Global Warming Flashcards
What are four examples of natural greenhouse gases?
Nitrogen oxides, methane, carbon dioxide, water vapour
What are four examples of man-made greenhouse gases?
CFCs, HFCs, PFCs, SF6
Describe how greenhouse effect works.
The short-wave radiation from the sun reaches the ground. Some radiation is absorbed by the ground and some long-wave radiation is reflected back to the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases absorb some reflected radiation and traps the heat of the radiation, keeping the Earth warm.
What are the positive effects of global warming?
Warmer winters cause less resources to be used on heating, the melting of arctic ice create more shipping routes and more resources such as crude oil can be extracted from beneath the polar ice, and the increase of precipitation in some areas may relieve water shortages.
What are the harmful effects of global warming?
Polar ice melts, causing inundation of low-lying areas and countries such as Tuvalu; pests are more active, thus spreading more diseases like dengue fever to high-latitude areas; more climatic hazards; extinction of species due to their habitat bring destroyed; and food supply problems due to the farmland being flooded by seawater, climatic hazards, and more active pests.
What are the main causes of greenhouse gas release?
Burning/extracting fossil fuels, agriculture, industrial activities, deforestation, waste disposal
How does extracting and burning fossil fuels create greenhouse gases?
Burning fossil fuels generates CO2 and N2O, and the extraction of fossil fuels generates Methane.
How does deforestation create greenhouse gases?
Deforestation means cutting down trees for houses or farmland, which leads to no/a lot less surface area for plants to conduct photosynthesis and absorb CO2. Thus, the deforestation increases the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere.
How does agriculture and farming create greenhouse gases?
Ranching cattle creates CO2 and their digestion process creates Methane. Wet rice cultivation and anaerobic decomposition also creates Methane. The use of nitrogen fertilisers and burning organic wastes generate N2O, and using farm machines, irrigation systems powered by fossil fuels release CO2. Last but not least, agriculture may involve large-scale deforestation, which increases the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere.
How do industrial activities generate greenhouse gases?
The production of nylon releases N2O; aluminum melting and magnesium production release CO2, PFCs, and SF6; and the production of foams, refrigerates, and aerosol spray release N2O, CFCs, and HFCs.
How does garbage treatment create greenhouse gases?
Garbage decomposing in the landfill creates Methane, and garbage burned in incinerators produce CO2 and N2O.
What is a carbon footprint?
An indicator to show the amount of GHGs produced by an individual or a society
What are the two approaches to ease climate change? Provide two examples for each.
Slowing down the emission of GHGs: take public transport and turn off electrical appliances when not in need
Removing GHGs from the air: plant more trees, keep ocean clean
How does keeping the ocean clean remove GHGs from the air?
When we keep the ocean clean, more plankton can grow. Plankton are tiny plants that can carry out photosynthesis and reduce the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere.
What are the measures China has taken to ease climate change?
China has planned to reduce CO2 emission by 60-65% by 2030, has developed renewable energy, has changed tax laws to favour less-polluting industries, has set up maglev train systems, and has changed large areas of farmland to woodland or grassland.
List three examples of other countries’ measures to ease climate change.
Finland: encourages cycling, has free bike-lending services
UK: passes laws to increase energy efficiency of new buildings
Germany: increases the share of renewable energy resources in producing electricity
Arrange international meetings/agreements on easing climate change in chronological order.
1988: IPCC, start conducting climate change research
1997: Kyoto Protocol, 1st agreement on emission cut
2007: Bali Road Map, MDC/LDCs agree on log-term cooperation
2009: Copenhagen Accord, countries set goal that global temp increase will be less than 2 deg, MDC agree to help LDC
2011: Durban Platform, Kyoto Protocol in force till 2018, set up green funds for poor countries, new outline coming in 2020
2012: Doha Climate Change Conference, new global treaty coming in 2020
2015: Paris Agreement, all countries agree to combat climate change/its effects
