Climate Change and Global Warming

Climate Change and Global Warming

• Climate change is significant, long-term changes that occur in the global climate
• The global climate is the interconnected system of the sun, Earth, oceans, weather patterns, ecosystems, and human activities
• The global climate is more than just the average of specific places' climates
• Global climate includes the effects of rising Pacific temperatures which increase typhoons, and melting Antarctic ice which raises the sea level

What is Global Warming?

• Global warming is the gradual increase in the Earth's average atmospheric temperature
• More heat energy from the sun becomes trapped in the atmosphere instead of being radiated back into space
• The Earth’s atmosphere has always trapped the sun’s heat, ensuring temperatures allow life to flourish
• Without this natural greenhouse effect, Earth would be too cold to support life
• Global warming can be thought of as a greenhouse with highly reflective glass installed the wrong way
• Evidence comes from a cooling event 1,500 years ago when volcanic eruptions blocked sunlight causing temperatures to plummet
• Today, the opposite problem is occurring with too much heat being trapped

How Global Warming Drives Climate Change

• Adding heat energy to the global climate system causes changes
• As oceans heat up, more water evaporates into clouds
• The result is more energy-intensive storms such as hurricanes and typhoons
• A warmer atmosphere contributes to melting glaciers, mountain snow packs, the Polar ice cap, and Antarctica causing sea levels to rise
• Temperature changes alter wind patterns, affecting monsoons in Asia and rainfall patterns, and causing drought and unpredictable weather
• Focus has shifted from just global warming to the larger issue of climate change as a result

Causes of Global Warming

• There are three positions on global warming; that global warming is not occurring, that climate change is natural and cyclic, and that global warming occurring is primarily by human activity
• Data shows rising average sea and land temperatures and shrinking ice masses
• Some claim that the observed global warming is natural, referencing data showing equally high temperatures and CO2 levels in the past
• Solar activity is sometimes attributed to recent warming
• Climate scientists generally dispute the data from climate skeptics or suggest that the timing of current warming does not align with previous natural events
• The Sun's energy output varies by only 0.1% over short cycles and is unrelated to global warming
• Global warming and climate change are largely attributed to human activities that increase carbon in the atmosphere and tiny particles in the lower atmosphere
• Primarily from burning of fossil fuels and incomplete burning which trap the sun's energy
• These gases are called greenhouse gases (GHGs)

Black Carbon

• Black carbon refers to tiny particles like soot or smoke
• These particles warm the atmosphere by absorbing heat like a black blanket
• The current warming trend is traced to the end of the 18th or beginning of the 19th century with the common use of coal
• Increased consumption of fossil fuels has accelerated the warming trend
• Utilizing fossil fuels releases carbon that was previously sequestered, which heats the Earth and causes global warming

Important Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)

• CO2 produced any time something is burned
• CO2 is the most common GHG, making up about 55% of long-term GHGs
• The US EPA uses it as a marker due to its ubiquity and has a GWP of 1
• Methane is produced in combustion, anaerobic decomposition, flooded rice paddies, and in pig and cow stomachs
• CH4 breaks down in approximately 10 years, but is a precursor of ozone
• CH4 has a GWP of 28-36
• Nitrous oxide is produced by fertilizer production, industrial processes, and combustion
• Lasts a long time in the atmosphere and its GWP is 265-298
• Fluorinated gases are man-made replacements for ozone-depleting refrigerants
• Fluorinated gases are both very long lasting and extremely warming with GWPs ranging from 1,800 to over 10,000
• Sulphur hexafluoride or SF6 used for specialized medical procedures and in dielectric materials for high voltage applications
• SF6 lasts thousands of years in the upper atmosphere and has a GWP of 22,800

Black Carbon and Global Warming

• Black carbon (BC) consists of tiny carbon particles from incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, biofuels, and biomass
• BC particles are small enough to enter the bloodstream and range from 10 µm to less than 2.5µm
• BC absorbs the sun's heat millions of times more effectively than CO2 while it is suspended in the air
• BC falling on snow, glaciers, or ice caps is damaging due to its contribution to melting because it contributes directly to melting
• BC is considered the second biggest contributor to global warming after CO2

Evidence of Climate Change

• Long-term data relating to atmospheric CO2 levels, global temperature, sea level, the expanse of ice, the fossil record, and species distribution
• The data goes back millions of years and demonstrates a strong correlation between CO2 levels and temperature
• Recent data shows increasing temperature and CO2 levels starting in the early 19th century
• Scientists create models to show how changes caused by heating should work through the global climate system, affecting sea level, intemperate weather, and the movement of fish species
• Predictions are tested to verify underlying theory

Climate Change Impact

• Loading a model with historical data and testing its predictive accuracy
• NASA has done this and found the models work well
• Tracking glacier retreat, summer melting of the Polar Ice Cap, rising sea levels, and ocean temperatures
• Rising ocean temperatures have caused fish species to migrate
• Correlation of changes to rising CO2 levels and temperatures suggests relationship
• NASA provides visual tools for viewing these relational models

Important Climate Change Impacts

• The average sea level around the world rose by about 8 inches (20 cm) in the past 100 years
• Sea levels are expected to continue to rise
• By 2050 many coastal cities may require seawalls and sea levels are expected to rise by 1 to 4 feet (30 to 100 cm)
• Smaller islands, resorts, and coastal cities may potentially be flooded
• A collapse of the Greenland and/or Antarctic ice shelf could raise sea levels by as much as 20 ft (6 m)
• Many of the world's glaciers and the Polar ice cap will disappear along with a greener Greenland showing up
• Snow will become a rare phenomenon at many ski resorts

Torrential Weather

• Rainfall not change, climate change impacts the amount of water in the atmosphere and increase violent downpours instead of steady showers when it does rain.
• Hurricanes and typhoons will increase in power, and flooding will become more common.
• Droughts and prolonged heatwaves will become common despite downpours in some places
• Although the world may seem to be getting warmer, record cold temperatures and terrible winter storms occur because
• The string of record high temperature years and the record number of global droughts are becoming the norm

Changing Ecosystems

• As the world warms, ecosystems will move
• Rising temperatures at the equator have spurred crops such as rice north, and fish species have migrated
• Fishermen need to go further to reach fishing grounds
• Farmers are finding drier conditions difficult for crops due as corn and wheat, and once prime growing zones are now threatened
• Potential of complete ecological change on East Coast will affect forests
• European plants will soon disappear, while some will move thousands of miles

Reduced Food Security

• Impacts of rising temperatures are felt on a global scale, with differences between temperate developed countries and tropical developing ones
• As temperatures shift, crop productivity is changed
• Rising temperatures may reduce corn and wheat productivity in the US Midwest, but may expand production in Canada
• Each 1°C increase in temperature causes a decrease of 10% in rice production
• Thailand, the world's largest exporter of rice, may see a 25% reduction by 2050 with temperatures rising
• Global population models suggest that the developing world will add 3 billion people by 2050
• Developing world food producers must double staple food crop production to maintain current levels of food consumption

Pests and Disease

• Pests, diseases, and disease vectors are improved through rising temperatures
• Malaria becoming endemic again year-round in Southeast Asia from being reduced to a wet season only disease
• Dengue fever, once largely confined to tropical areas, has become endemic to the entire region
• The reproduction rates of microbes and insects increase with rising temperatures, therefore speeding up their resistance to treatments

Solving Climate Change

• International communities manage to make further progress, there is still a long way to go before exhausting its current agenda
• Restriction of carbon emissions is not going to solve climate change

Reducing Atmospheric Carbon

• There is too much carbon in the atmosphere, and various technologies will continue to emit more
• Focus on diminishing the quantity of atmospheric carbon
• Processes that show promise remove carbon from the atmosphere by converting it into an inert form where it can be sequestered permanently
• New techniques are chemically simple, but difficult to scale
• Scientists in Iceland have demonstrated that CO2 pumped underground into porous basalt formations turns to stone
• A new technology passes air across a huge surface of flowing alkali bath to capture CO2 where it can then be converted to pellets
• Scaling production cost-effectively is more of an issue rather than scientific issues

Slowing Climate Change

• Developing countries can avoid the mistakes of the developed world by pursuing smart development
• They can reduce or reverse their unsustainable agricultural practices
• The most primary GHGs are caused by power generation (25%), industry (21%), transportation (14%), and buildings (6%)
• Build entirely new, distributed generation power systems by using non-polluting technologies
• Building greenfield industrial economies and constructing with non-polluting technologies
• New buildings should adopt efficiency into individual structures and design urban areas for high density, high energy efficiency living

Reducing the Impact on Climate Change

• Improve agriculture, responsible for 1/3 of total GHGs and black carbon emissions
• Asia and Africa account for 59% of this total because of contributions dropping as a result of reduced biomass burning
• Europe contributes 12% and Asia 44% as of present day
• Rice production in the developing world should adopt SRL techniques which grow 90% of rice in the world
• Developing countries must control open field burning of agricultural wastes to reduce GHG an black carbon emissions
• Develop aggressive national programs that promote biochar to eliminate particular and GHG emissions from field wastes
• Biochar will sequester millions of tons of CO2 annually while absorbing fertilizer emissions if added to soil

Policies in Adopting Climate Policies

• The issues are political, rather than scientific, technical, or cost considerations
• There is no domestic swell of support for environmental initiatives within developing countries
• Rulers are allowed to prioritize short-term concerns rather than abstract environmental programs with long-term pay-offs
• Governments seize the option of incentives to encourage car ownership with reliance mostly on custom duties and sales taxes
• Elites in uncertain offices take quick, tempting deals with utilities or mining companies, regardless of the climate consequences