Key Terms Flashcards
What is the life expectancy in the world as a whole today?
Total. University
70 years. 30%. 20%
In the year 2000 the total number of children (age 0-14) in the world reached 2 billion. How many do UN experts estimate there will be by the year 2100?
Total. University
2 billion. 6%. 6%
What % of adults in the world today are literate, I.e. Can read and write?
Total. University
80% of adults. 8%. 4%
In the last 30years the proportion of the world population living in extreme poverty has?
Total University
Decreased 10% 12%
What % of total world energy generated comes from solar and wind power? Is it approximately
Total University
2% of world energy 30% 37%
What is the life expectancy in Bangladesh today?
Total University
70years 8% 6%
How many babies do women have on average in Bangladesh?
Total University
2.5 babies 12% 10%
What are Environmental Issues?
The are events and processes on Earth that impact us & our much smaller personal sphere.
Name two reasons why environmental issues are ignored or dismissed?
The is due to “Amnesia” & “Culture”
-even rapid environmental change is slow on a human time scale, and there is a human tendency to forget or to not be aware of things that happened before our lifetime
-We all filter what we hear through processes and constructs from our social and economic background
It is difficult for humans to grasp changes we are making to the earth due to what some call “ENVIRONMENTAL AMNESIA”
What is environmental amnesia?
- it means that we intellectually register change only if it occurs over relatively short time frames
- It is easy to forget or diminish change that occurs over decades or slightly longer
EX. I can see a corn field, but it is hard to grasp that it couldve been something totally different 1hundred years prior.
What is the definition of Environment?
The Conditions that affect the behavior and development of somebody/something;that physical conditions that somebody/something exists in
What is the Definition of The Environment?
The natural world in which people, animals and plants live.
Which definition of Environment is most important to people and how they intertwined?
- People care about the one that affects the behavior and development.
- They are intertwined because our smaller, personal environment is embedded in the larger world.
Astronomers are finding new planets all the time, but why do some astronomers contend that we are at least effectively alone?
- Most new planets have inhospitable orbits, sizes,distance from their sun, or unusual stars
- We are constrained from communication by the speed of light, and thus we have only a relatively small sphere of space that we can access during reasonable numbers of human generations
- thus, we are effectively alone in space.
What was so momentous about the Apollo 8 mission in 1968(from the way humanity stated to view the limits to our resources?
Earth=”The Pale blue dot”
The limitations of our resources became visual.
Astronomers are finding new planets all the time, but why do some astronomers contend that we are at least effectively alone(as a plant with intelligent life) in the universe?
- Most new planets have inhospitable orbits, sizes, distance from their sun, or unusual stars.
- We are constrained from communication by the speed of light, and thus we have only a relatively small sphere of space that we can access during reasonable numbers of human generations.
- thus, we are effectively alone in space
We now, on an annual basis, use more than “one planet`s” resources(called Ecological Overshoot). What does this mean?
- Sustainability,in a planetary perspective, means using only the “interest” or the natural annual production, of the planet
- If we use more than annual production, we(in financial terms) are eating into our natural “principal”
ex. we cut down more forest than can be sustainably regrown
ex. 2 we fish more than the oceans can regenerate
ex. 3we mine fuels (produce by the sun over millions of years) faster than they are regenerated.
ex. 4We extract metals and ores faster than geological processes can replace them
ex. 5 We erode soils faster than processes can rebuild them
-We now “overshoot” our planet`s resources in later summer or early fall, and live on principle the rest of the year.
What makes the Earth so special?
- It is geologically alive and has life!
- moving rock
- Moving air and water and is the only known place with it.
We are Stardust…?
-The periodic table of elements is a record of time, with the lightest elements existing(fewest proton & neutrons) from the beginning of time, and the heavier elements forming in stars and in supernovas.
THE UNIVERSE
At the time of the BIG BANG
- At the time of big ban, universe was 100%H(hydrogen) and He(helium)
- Stars combine H and He to form more complex element(up to iron)
- Supernovas(exploding stars) have enough energy to make iron and heavier elements
We all need(as responsible citizens) a sense of time,space, and our place in it. Geology is a natural history, and the chapers are divided up by the great changes in life(and stars). Our abridged “book” has the following…
- pg. 0: the Big Bang~13 billion years ago
- We skip the chapters where stars form, explode in supernovas, and then repeat
- We re-enter the story about 4.6 billion years ago, when after a supernova(that created many of the elements in all of us and that are around us)the dust and matter condensed to form our solar system.
- Our Earth is one of a family of 4 inner planets that are called the terrestrial planets because they are relatively low in H, He,etc, but are rocky(Jupiter, in contrast, is a “gas giant”)
- Our planet has the cosmic jackpot for life because: 1) it is the right distance from our sun(the so-called habitable zone which allows liquid water to exist), 2) has plate tectonics that cycle carbon and soils, maintaining planetary habitability, and 3) we have a well functioning system of are and ocean circulation that spreads the sun’s heat around the globe
What is Precambrian?
-It is most of earths history, billing of years: and a period where life was dominated largely by microorganisms
What is Paleozoic age?
“Old life”:organisms got larger, diversified in an explosion, and spread out over land.
What is Mesozoic age?
“mid life”: the dinosaur age
What is Cenozoic Age?
“recent life”:The mammals and us
How many great Eras of earth`s geological history are there?
Their are four
- Precambrian(microorganisms)
- Paleozoic(organisms got larger, diversified over land in explosion)
- Mesozoic(Dinosaurs)
- Cenozoic(the mammals and us)
What is the Pleistocene epoch?
-Beginning about 2 million years ago up to 10,000 years ago, the earth was in a time of glacial & interglacial cycles(mostly in glacial)
What is Holocene?
It is when the global climate went into its present inter-glacial state, which allowed us to blossom
What is the Anthropocene?
Known as the “The age of human driven Global Change”
-Over the past few hundred years, we have launched the “sixth global extinction”, changed climate, changed the landscape, to such an extent it rivals geological cataclysms of the past.
How do most transitions from one Geological era or epoch occur?
-Most era or epoch changes occur because of a global catastrophe.
What are Plate tectonics?
- It is the movement and circulation of molten magma beneath the solid crust.
- It is a series of “plates” of crust that slide against each other, collide, and slide over or under each other.
How are volcanos created and how do they help?
- Hot rock rises, heated by the earths core,near the surface the rock spreads, going sideways, beginning to lose heat. Eventually, the much cooler rock sinks back down.Through this process, the surface is split apart, causing the continents to move.
- Where the rocks collide, the seafloor that slides down contains carbon from the dead plankton, is carried deep into the earth, which melts and is pushed back into the surface, causing gas to be RETURNED back into the earth through an eruption.
- This helps maintain a light greenhouse blanket over the planet.
- The subduction of plates carries with it carbon in sediments, keeping the C02 from building up in the atmosphere(steady state: carbon additions=carbon removals).
- The constant movement of rock & erosion rejuvenates the earth`s soils, which sustains productive ecosystem.
Why are plate tectonics so important to the Earth?
- Fresh rock & sediment is continuously added and cycled on the surface to maintain fertile soils
- The cycling of the crust provides a long term control on the earth`s carbon cycle and climate.
How long will the sun glow?
-The sun will probably glow steadily for some billions of years more. It helps supply us with a steady stream of “clean” energy.
How much energy from the sun reaches the Earth?
- The amount that reaches the Earth’s atmosphere is 1.97 calories/(cm2xmin)
- =(9.15 kcal/inch2 over 12 hrs)
Who gets most of the heat from the sun on an annual basis?
The equator gets most of the heat on an annual basis, setting up the movement of air and water to move it to areas of lower heat, which is “the poles”
What is the “tea pot” concept? Where does heat rise, sink?
- The concept states that, as the sun heats the equator, heat rises/expands/cools outward because it hits the stratosphere, and subsides/condenses, warms and flows toward low pressure and rises again.
- Heat rises expands and cools at equator(0 degrees)
- Subsides condenses and warms, picking up mosture and heat(30 degrees North & south)
Where does precipitation preferentially form? where are latitudes of deserts?
- Near the equator air rises, losing its ability to hold moisture, getting a band of high rainfall and low pressure because air is leaving the equator
- where air sinks(belts 30 degrees) you get high pressure sinking air, making clear skies and desert climates.
When heat rises at equator and is pushed outward around 30degrees N/S it creates huge spinning circles of air. What are they called?
Hadley Cells
Why are Hurricanes called “heat engines”?
- Natural heat engines because they redistribute equatorial heat poleward.
- Estimates cyclones release heat at up to 200 trillion joules per day. Same as exploding a 10 megaton nuclear bomb every 20 min.
Why do scientists suspect that Hurricanes may become stronger in this century?
- Hurricane destructiveness is “highly correlated with sea surface temperatures, which are increasing because glaciers are melting, which cause the sea levels to warm and rise.
- Also more destructive because people are moving closer to the coast.
Why is stable climate important to us?
- Human society in any location is built on expected windows of weather.
- We have inhabited coastlines assuming coastal stability(Major cities are near coastlines).
How does the ocean circulate water?
- Cold salt water(denser) sinks & warmer and fresher water(less dense) rises, driving the cycles.
- Currents bring warm water along coast of Europe, keeping it relatively warm for its latitude.
What does rapid melting of ice water into North Atlantic cause?
-From past records(ice core records) thatrapid melting of ice water into North Atlantic can rapidly alter the ocean circulation(which can plunge the world back into cold period for a while).
What is the concern about the Greenland ice sheet melting?
-It is capable of raising the level of globals seas about 6m if it completely melts.
What services are provided by Climate systems?
- It helped set the stage for agriculture and complexity of human society.
- Climate stability is an essential component of stable agriculture and society.
- Sets limits to what a given society must be able to deal with(diseases, water, buildings)
