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• Know the differences in perspectives between liberals and conservatives.

-Centric Views

• Anthropocentrism: Humans are the central and most important entities. It was significant when science emerged in the 19th century but is now viewed as egotistical.
• Physiocentrism: Nature is at the center
• Theocentrism: Religion is at the center.
• Stewardship combines anthropocentrism and theocentrism.
• Geologic time scale units:
• Ages are in millions of years
• Epochs are tens of millions of years.
• Periods are tens to hundreds of millions of years.
• Eras are hundreds of millions to billions of years.
• Eons are more than half a billion years.
• Keep in mind the order of geological units, forwards and backwards

Earth

• The balance of Earth's energy budget is important; understanding how it is balanced and remains sustainable is crucial.
• Predictions often underestimate real effects since they tend to be more severe.
• As climate warms, the air and water’s capacity to hold water changes as does the water solubility of greenhouse gasses.
• Warmer air retains more moisture, and gases dissolve less as air warms.
• Common scientific method uses a hypothetico-deductive framework.
• Differentiate between a hypothesis and a prediction.
• Scientific modeling is typically done through experiments.
• Agendas indicate the goal in sharing information, including the intended audience and the desired outcome.
• "Nature knows best" means the environment will always reset and knows its intended paths.
• "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch" signifies every action has an intended consequence.
• "Everything must go somewhere" refers to pollution, energy, etc.
• "Everything is connected to everything else" means changes in one area cause changes in other areas.
• Environmental justice affects everyone.
• Factors impacting environmental justice can be wide-ranging.
• Remember the word "generations" and its ties to stewardship and environmental ethics.
• Geological units are measured by key events like eruptions, geological incidents, or extinctions, such as the dinosaur extinction.

Earth's Energy

• Earth's energy balance is the equilibrium between the energy it gains from external sources (sun, chemical energy) and the energy it radiates back into space.
• Insolation is incoming solar radiation, affects include Earth's tilt, rotation, and orbit. It will absorb or reflect based on those things
• Albedo is the reflexivity of Earth’s surfaces.
• High albedo surfaces such as ice, snow, and clouds reflect light.
• Artificial materials such as asphalt absorb heat and cause higher overall temperatures.
• Insulation refers to the heat retention ability of surfaces like the atmosphere, land, and oceans. The thicker the atmosphere, the more heat it retains.
• Increased CO2 and warming correlate directly, creating a loop where more CO2 leads to more warming, which then leads to more CO2.
• Water-holding capacity increases while solubility decreases when climate warms.
• Warmer air holds more moisture and gases dissolve less in warmer air.
• Oceans and lakes release more carbon into the atmosphere as they warm.
• Stabilizing feedback examples include new plant growth, which slows climate warming.
• Destabilizing feedback: Melting ice exposes ocean or land, leading to further heat absorption, and increased melting.
• Rock erosion and weathering are stabilizing feedbacks.
• High specific heat: Water requires large amounts of energy to change temperature, stabilizing Earth's temperature.
• Milankovitch cycles are long-term variations in Earth's orbital parameters.
• Layers heated from below include the troposphere and mesosphere.
• Stability refers to air temperature and altitude.
• Stratosphere and thermosphere are the most stable
• Earth's current energy balance is unstable due to high rates of climate change causing energy to become trapped.
• More energy is absorbed than released currently.

Human Impact

• 3,500 years ago, there were more species than individual humans, numbering around 8 million.
• Humans have plowed, burned, or built on 77% of Earth's ice-free land and 80% of the ocean's continental shelves.
• Humans and domestic animals now account for 96% of all beings on Earth
• Resource extraction, agriculture, and construction cause 10 to 100 times more sediment, rock, and soil movement than natural processes.
• Humans produce 35 billion tons of CO2 annually.
• Habitat loss along with invasive species and direct human disturbances have increased the extinction rate by 1000 times.
• Humans drive 2000 to 10000 species to extinction yearly
• Truth seeking is a uniquely human attribute.
• Empiricism (observing the world) and rationalism (using logic and reason) are tools for discovering truth.
• plants are mainly made of water
• Eliminative induction is a rational method to establish causation.
• Empirical falsifiability distinguishes science from non-science.
• Scientific literature is used to increase the truth of one’s world view.
• Searches and readings can be either defense oriented or for discovery.
• Confusion signifies opportunity.

Articles Types

• Review articles are a good starting point.
• Perspectives, opinions, and commentaries aid identifying research questions.
• Original research helps determine methods.
• Journal quality is indicated by Impact Factor (IF).
• Top tier journals have IFs of 3-15.
• Strong disciplinary journals have IFs of 1-4.
• Niche journals have IFs of 1-4.
• Garbage journals lack IFs.
• Information literacy includes the abilities and attitudes that allow sharing and creation of new knowledge.

Media Literacy

• Misinformation: false or inaccurate information
• Disinformation: intentionally misleading information.
• Fake news: Biased or inaccurately reported information.
• Fake news includes events that didn't happen, misrepresented real events, advertising portrayed as reporting etc.
• Fake news does not include opinion, or false statements during an interview (explicit or implicit bias) .
• Conservatives tend to share more fake news than liberals.
• People over 65 are seven times more likely to share fake news than the youngest group.
• Trust in media has diminished.
• Not all science is equal in quality.
• Conspiracy theory explanations usually involve sinister, politically motivated groups when other explanations are more probable.
• Authority is constructed/contextual, information has value, research is inquiry, scholarship is conversation, and searching is strategic exploration

Considerations

• Check any biases when agreeing with the information (confirmation bias) or when getting positive feedback.
• Bias is the uneven presentation of information; an agenda is the purpose of sharing the information.
• The strength of a conclusion should match the available evidence.
• Weigh the relative risk of false positives and negatives if a proposal has potentially large consequences.
• Certainty increases while the opportunity to influence outcomes decreases over time.
• Tactics to combat mis- and disinformation: Implement media regulation, cultivate media literacy, and restore traditional media.
• Essential considerations for creation include origin, context, agenda, and suitability; for use, process, need, and audience should be considered.
• The average Utahn loses 1.1 to 3.5 years of life expectancy.
• 75% of Utahns lose a year or more of life.
• 23% lose at least 5 years of life.
• Air pollution from steel mills in Utah has increased all-cause hospital emissions (89% increase for children, 47% increase for adults), and tripled respiratory-related admissions.
• Longitudinal, spatial comparison, and exposure studies all indicate the health and economic consequences of pollution.
• Pollution impacts every system in the human body at every stage of development.
• 1 million species are threatened with extinction

Environmental Factors

• Wild animal biomass has decreased by 80% globally.
• Humans drive 2000 to 10000 species each year to extinction
• Habitat loss drives biodiversity, not direct harvesting
• 77% of land and 87% of the ocean are altered leaving little room for populations to survive.
• Agriculture leads to habitat loss and nutrient pollution.
• Livestock husbandry contributes the most to habitat loss.
• Compounded with habitat loss, invasive species often push species over the edge
• in North America, cats and horses are invasive.
• Human changes to cycles: carbon (10%), net primary productivity (50%), water (50%), nitrogen (100%), phosphorus (500%)
• Nutrients are everywhere on earth
• 2/3 of fresh and marine ecosystems now experience eutrophication (massive die offs)
• Eutrophication harms humans and the economy (~3% global GDP)
• Ecosystem services are human benefits form the environment
• Value estimated at ~$145 trillion

Crises causes include...

• Dirty energy, habitat loss, invasive species, overconsumption, ignorance, denial, and despondency.
• Those in poverty bear a 35% higher pollution burden.
• Religious beliefs have shaped environmental regulation.
• Countries with less religious affiliation consume more and emit more greenhouse gases
• Weather describes the temperature and moisture conditions at a moment in space and time.
• Climate describes temperature and moisture conditions averaged over time (usually 30 years or more).

Considerations for Climate

• The Earth has unlikely attributes that allowed the climate to sustain life.
• Earth mean annual temperature= 14C, Venus = 462C, Mars = -63C
• ~1,370 Watts m^-2 in space, ~342 Watts m^-2 in troposphere
• The Earth’s energy at the equator creates a lateral energy imbalance, powering the systems in the ocean and air.
• Pleistocene interglacial patterns correlate with orbital changes
• The current climate is unusually stable, allowing for more human proliferation.
• Milankovitch alignments change earth's energy and climate patterns
• Primary production & respiration move the most carbon, 2. Humans, 3. Rock weathering and carbonate precipitation
• Most primary producers create glucose from light, H2O and carbon dioxide.
• Primary production is done by autotrophs, mainly plants and algae
• Overall carbon balance between release and uptake depends upon the sum of all inputs and release.
• Permafrost collapse increases carbon release.
• Climate change solutions have feedback
• Of methane emissions 15% could be eaten up by deposition and CO2 fertilization

Climate Drivers & Feedbacks

• Uncoupled (exogenous) climate drivers: solar constant, meteors tectonics, and evolutions of life.
• Stabilizing ecosystem feedbacks: blackbody radiation, clouds, rock weathering, carbonate dissolution/precipitation, primary productivity
• Dependent ecosystem feedbacks include net ecosystem carbon balance, biogenic aerosis, and perturbations.
• Destabilizing feedbacks: ice and snow albedo, water-holding capacity of atmosphere, solubility of CO2 in the ocean, decomposition.