Global Warming & Your Carbon Footprint
(Test your knowledge)
The United Nations' Nobel Prize winning International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC: http://www.ipcc.ch/) of more than 1,000 scientists have concluded that “Human influence on the climate system is clear, and recent anthropogenic (man made) emissions of greenhouse gases are the highest in history, The atmospheric concentration of key greenhouse gases — carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide — is unprecedented in at least the last 800,000 years, and our fossil-fuel driven economies and (mankind’s) ever-increasing population are to blame."
Carbon:
Episode 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypbb9Zi5Tao&list=PLE7B4FAD08F1EBCE2
Episode 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOJ3MUpDrfI&index=2&list=PLE7B4FAD08F1EBCE2
Episode 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UigjFAI2uWM
Episode 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvphJO8VKlc&index=4&list=PLE7B4FAD08F1EBCE2
Episode 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0D5YHVMk8A&index=5&list=PLE7B4FAD08F1EBCE2
The major part of the root causes of global warming and climate change is attributable to carbon, human behavior, and the historically rapid increase in greenhouse gases particularly carbon dioxide (CO2). How do you personally relate to and contribute to putting carbon into our environment? Using The Nature Conservancy's carbon footprint calculator, you can assess your impact on global warming and our climate. The carbon calculator estimates how many equivalent tons of carbon dioxide our personal behavior and life choices contribute each year. Learning of your personal carbon footprint, you can consider how to improve it. If improvements are not made, life on earth faces potentially catastrophic environmental consequences.
20 common questions and references with information relating to the science of global warming & climate change are provided as a guide to answer the questions.
References include U.S. and Australian governmental sites, IPCC & Woods Hole Marine Biological Research Powerpoint presentations, a Carbon Calculator, and recent articles from the New York Times newspaper, The Economist news magazine, and Science, the journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
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Common Questions:
PART I:
1. What is the greenhouse effect?
2. What are the 4 most important greenhouse gases?
3. How can relatively small concentrations of greenhouse gases have such a large impact on global surface temperatures?
4. Not all greenhouse gases contain a carbon atom. Why has carbon been focused on as the leading global warming concern?
5. How much CO2 is presently in the atmosphere?
6. How do we know CO2 in the atmosphere is increasing?
7. How has the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere changed over time in the last 200 years?....... over the past hundreds of thousands of years?
8. How do we know that humans are responsible for the sudden increase in CO2?
9. What is the carbon cycle?
10. Why is burning fossil fuels the main focus of global climate concerns?
11. What are the possible alternative energy resources that can replace fossil fuels, and why is solar energy perhaps the most important among them?
12. How does CO2 relate to: 1) the increase in ocean acidity, 2) to acid-base equilibrium, and 3) to what would happen if the buffering effects in the oceans were to stop?
13. What are the overall concerns if the carbon cycle’s CO2 equilibrium level is not re-set to a lower concentration level?
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References: Journals, Magazines, Newspapers, Presentations
Basics of the Carbon Cycle & the Greenhouse Effect - National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA): Global Greenhouse Gas Reference
URL: http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/basics.html
History of atmospheric carbon dioxide from 800,000 years ago until January, 2014. - National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA): Global Greenhouse Gas Reference
URL: http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/history.html
Meeting the Climate-Change Challenge: Powerpoint Presentation - SES Distinguished Scientist Seminar Marine Biological Laboratory Woods Hole
URL: http://chemconnections.org/Global%20...g-06.ed-JPL.pdf
Mitigation of Climate Change: IPCC Powerpoint Presentation - Mitigating Global Warming
URL: http://chemconnections.org/Global%20...esentation.pdf
Why scientists are (almost) certain that climate change is man-made - The Economist, Nov 2nd, 2014
URL: http://chemconnections.org/Global%20...0Economist.pdf
The science of climate change - The Economist, Nov 28th, 2015
URL: http://chemconnections.org/Global%20...0Economist.pdf
Three possible future paths for annual global greenhouse gas - Science Magazine: Nov. 2016
URL: http://chemconnections.org/Global%20....2016.full.pdf
Short Answers to Hard Questions About Climate Change - New York Times, 2016
URL: http://chemconnections.org/Global%20...rk%20Times.pdf
A heated mirror for future climate - Science Magazine: April 2016
URL: http://chemconnections.org/Global%20....2016.full.pdf
Scientists Warn of Perilous Climate Shift Within Decades, Not Centuries - New York Times, March 22, 2016
URL: http://chemconnections.org/Global%20...rk%20Times.pdf
Failure to address global warming will cost many lives - The Economist, Dec 10th, 2015
URL: http://chemconnections.org/Global%20...0Economist.pdf
Oceans and climate science - The rise in sea levels may be accelerating - The Economist, Jan 17th, 2015
URL: http://chemconnections.org/Global%20...0Economist.pdf
Rising Sea Levels May Disrupt Lives of Millions - New York Times, March 14, 2016
URL: http://chemconnections.org/Global%20Warming/Rising%20Sea%20Levels%20May%20Disrupt%20Lives%20of%20Millions%2C%20Study%20Says%20-%20The%20New%20York%20Times.pdf
Climate Change is Weaponizing the Atmosphere - Bloomberg News, July 29, 2016
URL: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articl...-for-your-town
How our food is produced. (Video) - Factory Farming Awareness Coalition, Feb 24, 2018
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKlEjYZNF8M
High Tech Vertical Farm. (Video) Bloomberg News
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGcYApKfHuY
PART II (Carbon Footprint):
C.) Determine your respective personal and/or household carbon levels:
Nature Conservancy Carbon Footprint Calculator
https://www.nature.org/en-us/get-involved/how-to-help/carbon-footprint-calculator/
14. What is the carbon footprint in tons of CO2 per year for an average household in the U.S.?
15. What is your personal and/or household carbon footprint in tons of CO2 per year?
Taking action to improve your carbon footprint:
What can you do to improve your carbon footprint in relation to
16. Travel?
17. Housing?
18. Food & Diet?
19. Shopping for Goods & Services?20. What can you do to bring attention to and improve the awareness of carbon & global warming locally?, … in your home?, ...on your campus?, in your community?
Consider:
What might be the long term impact on the environment of any constructive change in your carbon footprint (over the next 50 years)? ....if your family & friends were to follow you? .....if an entire population of students, staff, & faculty of any school were to implement them? ....if an entire town or city teamed together? ....if an entire state were to follow? .....if the entire U.S. ( >300 million people) followed? .....if the world ( >7 billion people) all joined in?