human interventions in carbon cycle designed to influence carbon transfers and mitigate the impacts of climate change

Question 1

what is CCS?

Answer 1

carbon capture and storage

Question 2

what is the aim of CCS?

Answer 2

• uses tech to store 90% of CO2 emmisions produced from the used of FF in electricity generation + industrila processes (thus will reduce enhanced GHE as less CO2 enters the atmosphere).

Question 3

how does CCS work?

Answer 3

• CO2 emissions are captured
• C gas is compressed + converted to liquid + trasported by pipeline to an injection well.
• It is then injected as a liquid into a suitable geological resevoir (ie underground aquifers, depleted oil and gas feilds or deep ocean

Question 4

give an example of CCS in action?

Answer 4

Coal Power + CCS plant in Saskethawan , Canada called the BOundary Dam.

• indicates that this reduced CO2 emiisions on a national scale, rather than global however, if all countries had this tech —-> global impact.
• the power station has been retrofitted to capture 90% of its CO2 output ( ie 1 mill tonnes/yr)

Question 5

what are the benefits + negatives of CCS?

Answer 5

• cost $800 mill to build

+ scientists estimate it will cut emmisions by 19%.

Question 6

what are 3 ways you can mitigate climate change?

Answer 6

• CCS
• geoengineering.
• political initiatives

Question 7

what is geoengineering?

Answer 7

The large scale industrustrial interventional into the earth system to counteract the human induced climate change.

Question 8

what are the 2 main approaches of geogengineering?

Answer 8

CDR ( carbon dioxide removal ie BECCS)
- acts on global warming by reducing the amount of carbon emmisions in the atmosphetre thus the amount by which IR can be absorbed and thus tbe amount by which temperatures rise.
SRM (solar radiation management).
- aims to reflect sunlight away from the earth and thus cool down the global temperatures. Rather than tackling root of problem (ie CO2 emissions increasing) SRM treats ONE symptom , ie global warming (-ve)
- suggested techniques incl –> putting massive sunshades in space (-ve how?), or injecting aerosols w/ SO2 to reflect light away or making clouds more reflective, question as to how would this be done tho.

Question 9

give an example of Geoengineering?

Answer 9

BECCS –> Bio energy with Carbon ca[ture and storage

Question 10

what is the concept o BECCS?

Answer 10

• its a type of CCS and it aims to turn large areas to plantations of fast growing trees that store ALOT of carbon

Question 11

why does look like an attractive solution to climate change?

Answer 11

it offers the world a supposedly techological solution which results in unsus companies + govts + industries NOT changing their own methods of production.
bot good in the long run bc it just gets rid of CO2 in atmosp but it still accumulates in the reserves.

Question 12

what are the arguments against BECCS?

Answer 12

• huge surface required required will drive up land priceses and will affect the food production —-> ie increaases food prices + farmers lose land + incom e
• transformation of previously unused land into intesnve monoculture will reduce biodiv + may deplete soils in long run.
• increased use of water for irrigation —> will increase scarecity in other parts of the world.
• tractors generate co2 emissions.
  NO ONE KNOWS THE EFFECT OF STORING THE CO2 UNDERGROUND + HOW LONG FOR.

Question 13

what are the pros of geoengineering?

Answer 13

• they do reduce the CO2 and this will reduce the amount of heat absorbed + trapped in atmosphere
• state of art tech has shown that the SRM tech has potential to redyce th e global temps significantly BUT may not compleety prevent climate change

Question 14

what are the cons of geoengineering?

Answer 14

• tweaking clima

Question 15

what are 2 political initiatives that have been taken to mitigate effect of climate change?

Answer 15

The paris agreement

Kyoto protocol

Question 16

what is the Kyoto protocol?

Answer 16

An international agreement that aimed to reduce CO2 emmisions + presence f GHG in the atmosphere

Question 17

how do Kyoto protocol help mitigate climate change?

Answer 17

• made it mandatory for industrialised nations to cut their GHGs emmisions at a time that threat of global warming was growing rapidly.
• it became law internationally on Feb 16, 2005.
• coutries that ratified the Kyoto protocol were assigned max carbon emission levels for specific periods and participated in carbon credit trading where if a country emitted MORE than its assigned limit , it would be penalised by receiving glower emissions the following period.

Question 18

what is the paris agreement and when did it come into action?

Answer 18

The Paris Agreement is an agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, on climate change mitigation, adaptation, and finance, signed in 2016 by 195 countries.

Question 19

what are the aims fo the Paris Agreement?

Answer 19

• limit the avg global T incresase to 1.5C above pre industrial levels
• meet very 5 yrs to set more ambitious targets
• report to each other + public authority on implementation of individual plans to reduce emissions.
• strengthen the ability to adapt + to be resilient in dealing w/ impacts of climate change.
• provide adaptation support for developing countries
• developed nations will provide support + initiatioves in developing countires that are aimed at reducing emmisions ad building in resilience to the impacts of climate change.

Question 20

what were the benefits of Paris Agreements? (successes)

Answer 20

• lead to reduced CO2 levels in the atmosphere
• secured finite resources eg fossil fuels.
• reducing air pollution from the emission of fossil fuels + accompanying health benefits, along with economic security.
  + creates a useful framework for all countries to reduce their carbon emmisions.
• it holds the worlds largest emmiters proportionally responsible.
• ot specifies that developed natiuons take lead in reducing emmisions

Question 21

what are the negatives (ie failures of the Paris Agreement?

Answer 21

• some countries dont agree –> ie US –> has lead to other countries being more lenient with general aims + not sticking to their assigned limits
• US withdrawal from Paris Agreememnt in 2017 by DT. - individual coutries pledges dictate their own GHG emmisions which currently would NOT acc maintain a amx rise in T of ~2C.
• the term s laid out by the PAris Agreement are difficult to enforce
• no repurcussion that fail to meat their targeets
• np unanimous agreement on how much each state must reduce the emissions to avoid a global envi catastrophe.

Question 22

how can ppl at individual scale influence the carbon cycle + thus mitigate climate change ?

Answer 22

• Ppl choose to use cars less and buy more fuel efficient cars
• Ppl can choose to make homes more efficient ie w .double glazing windows,insulation etc → not available for everyone, lots of ppl cant afford to do this so they may still opt for a fire or heating

Question 23

how can carbon cycle be influenced and thus climate change be mitigated at national and regional scale?

Answer 23

• Govts can invest ccs where industrial co2 emmited is captured and stored underground as a liquid for a long time
• Afforestation + reforestation degraded areas: this will increase amount of co2 taken up by the biosphere
• Planners can increase the sustainability of towns that they build → develope improved transport networks and include more green spaces
• Govts can reduce the reliance on fossil fuels from their population by making solar panels more affordable to use and reducing costs of other renewable energy source.

Question 24

what can be done at global scale to mitigate effects of climate change?

Answer 24

• Countries get together to form international treaties ie Kyoto protocol in 1997 aims to reduce the amount of carbon emitted into the atmosphere and the paris agreement 2015 when countries got together and developed plan to reduce the amount of ghg’s emitted so to limit the global increase in temperature to 1.5C.
• Participating countries agree to keep emissions within limits.
• There are also international carbon credit systems where countries that release less co2 will be able sell their credits (and make money) and coutnries that release more will need to BUY more.