Lecture 33 - Anthropocene Flashcards
Mitigation
Human interventions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental pollutants, with an aim of slowing and ultimately halting the root causes of anthropogenic climate change
The carbon footprint of ____ is far less than that of fossil fuels
renewable energy
Fabrication of cement releases ___ of carbon per year
4 Gigatons (GtC)
How to reduce carbon footprint in infrastructure
using timber instead of cement
3 sectors to make transportation more sustainable
cleaner fuels (biofuels, hydrogen, electricity), greener vehicles (efficient engine, hybrid, plug-in, and fuel cell), smarter transportation (smart cities, intelligent highways…)
Carbon Capture Storage
could ultimately capture 50% of anthropogenic carbon by 2050
Adaptation
a set of actions we can take to handle the coming impacts of global climate change.
Due to sea-level rise, some countries _____
may disappear
Examples of adaptations
Building sea-walls, better water management
Examples of better water management
more efficient water treatment facilities, irrigation methods that minimize evaporation, reduced use in commercial and domestic applications, and changes in the food supply that emphasize less water-intensive crops.
The range of tropical disease will ____ as the climate warms
increase
The yellow mosquito may reach ____ new people by 2080 as the climate warms
1 billion
Adaptation strategies to tropical disease
educating the public, making vaccinations and medical supplies available, and medical research
Reasons for large-scale human migration
fertile lands become infertile, sea level rises and consumes agricultural and urban lands, and the climate becomes more extreme
Adaptation to planning mass-migration
immigration, housing, food, and employment
Geo-engineering
Various engineered solutions are being proposed or piloted to mitigate climate change
Practical geo-engineering solutions
direct extraction of CO2 from the atmosphere (and burial), and the pyrolysis of agricultural waste to make biochar
Anthropocene
- denote the modern age where many major geologic and climatic processes have been profoundly altered by human activities
- a proposed new geological unit within the Geologic Time Scale, and is considered a potential geological epoch within the quaternary period
Which human activity caused an increase in CO2 gases 8,000 years ago
Clearing of forests for agriculture
Which human activity caused an increase in CO2 gases 5,000 years ago
The creation of bogs in China for to grow rice (bogs emit a lot of methane)
Early human activity averted the onset of a ____
glaciation
Industrial revolution
Begining in 1750, it resulted in increased GHGs emission and pollution, a marked acceleration was only observed at the onset of globalization in the 20th century
The great acceleration
The greatest changes in climate have occurred since 1950, and so places the start of the Anthropocene
In the face of uncertainty, the _______ is applicable
uncertainty principle
Uncertainty principle
If the potential consequences of an anticipated event are unacceptably severe, we have a responsibility to take action to avoid or mitigate those consequences
