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30 April 2017 7:58 PM
Gallery: Transforming Resources
Module H. Impacts – climate change
Pod H1. Introduction to climate change.
Module Big Idea: The way that we exploit natural resources to meet our needs and wants
impacts our climate.
Module Core messages:
1) Human activity contributes to climate change.
2) Impacts of climate change can be seen, heard and experienced today.
3) Scientists use climate proxies to learn about climate change.
Accessibility considerations.
Physical Accessibility - Assure appropriate reach range and clear knee space. Assure 70%
contrast.
Sensory Accessibility - Provide port for alternative input/output device.
Intellectual Accessibility - Choose easily understandable icons and minimal, simple text. Text
shall be written for language skill of about Grade 6 level reading comprehension. Use short
sentences and avoid words that represent complex concepts.
Programming and Outreach opportunities.
This experience could exist as an online portal, with nation-wide and in museum results being
combined.
Visitor experience:
H1 Introduction to climate change. Located outside of the immersive glacier,
this pod provides visitors with basic information that they need to understand climate change.
H1 L1 Module Title: Climate Change
H1 L1 Module Intro text
 Message: The way that we exploit natural resources to meet our needs and wants
impacts our climate.
Key quote (as wall writing): “Carbon dioxide is the most important anthropogenic
greenhouse gas. […] The primary source of the increased atmospheric concentration of
carbon dioxide since the pre-industrial period results from fossil fuel use.”
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
H1-1 Climate change basics
H1-1 L2 title: What is climate change?
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H1-1 L2 text (This is an exhibition team/corporation statement)- : We are using ‘climate
change’ to specifically refer to anthropogenic climate change which is attributed to human
activity - which is in addition to natural climate variability.
H1-1 L3 title (under the above statement): Anthropogenic climate change
H1-1 L3 text: The main cause of global warming since the industrial revolution is human activity.
H1-1 graph:
H1-1 graph caption: For the past 100,000 years, the Earth’s temperatures have naturally
increased at a rate of 0.05 degrees Celsius per 100 years. Due to human induced climate change,
temperatures observed over the past 50 years have already increased 0.7 degrees Celsius.
(That’s at a rate of 1.4 degrees per 100 years!)
Anthropogenic causes of climate changei:
- Greenhouse gases including:
o Carbon dioxide (CO2) – 90% of emissions
o Methane
o SF6
o Nitrous oxide
- Conversion of land for forestry and agriculture
(Beside Anthropogenic climate change under statement above)
H1-1 L3 title: Natural changes
H1-1 L3 text: The Earth's climate has changed throughout its history long before human activity
could have played a role. For example, the planet has swung between cold glacial periods or "ice
ages", and warm interglacial periods over the last few million years.
Natural causes for change:
- Output of the Sun
- Changes in volcanic activity
- Alterations of solar radiation reaching the Earth due to changes in the Earth’s orbit
- Oceans phases
- Naturally emitted greenhouse gases (e.g. water vapour)
H1-1-2 title: Why do greenhouse gases cause the Earth to warm? (combination of the two
graphics below) (50 words label, title, caption)
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H1-1-2 Graphic:
H1-1-2 Graphic caption: See text in graphic below.
http://thehigherlearning.com/2014/10/13/nasa-confirms-that-huge-methane-cloud-in-u-ssouthwest-is-real-deal/
http://climate.nasa.gov/system/content_pages/main_images/1_normPage-3.jpg
L3 title: Climate change and global warming – what’s the difference?
L3 text: Both terms refer to anthropogenic warming of the planet, but climate change is more
than just temperature.
Global warming is the long-term trend of rising average global temperature. Climate change
includes all of the changes in the global climate such as changes in precipitation, wind, snowfall
etc., which are a result of the increasing global temperature.
H1-1-2 Graphic2
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H1-1-2 Graphic2 title: How much is the temperature increasing?
H1-1-2 Graphic caption: Based on evidence collected since 1880, climate researchers have
shown that the Earth’s average temperature has increased. Two-thirds of the warming has
occurred since 1975, at a rate of roughly 0.15-0.20 degrees Celsius per decade.
H1-1-3 L2 title: Why is there an increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere? (50 words)
H1-1-3 L2 text: Greenhouse gases – especially CO2 - are the main contributors to global
warming. We all make choices which add carbon to the atmosphere, or slows its removal. In
addition to our personal transportation and food choices, industries which transform natural
resources to produce the goods and services we need and want also impact CO2 levels.
H1-1-3 L3 text: Individual contributions to CO2 levels (on left under L2 text) (30 words- could be
done with little graphics (little car, steak, etc)
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Transportation choices – burning of fossil fuels.
Food choices – producing meat increases CO2 emissions.
Heating / cooling house – burning fossil fuels and produce electricity to heat \cool
Our high demand for of appliances, electronics and lighting – use of natural resources,
and energy to manufacture increases CO2 emissions
High turn-over of goods.
H1-1-3 L3 text: What industries contribute CO2 emissions? (on right under L2 text)
H1-1-3 Graph title: CO2 emissions by industry sector (Can we can relabel show the % (not the
absolute Mt of CO2), and can we change the labels to be more intuitive – or have information in
caption). See backgrounder for more information. (40 words labels + caption)
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H1-2 Graph caption: Industrial CO2 emissions. Each economic sector includes emissions from
energy-related and non-energy related processes.
Source: Environment Canada
H1-1-4 Graphic or 3D bathtub - Earth’s carbon balance (bathtub or other): natural and
anthropogenic. How is carbon imbalance warming the planet? Perhaps we need to reinforce this
point (https://climateinteractive.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/ngbathtub.jpg) 100 words total
including labels and caption.
H1-1-4: The Earth is naturally able to uptake carbon from the atmosphere. Carbon is required
for life, and the carbon cycle provides a balance on Earth. When the amount of carbon entering
the atmosphere exceeds the amount being removed, we have a carbon imbalance, which is
contributing to the warming of the planet.
Content for graphic: Input (faucet)
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-
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Combustion of fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas)
o Electricity
o Transportation
o Industry
Land use changes
o Deforestation
o Agricultural Soils
o Livestock
Industrial processes
o Production of mineral products such as cement
o Production of metals such as iron and steel
o Production and use of chemicals and petrochemicals
Output (drain)
- Trees/Plants
- Oceans
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Remains in atmosphere (time)
Rocks (< 1%)
H1-2. History of climate change. (We are suggesting this as a combination of a
timeline, with graphs on same time scale. Perhaps this would be a counter panel which runs
along the bottom of the text of H1, H3, potentially culminating in a large thermometer?).
H1-2 L2 title: Climate change from 1775 to today.
H1-2 Graph #1: Human population (indirect contributor to climate change)
See graph at bottom of world population counter:
http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/
(Significant milestones - potentially highlighted on graph):
1800 – World population reaches one billion.
1930 – Human population reaches two billion.
1960 – Human population reaches three billion.
1975 – Human population reaches four billion.
1987 – Human population reaches five billion.
1999 – Human population reaches six billion.
2011 – Human population reaches seven billion.
H1-2 Graph #2: Atmospheric CO2 emissions
https://www.bas.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/002.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keeling_Curve#/media/File:Mauna_Loa_CO2_monthly_mean_co
ncentration.svg (from 1958 only)
(Significant milestones potentially highlighted on graph):
1927 – Carbon emissions from fossil fuel burning and industry reach 1 billion tonnes per year.
1989 – Carbon emissions from fossil fuel burning and industry reach 6 billion tonnes per year.
2006 – Carbon emissions from fossil fuel burning and industry reach 8 billion tonnes per year.
H1-2 Graph #3: Global temperature
http://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/global-temperature/
(Potential Significant milestones to indicate on graph):
1990 – Warmest year on record due to strong El Nino and global warming. (To soon be beaten)
2015 – Mean global temperature is 14.7C, the warmest in thousands of years. Level of CO2 in
the atmosphere reaches 400 ppm, the highest in millions of years. (NASA and NOAA)
2000-2016 – 15 of the first 16 years of this millennia have been the warmest on record.
H1-2 TIMELINE CONTENT (to be depicted as a fourth line, running parallel to the three graphs
above) (10 words per date)
Late 1700s to first half of 1800s – The industrial revolution: the mechanization of production,
high increase in use of coal (railways, factories and heating), iron and chemicals.
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1824 – Physicist Joseph Fourier describes the Earth’s natural “greenhouse effect”.
1861 – Physicist John Tyndall shows that water vapour and certain gases create the greenhouse
effect.
1886 – Karl Benz unveils the Motorwagen, regarded as the first internal combustion automobile.
1896 – Chemist Svante Arrhenius uses the concept of “man-made greenhouse” while concluding
that industrial-age coal burning will enhance the natural greenhouse effect.
1908 – Henry Ford develops the first automobile that can be mass manufactured and used by
many middle class citizens.
1938 – Using records from 147 weather stations around the world, British engineer Guy
Callendar shows that temperatures had risen over the previous century. He also highlights that
CO2 concentrations had increased over that same period, suggesting that this caused the
warming.
1957 – Roger Revelle and chemist Hans Suess demonstrate that seawater is not able to absorb
all of the additional CO2 entering the atmosphere. “Human beings are now carrying out a large
scale geophysical experiment…”
1958 – Charles David Keeling designs systematic measurements of atmospheric CO2 at Mauna
Loa in Hawaii and in Antarctica. Within four years, the project – which continues today –
provides the first unequivocal proof that CO2 concentrations are rising.
1965 – A US President’s Advisory Committee panel warns that the greenhouse effect is a matter
of “real concern”.
1972 – First UN environment conference. Climate change is hardly mentioned.
1975 – US scientist Wallace Broecker puts the term “global warming” into public domain in the
title of a scientific paper.
1987 – Montreal Protocol signed. This protocol international treaty restricted the use of
chemicals that damage the ozone layer. Although not the goal at the time, looking back, this
treaty has had a major impact on greenhouse gas emissions, exceeding even the impacts of the
later Kyoto Protocol.
1990 – IPCC produces First Assessment Report. Conclusions: temperatures have risen by 0.30.6C over the last century; humanity’s emissions are adding to the atmosphere’s natural
complement of greenhouse gases which is expected to result in warming.
1992 –Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Governments agree to the United Framework Convention
on Climate Change whose key objective is to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the
atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the
climate system. Developed countries agree to return their emissions to 1990 standards.
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1995 – The first definitive statement that humans are responsible for climate change. The IPCC
Second Assessment Report concludes that the balance of evidence suggests “a discernible
human influence” on the Earth’s climate.
1997 – Kyoto Protocol signed. Developed nations pledge to reduce emissions by an average of
5% by the period 2008-12, with wide variations on targets for individual countries. US Senate
immediately declares it will not ratify the treaty.
2003 – Numerous observations raise concern that collapse of ice sheets (West Antarctica,
Greenland) can raise sea levels faster than most had believed.
2006 – The Stern Review concludes that climate change could cause severe economic damage –
reducing gross domestic product (GDP) by up to 20% if left unchecked – but curbing it would
cost about 1% of global GDP.
2007 – The IPCC and former US vice-president Al Gore receive the Nobel Peace Prize for
spreading knowledge about climate change and for laying the foundations for the measures that
are needed to counteract such change.
2011 – Canada withdraws from Kyoto Protocol
2013 – The first part of the IPCC’s fifth assessment report summarizes that humans are the
dominant cause of global warming since the 1950s.
2015 – COP21 in Paris where 195 countries agreed to keep global warming to well below 2
degrees C.
2016 – COP22 in Marrakesh
i
World Meteorological Organization, “Causes of Climate Change”, wmo.int.
https://www.wmo.int/pages/themes/climate/causes_of_climate_change.php
IPCC Timeline
https://www.ipcc.ch/news_and_events/docs/factsheets/FS_timeline.pdf