The Planetary Boundaries Framework (module 2) Flashcards
1
Q
Define the pressures on the Earth system that make up the “Quadruple Squeeze”
A
- Population Growth - 20% of population is responsible for acceleration of environmental pressures, 80% is vulnerable
- Climate Change - 550ppm/450/350, want no more than 350 CO2 in atmosphere
- Ecosystem Decline - 60% loss dilemma
- Surprise - 99% of changes result from 1% of events
2
Q
Explain the concept of the planetary boundaries framework, including thresholds, resilience, and uncertainties
A
- Levels of human disturbance of the Earth System beyond which functioning of the system may be changed
- Resilience - ability of a system to maintain key features and processes in the face of stresses or pressures by resisting and then adapting to change
- If pushed to far away from their regular state, systems may lose their resilience by reaching tipping points (thresholds) beyond which they cannot recover
- Yellow (uncertainty), Green (safe), Red (danger)
3
Q
List the nine planetary boundaries and identify the six boundaries that have been crossed (2022 update)
A
- Climate Change (crossed)
- Freshwater Change (crossed)
- Biosphere Integrity (crossed)
- Land-System Change (crossed)
- Novel Entities (crossed)
- Biogeochemical Flows (crossed)
- Ocean Acidification
- Atmospheric Aerosol Loading
- Stratospheric Ozone Depletion
4
Q
Distinguish between independent and dependent variables
A
Independent - experimenter controls, x-axis
Dependent - changes in response to independent variable, y-axis
5
Q
Justify appropriate types of visualization for specific data sets
A
- Table
- Graphs
- Charts
- Scatter plots
- Line graphs
- Bar graph
- Area Graph
- Pie Chart
- Choropleth map
- Anomaly graph
