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Down With Dobie > Conceptualizing Climate Change in the Past and Present > Flashcards

Conceptualizing Climate Change in the Past and Present Flashcards

Section I of USAD Social Science Resource Guide terms and definitions

1
Q

Earth System Science (ESS)

A

A relatively new approach that looks at the interactions between and views the Earth’s land, oceans, and atmosphere as a single system

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2
Q

Anthropocene

A

A new geological epoch in planetary history in which humans have become the driving force in planetary change

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3
Q

What are the four subsystems?

A

Geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere

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4
Q

Forcings

A

The specific causes of climate change that alter the balance of subsystems, often causing feedbacks to occur

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5
Q

Geosphere (Lithosphere)

A

It encompasses all land, earth, and rock that make up our planet

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6
Q

Earth’s crust

A

Where most of the interactions between the geosphere and other subsystems occur

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7
Q

Hydrosphere

A

All the water on the Earth, in the ground, and in the atmosphere (including clouds)

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8
Q

Cryosphere

A

Ice, which is included in the hydrosphere, though some scholars identify as its own subsystem

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9
Q

Atmosphere

A

The troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, and exosphere

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10
Q

Greenhouse gas effect

A

When the concentration of certain gases released from the Earth’s other subsystems trap heat in the lower layers of the atmosphere

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11
Q

Biosphere

A

All living things on, in, and around the Earth

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12
Q

Milankovitch cycles

A

These steer the Earth into and out of periodic ice ages by influencing which parts of the Earth receive more, or less, solar energy

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13
Q

At which 3 intervals do Milankovitch cycles occur?

A

26,000 years, 41,000 years, and 100,000 years

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14
Q

Feedbacks

A

Reactions to climate change caused by forcings

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15
Q

Positive feedback

A

The original forcing and the feedback both push the climate in the same direction, either both warmer or both colder

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16
Q

Negative Feedback

A

Moderates climate change because the feedback pushes the climate back to its starting point in response to a forcing

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17
Q

Tipping point

A

A “point of no return”

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18
Q

Archives of society

A

A physical repository of written documents

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19
Q

Archives of nature

A

What is observable in nature that gives an indication of past climate conditions

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20
Q

Proxy

A

A natural feature that shows evidence of being impacted by climate conditions

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21
Q

What are 3 of the most revealing sources of climate history in the archives of nature?

A

Ices, trees, and soil

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22
Q

Ice core sampling

A

A technique of drilling long cylinders of ice out of deep glaciers

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23
Q

How are ice cores dated?

A

Snowfall from each year becomes the new top layer, trapping particles from atmosphere and freezing them in ice

24
Q

Dendrochronology

A

The practice of determining whether a year was dry or rainy and the conditions of individual seasons from trees

25
Q

Dendrochronology is a combination of which word meanings?

A

Trees and time

26
Q

What do layers of sediment at the bottom of bodies of water reveal?

A

The historical composition and content of water

27
Q

Cooler temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere in the late 1600s and early 1700s correspond to …?

A

A period of fewer sunspots and low solar activity

28
Q

When was the thermometer invented?

A

1700

29
Q

In which area are the archives of society more specific than the archives of nature?

A

Dating

30
Q

Which city received attention in the news for record-breaking heat in the summer of 2023?

A

Phoenix, Arizona

31
Q

How far do temperature records for the city of Phoenix date back to?

A

1896

32
Q

What does a scholarly field consist of?

A

A group of scholars who share common practices for studying the type of evidence they analyze

33
Q

What is a scholar usually defined as?

A

Primarily a member of one field

34
Q

Climatology

A

A study of climate that relies primarily on the archives of nature

35
Q

“Paleo-“

A

Ancient or old

36
Q

Which period do historical climatology and paleoclimatology investigate?

A

Before the 1800s

37
Q

Climate history

A

A study of climate that relies primarily on the archives of society

38
Q

Christian Pfister

A

Swiss historian who pioneered the field of climate history

39
Q

History of climate and society (HCS)

A

A study that focuses on the relationship between past climate conditions and human societies

40
Q

Dagomar Degroot

A

Environmental historian who has led the push to form and name the field of HCS

41
Q

What has led to the need for HCS?

A

The recent expansion of studies on climate juxtaposed by the lack of precision

42
Q

When did the Holocene begin?

A

11,700 years ago, at the end of the last global ice age

43
Q

When did the Pleistocene begin?

A

2.58 million years ago

44
Q

What does the inclusion of the prefix “Anthro-“ in Anthropocene emphasize?

A

That humans have primarily contributed to the current trajectory of the climate

45
Q

Anthropocene Working Group (AWG)

A

This body of experts on the Earth’s geological epochs proposed that the Anthropocene should officially be recognized as a new geological time interval in 2019

46
Q

International Union of Geological Sciences

A

This group rejected the proposal to formally name the Anthropocene as a new geological epoch in March 2024

47
Q

When did the modern historical profession become formalized?

A

The 1800s

48
Q

Which modern historians included climate in their narratives of global history?

A

E. Le Roy Ladurie and Fernand Braudel

49
Q

Climate determinism

A

The argument that climate sets the course for human history

50
Q

Casual mechanism

A

What specifically the climate impacted that then became the exact thing that triggering a human response

51
Q

How far does the chronological scale scale of human histories typically date back to?

A

Five or six thousand years ago (when the first major human societies emerged)

52
Q

Rachel Carson

A

Author of Silent Spring and credited with helping humans develop an awareness of how much potential we have to alter the Earth

53
Q

Silent Spring

A

This book documents the environmental damage caused by the use of pesticides like DDT

54
Q

When was Silent Spring published?

A

1962

55
Q

Dipesh Chakrabarty

A

An example of a scholar who argues that humans are reshaping the configuration of the Earth’s climate systems in a timespan that is exponentially shorter than natural processes

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