Social Science Glossary Flashcards
What is the goal for limiting global warming?
To limit the amount of global warming above the pre-industrial average to 1.5°C by the end of the century.
What significant climate event occurred in 536 CE?
An abnormally cold year in Europe as a result of volcanic eruptions; historian Michael McCormick named it the worst year to be alive.
What event started 4,250 years ago?
The Late Holocene, marked by a severe climate event that may have included droughts affecting early human civilizations across Eurasia.
What was the Akkadian Empire?
An early Mesopotamian empire that lasted from around 2334 to 2218 BCE.
Who was Alexander the Great?
A Greek king from Macedonia whose vast conquests created cultural links throughout the Mediterranean region and east to the Indus Valley.
What are the Andes Mountains?
A long mountain range in South America that was home to early agrarian societies.
What is the Anthropocene?
A proposed new geological epoch resulting from significant human-driven changes to the Earth System, including the climate system.
What is an archive?
Traditionally a storehouse of historical documents, now also a figurative way of naming something that contains information about the past.
What is the atmosphere?
One of the subsystems in the Earth System; the layers of gases encircling the Earth.
What is the biosphere?
One of the subsystems in the Earth System; all living organisms in and on the Earth.
What does ‘Black Gold’ refer to?
A popular term that references oil, its immense value, and the fact that it must be extracted from the earth.
Who was Bert Bolin?
A Swedish meteorologist who led numerous scientific communities studying climate and was the first Chair of the IPCC.
What is a ‘Carbon Footprint’?
A term that references a person or organization’s personal contribution to global carbon emissions.
What is carbon sequestration?
The act of taking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and storing it.
What is a causal mechanism?
Something that causes something else to occur.
What is the climate crisis?
A term summarizing the dangerous impacts of climate change.
What is climate determinism?
A method of telling historical narratives in which climate drives social and environmental changes over time.
What is climate history?
An academic field that studies sources produced by human societies to reconstruct past climatic conditions.
What was the Cold War?
The global political conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union from around 1946 to 1991.
What is colonialism?
A political system in which states or companies establish control over natural resources and people in distant lands.
Who was Paul J. Crutzen?
A Dutch meteorologist who helped found the IPCC in 1988 and coined the term ‘Anthropocene’ in 2000.
What is the cryosphere?
A part of the hydrosphere subsystem; all the ice in the Earth System.
What characterizes the Early Holocene?
The first stage of the Holocene that lasted from around 11,700 to 8,236 years ago and was characterized by warmer conditions.
What is Earth System Science (ESS)?
A new approach to studying the natural world as a connected whole, focusing on interactions between the Earth System’s subsystems.
Who was Eunice Newton Foote?
An American scientist who recognized that changing amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could impact the climate.
What are forcings?
Factors external to a climate system that influence climate change, such as volcanic activity and greenhouse gases.
What are fossil fuels?
Matter left behind from formerly living organisms that can be burned for energy but release carbon into the atmosphere.
What is Fridays for Future?
A youth climate activism movement inspired by Greta Thunberg’s school strikes for climate in 2018.
What is the geological time scale?
A measure of time based on the record of rocks, where change is sometimes measured at the pace of millions or billions of years.
What is the geosphere?
One of the subsystems in the Earth System; the earth and rock that comprise the Earth.
What is the ‘Great Acceleration’?
A term identifying 1950 as a date when humanity’s impact on the natural world rapidly increased.
What is the Green New Deal?
A policy proposal involving government investment in infrastructure to address the climate crisis.
What is the greenhouse gas effect?
How higher concentrations of certain gases in the atmosphere are warming temperatures by trapping heat.
What is historical climatology?
A field that reconstructs past climates using methods like ice core sampling and dendrochronology.
What is the history of climate and society (HCS)?
An interdisciplinary field focused on the history of the relationship between climate and human societies.
What is the Holocene?
A geological interglacial period that began around 11,700 years ago, at the end of the last ice age.
What is the hydrosphere?
One of the subsystems in the Earth System; all the water in, on, and around the Earth.
What is the Indus Valley known for?
Home to some of the world’s earliest agrarian societies and marks the eastern extent of Alexander the Great’s conquests.
What was the Industrial Revolution?
A development starting in the late eighteenth century that expanded manufacturing by using machines.
What is the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)?
A law passed in the U.S. in 2022 providing funding for addressing climate change challenges.
What is an interglacial period?
A geological period of warmer conditions between ice ages.
What is the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)?
A UN body formed in 1988 to assess climate science and mediate between scientists and policymakers.
What is the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP)?
Established in 1987 to study global change in the context of Earth System Science.
What is the Justice40 Initiative?
A policy commitment aiming for 40% of benefits from Federal investments related to climate change to flow to underserved communities.
Who was Charles David Keeling?
An American scientist who began systematic record keeping of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations in 1958.
What is the ‘Keeling Curve’?
A graph representing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations based on records from the Mauna Loa Observatory.
What is the Kyoto Protocol?
A non-binding international agreement adopted in 1997 to address climate change.
What characterizes the Late Holocene?
The third stage of the Holocene that began around 4,250 years ago and continues to the present.
What was the Laurentide Ice Sheet?
A vast ice sheet that covered much of North America during ice ages throughout the Pleistocene.
What was the Little Ice Age (LIA)?
A period from around 1300 to 1850 during which cooler temperatures resulted in cooler global temperatures on average.
What is the Mandate of Heaven?
An idea from ancient China suggesting an emperor’s right to rule is evidenced by order in the universe.
Who is J. R. McNeill?
An American scholar who popularized the idea of the ‘Great Acceleration’.
What is Mesoamerica?
A region spanning North and Central America that was home to early agrarian societies.
What is Mesopotamia?
A region in present-day Iraq that was home to some of the earliest agrarian societies.
What are the Middle Ages?
A period in Europe from the collapse of the Roman Empire until around 1500 CE.
What characterizes the Middle Holocene?
The second stage of the Holocene that saw cooling conditions compared to the Early Holocene.
What are Milankovitch cycles?
Patterns of the Earth’s movement in relation to the Sun that influence climate over time.
What is modernization?
A narrative of the process by which humanity moves from pre-modern to modern conditions.
Who is Alessandra Korap Munduruku?
A Brazilian environmental activist who has defended portions of the Brazilian rainforest.
What is NASA?
An agency of the U.S. government founded in 1958, a leader in space exploration and Earth System study.
What is negative feedback?
A phenomenon where climate change causes a natural reaction that acts against the initial direction of climate change.
What is the Nile Delta?
A delta where the Nile River reaches the Mediterranean Sea, home to early Egyptian agrarian societies.
What is the Paris Agreement?
A 2015 intergovernmental agreement aiming to limit global temperature increases to well below 2°C.
What is the Pleistocene?
A geological epoch characterized by cycles of ice ages and interglacials.
What is positive feedback?
A phenomenon where climate change causes a natural reaction that amplifies the initial direction of climate change.
What is precipitation?
Water released from clouds, including rain, snow, sleet, and hail.
What is a proxy in climate science?
Something observable in nature that indicates past climate conditions, like tree rings or ice cores.
What does scale refer to in investigations?
The scope of an investigation, which can be large or small, geographically or chronologically.
What is a scholarly field?
A group of scholars sharing an object of study, evidence type, and analysis methods.
What are solar minima?
Periods of decreased sunspot activity that can follow an eleven-year cycle or last longer.
What was the Space Race?
A competition of space exploration and technology between the U.S. and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
Who is the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe?
A nation whose members led a protest delaying the construction of an oil pipeline in North America.
Who was Eugene F. Stoermer?
A biologist who, along with Paul J. Crutzen, coined the term ‘Anthropocene’.
What are subsystems in Earth System Science?
Classifications consisting of the geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere.
Who is Greta Thunberg?
A Swedish climate activist who started a school strike for climate in 2018, sparking a global youth movement.
What is a tipping point in climate science?
A point of no return when changes in a climate system become irreversible.
What is the triple planetary crisis?
The ongoing global risks related to climate change, air pollution, and biodiversity loss.
What is the United Nations (UN)?
An intergovernmental organization founded in 1945 to promote peace, dignity, equality, and a healthy planet.
What is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)?
Established in 1992 as a foundation for intergovernmental action on climate change.
What is the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP)?
A program established in 1979 for the study of the Earth System and climate change.
