While not a scientifically controversial issue, climate change caused primarily
ID: 113573 • Letter: W
Question
While not a scientifically controversial issue, climate change caused primarily by human activities is a politically controversial issue. In this course you are learning the science behind climate change. With this knowledge you can help others understand the causes, symptoms, and impacts of climate change. With this knowledge, current and future generations can come up with solutions to mitigate and adapt to a changing climate.Please discuss the following questions:
(1) How does the greenhouse effect play a role in determining the climate on Earth?
(2) What human activities are impacting the carbon cycle?
(3) How does having an overloaded carbon cycle impact the greenhouse effect?
(4) Before taking this class, did you understand or "believe" that human-induced climate change is occurring? Explain why or why not. Have you ever had a conversation with another about climate change?
(5) How would you engage in a discussion with a climate change skeptic? Would you explain the science behind climate change? What evidence would you present?
(6) Explain at least 3 impacts of climate change that should be a concern for any individual and future generations.
(7) Discuss at least two things that humans can do to mitigate or adapt to a changing climate.
(8) Why should businesses, politicians, or government officials have a vested interest in working to lower carbon emissions to lessen the severity of the impacts of a changing climate?
While not a scientifically controversial issue, climate change caused primarily by human activities is a politically controversial issue. In this course you are learning the science behind climate change. With this knowledge you can help others understand the causes, symptoms, and impacts of climate change. With this knowledge, current and future generations can come up with solutions to mitigate and adapt to a changing climate.
Please discuss the following questions:
(1) How does the greenhouse effect play a role in determining the climate on Earth?
(2) What human activities are impacting the carbon cycle?
(3) How does having an overloaded carbon cycle impact the greenhouse effect?
(4) Before taking this class, did you understand or "believe" that human-induced climate change is occurring? Explain why or why not. Have you ever had a conversation with another about climate change?
(5) How would you engage in a discussion with a climate change skeptic? Would you explain the science behind climate change? What evidence would you present?
(6) Explain at least 3 impacts of climate change that should be a concern for any individual and future generations.
(7) Discuss at least two things that humans can do to mitigate or adapt to a changing climate.
(8) Why should businesses, politicians, or government officials have a vested interest in working to lower carbon emissions to lessen the severity of the impacts of a changing climate?
While not a scientifically controversial issue, climate change caused primarily by human activities is a politically controversial issue. In this course you are learning the science behind climate change. With this knowledge you can help others understand the causes, symptoms, and impacts of climate change. With this knowledge, current and future generations can come up with solutions to mitigate and adapt to a changing climate.
Please discuss the following questions:
(1) How does the greenhouse effect play a role in determining the climate on Earth?
(2) What human activities are impacting the carbon cycle?
(3) How does having an overloaded carbon cycle impact the greenhouse effect?
(4) Before taking this class, did you understand or "believe" that human-induced climate change is occurring? Explain why or why not. Have you ever had a conversation with another about climate change?
(5) How would you engage in a discussion with a climate change skeptic? Would you explain the science behind climate change? What evidence would you present?
(6) Explain at least 3 impacts of climate change that should be a concern for any individual and future generations.
(7) Discuss at least two things that humans can do to mitigate or adapt to a changing climate.
(8) Why should businesses, politicians, or government officials have a vested interest in working to lower carbon emissions to lessen the severity of the impacts of a changing climate?
Explanation / Answer
1)The greenhouse effect happens when certain gases—known as greenhouse gases—collect in Earth’s atmosphere. These gases include carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, nitrous oxide (N2O), fluorinated gases, and ozone.
Greenhouse gases let the sun’s light shine onto the Earth’s surface, but they trap the heat that reflects back up into the atmosphere. In this way, they act like the glass walls of a greenhouse. This greenhouse effect keeps the Earth warm enough to sustain life. Scientists say that without the greenhouse effect, the average temperature of the Earth would drop from 14C (57F) to as low as –18C (–0.4F).
Some greenhouse gases come from natural sources. Evaporation adds water vapor to the atmosphere. Animals and plants release carbon dioxide when they respire or breathe. Methane is released naturally from some low-oxygen environments, such as swamps. Nitrous oxide is produced by certain processes in soil and water. Volcanoes—both on land and under the ocean—release greenhouse gases, so periods of high volcanic activity tend to be warmer.
Even slight increases in average global temperatures can have huge effects. Perhaps the biggest, most obvious effect is that glaciers and ice caps melt faster than usual. The meltwater drains into the oceans, causing sea levels to rise.Glaciers and ice caps cover about 10 percent of the world’s landmasses. They hold about 75 percent of the world’s freshwater. If all of this ice melted, sea levels would rise by about 70 meters (230 feet). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change states that the global sea level rose about 1.8 millimeters per year from 1961 to 1993, and 3.1 millimeters per year since 1993.
Rising sea levels could flood coastal cities, displacing millions of people in low-lying areas such as Bangladesh, the U.S. state of Florida, and the Netherlands. Millions of more people in countries like Bolivia, Peru, and India depend on glacial meltwater for drinking, irrigation, and hydroelectric power. Rapid loss of these glaciers would devastate those countries.Greenhouse gas emissions affect more than just temperature. Another effect involves changes in precipitation, such as rain and snow. Over the course of the 20th century, precipitation increased in eastern parts of North and South America, northern Europe, and northern and central Asia. However, it has decreased in parts of Africa, the Mediterranean, and southern Asia.
2)The carbon cycle involves the movement of carbon between the atmosphere, biosphere, oceans, and geosphere. Since the Industrial Revolution approximately 150 years ago, human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation have begun to have an effect on the carbon cycle and the rise of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
BURNING OF FOSSIL FUELS
When oil or coal is burned, carbon is released into the atmosphere at a faster rate than it is removed. As a result, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases. Natural gas, oil and coal are fossil fuels that are commonly burned to generate electricity in power plants, for transportation, in homes and in other industrial complexes. The primary industrial activities that emit carbon dioxide and affect the carbon cycle are petroleum refining, paper, food and mineral production, mining and the production of chemicals.
CARBON SEQUESTRATION
When plants remove carbon dioxide from the air and store it, the process is called carbon sequestration. Agricultural and forestry methods can affect how much carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere and stored by the plants. These sinks of carbon dioxide can be farms, grasslands or forests. Human activity in managing farmland or forests affects the amount of carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere by plants and trees. These sinks of carbon dioxide affect the carbon cycle by decreasing the amount of carbon dioxide in the air.
DEFORESTATION
Deforestation is the permanent removal of trees from forests. Permanent removal of the trees means new trees will not be replanted. This large-scale removal of trees from forests by people results in increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere because trees are no longer absorbing carbon dioxide for photosynthesis. As a result, the carbon cycle is affected. According to National Geographic, agriculture is the primary cause of deforestation. Farmers remove trees on a large-scale basis to increase acreage for crops and livestock.
GEOLOGIC SEQUESTRATION
Human activity can affect the carbon cycle by capturing carbon dioxide and storing it underground rather than permitting it to be released into the atmosphere. This process is called geologic sequestration. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, geologic sequestration could retain large quantities of carbon dioxide for extended periods of time and consequently reduce the concentrations of carbon dioxide above-ground.
3)
Increased temperatures affect the carbon cycle by lowering the amount of CO2 absorbed by oceans, melting permafrost which exposes the land underneath which then releases CO2 and CH4, and other
The carbon cycle describes how carbon moves and is transformed in the world. Global warming refers to increasing average global temperatures due to increases in greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide or CO2, in the atmosphere. Another important GHG is methane, CH4, is also increasing in the atmosphere.Thus, the carbon cycle and global warming are intricately connected, as increasing carbon in the atmosphere means there is less carbon elsewhere in the cycle.
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