The Anthropocene: past, present and future predictions

Question 1

Who originally proposed the anthropocene?

Answer 1

Paul Crutzen 2000

Question 2

What did Paul Crutzen call the anthropocene?

Answer 2

the time interval in which human activities now rival global geophysical processes

Question 3

What fossils of humans might there be?

Answer 3

Techno-fossils= plastics
Fossils of livestock

Question 4

What is the earliest believed start of the anthropocene?

Answer 4

Megafunal extinction by early human hunters before the holocene

Question 5

What megafauna was present in Europe and northern asia?

Answer 5

Woolly mammoth
Woolly rhinoceros
Cave bear
Giant deer

Question 6

What north american megafauna was present?

Answer 6

Columbian mammoth
Shasta ground sloth
Giant ground sloth
Mastodon
Yesterdays camel
Sabre tooth cat

Question 7

What Australian megafauna was there?

Answer 7

Short-face kangaroo
Marsupial lion
Diprotodon
Giant kangaroo
Giant short faced kangaroo

Question 8

What south American megafauna was there?

Answer 8

Litoptern
Glyptodon
Notoungulate

Question 9

Besides humans what might have been another reason for the death of megafauna in the holocene?

Answer 9

Rapid climate changes linked with Henrich events and D-O events

Question 10

How did Ruddiman define the Anthropocene?

Answer 10

Early anthropogenic warming - suggesting land clearance and flooding for rice farming

Question 11

What did the human transition from hunter gatherer to farming settler cause in the holocene?

Answer 11

5000 years ago artificial wetlands increased wetland and methane production and CO2 from land clearance

Question 12

How did steffen argue the start of the Anthropocene?

Answer 12

Industrial Revolution around 1800 provides a logical start date for the new epoch

Question 13

When was the biggest transformation by humans?

Answer 13

post ww2 in a process called the great acceleration

Question 14

What is the Suess effect?

Answer 14

the isotopic signature of CO2– which records the increasing input of ancient plant material (old ‘dead’ carbon, which lower radiocarbon values)

Question 15

Why is the carbon getting lighter?

Answer 15

humans are burning more plant material with the change from mainly coal to oil and gas as well

Question 16

How is carbon 14 produced in the atmopshere?

Answer 16

cosmic rays collide with atoms in upper atmosphere producing a neutron which collides with nitrogen to produce a proton and C14

Question 17

What do technology do some regard as the start of the Anthropocene?

Answer 17

the nuclear bomb

Question 18

What came into effect in 1962 that affected the levels of radioisotopes in the atmosphere?

Answer 18

the nuclear test ban treaty which meant the soviets did multiple large tests in 1962

Question 19

Where does the C14 from nuclear explosions go?

Answer 19

stored in stalagmites which can act as record of humans in the future

Question 20

Where does the yearly fluctuation in atmospheric CO2 come from?

Answer 20

The growth and die back of vegetation in the northern hemisphere

Question 21

Why is it that global co2 is affected by NH vegetation?

Answer 21

this is where most land mass is along with large deciduous forests which absorb carbon in the summer and then fall as leaves (stored carbon) in autumn

Question 22

What is the rate of change of CO2 ppm?

Answer 22

1.5ppm per year

Question 23

Why is it unlikely volcanoes are the main cause of climate change rather than humans?

Answer 23

Volcanoes 242 million tonnes a year humans 29 billion tonnes

Question 24

What do we know is a link to increasing atmospheric co2 due to humans?

Answer 24

burning fossil fuel (since the industrial revolution)

Question 25

What is the % increase of ghgs since the industrial revolution?

Answer 25

CO2- 40%
N2O- 20%
CH4- 230% (25-100 times more potent)

Question 26

How are ghgs today compared to 800,000yrs ago?

Answer 26

Higher concentrations
Changing at a faster rate

Question 27

What will co2 ppm be in 2100 if we continue as usual?

Answer 27

900

Question 28

How was cherry picking used to put across the zombie climate idea of temp trending down since 1998?

Answer 28

Lord Lawson who picked data from an el Niño and La Nina and said temp had stabilised (ignoring long term change)

Question 29

What is a important example of natural variability in climate change?

Answer 29

El Nino and La Nina which occurs in the south pacific and controls weather patterns and upwelling locations

Question 30

What are the features of general circulation modelling?

Answer 30

1) Never get the exact same result if model run twice
2) Can reproduce current climate well
3) Models improving for past climate reproduction so more confidence for future prediction

Question 31

Why are climate models more reliable then weather forecasts? (wave analogy)

Answer 31

Think of weather as trying to predict the height of the next wave at the beach and the climate as the tide tomorrow

Question 32

What was the first extreme event that really got people to notice climate change?

Answer 32

Hurricane Katrina 2005

Question 33

What is climate change going to do with the number of extreme events?

Answer 33

Make more powerful evens more frequent i.e., 1 in 100 yr now 1 in 10

Question 34

What is the link between high CO2 levels and ice sheets?

Answer 34

Melting

Question 35

How will the rate of melting of ice sheets occur with increased CO2? (rate)

Answer 35

Will start slow with offset from interior growth

Question 36

Is climate change to expensive to deal with? (zombie argument response)

Answer 36

No as we can bail the banks to afford to de-carbonise our infrastructure

Question 37

What are the obstacles to financially sorting climate change?

Answer 37

Energy system heart of economy
Mainstream politics
Neo-liberal economics
No defined enemy
Age of fear and austerity
Goldfish attention span (hard to put complex ideas across)