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Down With Dobie > Social Science Glossary > Flashcards

Social Science Glossary Flashcards

1
Q

What is the goal for limiting global warming?

A

To limit the amount of global warming above the pre-industrial average to 1.5°C by the end of the century.

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2
Q

What significant climate event occurred in 536 CE?

A

An abnormally cold year in Europe as a result of volcanic eruptions; historian Michael McCormick named it the worst year to be alive.

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3
Q

What event started 4,250 years ago?

A

The Late Holocene, marked by a severe climate event that may have included droughts affecting early human civilizations across Eurasia.

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4
Q

What was the Akkadian Empire?

A

An early Mesopotamian empire that lasted from around 2334 to 2218 BCE.

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5
Q

Who was Alexander the Great?

A

A Greek king from Macedonia whose vast conquests created cultural links throughout the Mediterranean region and east to the Indus Valley.

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6
Q

What are the Andes Mountains?

A

A long mountain range in South America that was home to early agrarian societies.

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7
Q

What is the Anthropocene?

A

A proposed new geological epoch resulting from significant human-driven changes to the Earth System, including the climate system.

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8
Q

What is an archive?

A

Traditionally a storehouse of historical documents, now also a figurative way of naming something that contains information about the past.

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9
Q

What is the atmosphere?

A

One of the subsystems in the Earth System; the layers of gases encircling the Earth.

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10
Q

What is the biosphere?

A

One of the subsystems in the Earth System; all living organisms in and on the Earth.

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11
Q

What does ‘Black Gold’ refer to?

A

A popular term that references oil, its immense value, and the fact that it must be extracted from the earth.

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12
Q

Who was Bert Bolin?

A

A Swedish meteorologist who led numerous scientific communities studying climate and was the first Chair of the IPCC.

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13
Q

What is a ‘Carbon Footprint’?

A

A term that references a person or organization’s personal contribution to global carbon emissions.

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14
Q

What is carbon sequestration?

A

The act of taking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and storing it.

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15
Q

What is a causal mechanism?

A

Something that causes something else to occur.

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16
Q

What is the climate crisis?

A

A term summarizing the dangerous impacts of climate change.

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17
Q

What is climate determinism?

A

A method of telling historical narratives in which climate drives social and environmental changes over time.

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18
Q

What is climate history?

A

An academic field that studies sources produced by human societies to reconstruct past climatic conditions.

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19
Q

What was the Cold War?

A

The global political conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union from around 1946 to 1991.

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20
Q

What is colonialism?

A

A political system in which states or companies establish control over natural resources and people in distant lands.

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21
Q

Who was Paul J. Crutzen?

A

A Dutch meteorologist who helped found the IPCC in 1988 and coined the term ‘Anthropocene’ in 2000.

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22
Q

What is the cryosphere?

A

A part of the hydrosphere subsystem; all the ice in the Earth System.

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23
Q

What characterizes the Early Holocene?

A

The first stage of the Holocene that lasted from around 11,700 to 8,236 years ago and was characterized by warmer conditions.

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24
Q

What is Earth System Science (ESS)?

A

A new approach to studying the natural world as a connected whole, focusing on interactions between the Earth System’s subsystems.

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25
Q

Who was Eunice Newton Foote?

A

An American scientist who recognized that changing amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could impact the climate.

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26
Q

What are forcings?

A

Factors external to a climate system that influence climate change, such as volcanic activity and greenhouse gases.

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27
Q

What are fossil fuels?

A

Matter left behind from formerly living organisms that can be burned for energy but release carbon into the atmosphere.

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28
Q

What is Fridays for Future?

A

A youth climate activism movement inspired by Greta Thunberg’s school strikes for climate in 2018.

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29
Q

What is the geological time scale?

A

A measure of time based on the record of rocks, where change is sometimes measured at the pace of millions or billions of years.

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30
Q

What is the geosphere?

A

One of the subsystems in the Earth System; the earth and rock that comprise the Earth.

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31
Q

What is the ‘Great Acceleration’?

A

A term identifying 1950 as a date when humanity’s impact on the natural world rapidly increased.

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32
Q

What is the Green New Deal?

A

A policy proposal involving government investment in infrastructure to address the climate crisis.

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33
Q

What is the greenhouse gas effect?

A

How higher concentrations of certain gases in the atmosphere are warming temperatures by trapping heat.

34
Q

What is historical climatology?

A

A field that reconstructs past climates using methods like ice core sampling and dendrochronology.

35
Q

What is the history of climate and society (HCS)?

A

An interdisciplinary field focused on the history of the relationship between climate and human societies.

36
Q

What is the Holocene?

A

A geological interglacial period that began around 11,700 years ago, at the end of the last ice age.

37
Q

What is the hydrosphere?

A

One of the subsystems in the Earth System; all the water in, on, and around the Earth.

38
Q

What is the Indus Valley known for?

A

Home to some of the world’s earliest agrarian societies and marks the eastern extent of Alexander the Great’s conquests.

39
Q

What was the Industrial Revolution?

A

A development starting in the late eighteenth century that expanded manufacturing by using machines.

40
Q

What is the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)?

A

A law passed in the U.S. in 2022 providing funding for addressing climate change challenges.

41
Q

What is an interglacial period?

A

A geological period of warmer conditions between ice ages.

42
Q

What is the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)?

A

A UN body formed in 1988 to assess climate science and mediate between scientists and policymakers.

43
Q

What is the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP)?

A

Established in 1987 to study global change in the context of Earth System Science.

44
Q

What is the Justice40 Initiative?

A

A policy commitment aiming for 40% of benefits from Federal investments related to climate change to flow to underserved communities.

45
Q

Who was Charles David Keeling?

A

An American scientist who began systematic record keeping of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations in 1958.

46
Q

What is the ‘Keeling Curve’?

A

A graph representing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations based on records from the Mauna Loa Observatory.

47
Q

What is the Kyoto Protocol?

A

A non-binding international agreement adopted in 1997 to address climate change.

48
Q

What characterizes the Late Holocene?

A

The third stage of the Holocene that began around 4,250 years ago and continues to the present.

49
Q

What was the Laurentide Ice Sheet?

A

A vast ice sheet that covered much of North America during ice ages throughout the Pleistocene.

50
Q

What was the Little Ice Age (LIA)?

A

A period from around 1300 to 1850 during which cooler temperatures resulted in cooler global temperatures on average.

51
Q

What is the Mandate of Heaven?

A

An idea from ancient China suggesting an emperor’s right to rule is evidenced by order in the universe.

52
Q

Who is J. R. McNeill?

A

An American scholar who popularized the idea of the ‘Great Acceleration’.

53
Q

What is Mesoamerica?

A

A region spanning North and Central America that was home to early agrarian societies.

54
Q

What is Mesopotamia?

A

A region in present-day Iraq that was home to some of the earliest agrarian societies.

55
Q

What are the Middle Ages?

A

A period in Europe from the collapse of the Roman Empire until around 1500 CE.

56
Q

What characterizes the Middle Holocene?

A

The second stage of the Holocene that saw cooling conditions compared to the Early Holocene.

57
Q

What are Milankovitch cycles?

A

Patterns of the Earth’s movement in relation to the Sun that influence climate over time.

58
Q

What is modernization?

A

A narrative of the process by which humanity moves from pre-modern to modern conditions.

59
Q

Who is Alessandra Korap Munduruku?

A

A Brazilian environmental activist who has defended portions of the Brazilian rainforest.

60
Q

What is NASA?

A

An agency of the U.S. government founded in 1958, a leader in space exploration and Earth System study.

61
Q

What is negative feedback?

A

A phenomenon where climate change causes a natural reaction that acts against the initial direction of climate change.

62
Q

What is the Nile Delta?

A

A delta where the Nile River reaches the Mediterranean Sea, home to early Egyptian agrarian societies.

63
Q

What is the Paris Agreement?

A

A 2015 intergovernmental agreement aiming to limit global temperature increases to well below 2°C.

64
Q

What is the Pleistocene?

A

A geological epoch characterized by cycles of ice ages and interglacials.

65
Q

What is positive feedback?

A

A phenomenon where climate change causes a natural reaction that amplifies the initial direction of climate change.

66
Q

What is precipitation?

A

Water released from clouds, including rain, snow, sleet, and hail.

67
Q

What is a proxy in climate science?

A

Something observable in nature that indicates past climate conditions, like tree rings or ice cores.

68
Q

What does scale refer to in investigations?

A

The scope of an investigation, which can be large or small, geographically or chronologically.

69
Q

What is a scholarly field?

A

A group of scholars sharing an object of study, evidence type, and analysis methods.

70
Q

What are solar minima?

A

Periods of decreased sunspot activity that can follow an eleven-year cycle or last longer.

71
Q

What was the Space Race?

A

A competition of space exploration and technology between the U.S. and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

72
Q

Who is the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe?

A

A nation whose members led a protest delaying the construction of an oil pipeline in North America.

73
Q

Who was Eugene F. Stoermer?

A

A biologist who, along with Paul J. Crutzen, coined the term ‘Anthropocene’.

74
Q

What are subsystems in Earth System Science?

A

Classifications consisting of the geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere.

75
Q

Who is Greta Thunberg?

A

A Swedish climate activist who started a school strike for climate in 2018, sparking a global youth movement.

76
Q

What is a tipping point in climate science?

A

A point of no return when changes in a climate system become irreversible.

77
Q

What is the triple planetary crisis?

A

The ongoing global risks related to climate change, air pollution, and biodiversity loss.

78
Q

What is the United Nations (UN)?

A

An intergovernmental organization founded in 1945 to promote peace, dignity, equality, and a healthy planet.

79
Q

What is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)?

A

Established in 1992 as a foundation for intergovernmental action on climate change.

80
Q

What is the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP)?

A

A program established in 1979 for the study of the Earth System and climate change.

Down With Dobie (17 decks)

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