in temperature.
Warming oceans, rising sea levels, ocean acidification;
shrinking Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, glacial retreat, decreased snow cover;
the warmest years on record are all the last several
Climate Change
How have the number of extreme weather events changed over the past few decades?
An increase in those due to high temperatures and a decrease in those due to low temperatures
Climate Change
A fairly recent meta-analysis shows that of 77 papers from the mid-1960s and 1970s, ____ predicted warming, ____ were neutral, and ____ predicted cooling.
A fairly recent meta-analysis shows that of 77 papers from the mid-1960s and 1970s, 44 predicted warming, 20 were neutral, and 7 predicted cooling.
Climate Change
True/False
The scientific community largely agreed in the 1970s that a global cooling was coming.
False.
A handful of scientists made tentative predictions about global cooling due to some aerosol effects, but many more scientists were worried about warming than cooling. Journalists amplified the small handful’s worries. Today, the consensus on global warming has strengthened to be near-completely accepted.
Climate Change
Although ocean levels have only risen 8 inches in the past century, they are expected to rise ___________ over the next century.
Although ocean levels have only risen 8 inches in the past century, they are expected to rise three feet over the next century.
