Unit 2 - Changing Climate and Our Changing World Flashcards
Question: What are the 7 effects of climate change?
Answer: The 7 effects of climate change are (1) higher temperatures, (2) increased frequency and severity of extreme weather events, (3) biodiversity loss, (4) rising sea levels, (5) melting sea ice, (6) retreating glaciers, and (7) melting ice sheets.
Question: What is the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and what does it do?
Answer:
* The IPCC is an international body that provides regular assessments of the scientific basis of climate change. It consists of 195 member countries, with thousands of scientists and experts contributing to the reports.
* The research and conclusions of the IPCC are used to develop evidence-based climate policies and underpin international climate negotiations.
Question: What is climate change?
Answer: Climate change is a change in the state of the climate that can be identified by changes in mean and variable properties of weather and climate for an extended period, typically decades or longer. It refers to the long-term shifts and alterations in global or regional climate patterns.
Question: What are the five components of the climate system that work together to support and regulate the Earth’s climate?
Answer: The climate system is influenced by five interacting components: (1) the atmosphere (gases), (2) the ocean (fresh and saline water), (3) the cryosphere (snow and ice), (4) the biosphere (where terrestrial and marine life exist), and (5) the lithosphere (land surface).
Question: What is the greenhouse effect?
Answer: The greenhouse effect refers to the process in which certain gases in the Earth’s atmosphere (known as greenhouse gases) trap heat and prevent it from escaping into space. This process helps to regulate the Earth’s temperature and make it habitable for life.
Question: Name the three naturally occurring greenhouse gases, their lifetimes, and their potency in terms of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2eq).
Answer:
The three naturally occurring greenhouse gases are:
* CO2: about 200 years // reference potency of 1 over 100 years
* Methane (CH4): 12 years // 25-30 times CO2 over 100 years
* Nitrous oxide (N2O): around 120 years // 300 times CO2 over 100 years
Question: What is the most commonly used measure of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions?
Answer: The most commonly used measure of greenhouse gas emissions is “carbon dioxide equivalent” (CO2e). It is a metric that converts the warming potential of different greenhouse gases into the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide that would have the same warming effect.
Question: Name and describe the three main sources of emissions according to the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol?
- Scope 1 emissions: direct emissions from owned or controlled sources, i.e. emissions from gas boilers in buildings or fuel combustion in vehicles.
- Scope 2 emissions: indirect emissions from purchased electricity and power, i.e. heating and cooling.
- Scope 3 emissions: other indirect emissions from not owned or controlled assets, also known as value chain emissions. i.e. transportation of products, product usage by consumers, waste disposal, and investment portfolios.
Question: What did the IPCC 2018 Special Report conclude?
Answer: The IPCC 2018 Special Report concluded that in order to limit global warming to 1.5°C, CO2 emissions would need to be reduced by 45% from 2010 levels by 2030. It also highlighted that emissions fell by approximately 7% in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but similar reductions would need to continue annually to keep warming below 1.5°C.
Question: What did the IPCC Climate Change 2021 report state about greenhouse gas concentrations?
Answer: The IPCC Climate Change 2021 report stated that increases in greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere since pre-industrial times are unequivocally caused by human activities. It also highlighted that CO2 concentrations are higher at present than at any time in at least 2 million years, while CH4 and N2O concentrations are higher than at any time in the last 800,000 years.
Question: What do Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) describe?
Answer: Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) describe future climate scenarios based on different levels of greenhouse gas emissions and concentrations. They provide projections for average global surface temperatures, sea levels, and other climate factors.
Question: Which emissions scenarios seem the most probable today and why?
Answer: The “medium emissions scenarios” (RCP 4.6 and RCP 6), which peak at 2040 and 2080, respectively, are considered the most probable today because we have passed the thresholds for “low emissions scenarios” (e.g. 2.6).
Question: What are Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs)?
Answer: Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) are scenarios that include factors such as economic growth, population, and technological development. They are used to develop different emissions scenarios based on various speeds and scales of climate policy action, representing anthropogenic factors that impact climate change.
Question: What percentage of greenhouse gas emissions are produced by the wealthiest 10% and poorest half of the global population?
Answer: The wealthiest 10% of the global population are responsible for 52% of greenhouse gas emissions, while the poorest half of the global population is responsible for only 7% of emissions
(ref Oxfam’s Confronting Carbon Inequality Report (2020)).
Question: What are the 7 impacts of climate change on human systems, according to the IPCC’s 2018 Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5C?
Answer: The impacts of climate change on human systems, as identified by the IPCC’s 2018 Special Report, include (1) agriculture, (2) aquaculture, (3) access to water, (4) displacement and migration, (5) health, (6) property and infrastructure, and (7) security.
