* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Download climate change - International Presentation Association
Climatic Research Unit documents wikipedia , lookup
Climate governance wikipedia , lookup
Citizens' Climate Lobby wikipedia , lookup
Climate change adaptation wikipedia , lookup
Climate-friendly gardening wikipedia , lookup
Economics of global warming wikipedia , lookup
Climate change denial wikipedia , lookup
Heaven and Earth (book) wikipedia , lookup
General circulation model wikipedia , lookup
Climate sensitivity wikipedia , lookup
Climate engineering wikipedia , lookup
2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference wikipedia , lookup
Climate change in the Arctic wikipedia , lookup
Global warming controversy wikipedia , lookup
Media coverage of global warming wikipedia , lookup
Fred Singer wikipedia , lookup
Climate change and agriculture wikipedia , lookup
Effects of global warming on humans wikipedia , lookup
Effects of global warming on human health wikipedia , lookup
Effects of global warming wikipedia , lookup
Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment wikipedia , lookup
Mitigation of global warming in Australia wikipedia , lookup
Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme wikipedia , lookup
Future sea level wikipedia , lookup
Climate change and poverty wikipedia , lookup
Climate change in the United States wikipedia , lookup
Climate change in Tuvalu wikipedia , lookup
Global warming hiatus wikipedia , lookup
Scientific opinion on climate change wikipedia , lookup
Attribution of recent climate change wikipedia , lookup
Instrumental temperature record wikipedia , lookup
Surveys of scientists' views on climate change wikipedia , lookup
Solar radiation management wikipedia , lookup
Politics of global warming wikipedia , lookup
Global warming wikipedia , lookup
Physical impacts of climate change wikipedia , lookup
Climate change, industry and society wikipedia , lookup
Public opinion on global warming wikipedia , lookup
CLIMATE CHANGE and Our Responsibility To Sustain God’s Earth How this presentation came about … In November 2005 I was given the opportunity to attend a conference in Canberra Climate Change – our responsibility to protect God’s Earth. The conference was organised by Catholic Earthcare Australia, the national ecological agency of the Australian Catholic Bishops mandated to promote the ‘ecological conversion’ called for by Pope John Paul II. It is not possible to recall/record everything that one hears at a conference! The following presentation is my attempt to share with others what I found compelling. It includes updates as I continue to read in this area of Climate Change. Annette Shears pbvm REFLECTION on God’s Earth PSALM 104 adapted Praise the Lord, my soul My God, how great you are You are clothed with majesty and light You have spread out the heavens like a tent You use the clouds as your chariot and ride on the wings of the wind You placed the ocean over the earth like a robe You make springs flow in the valleys And rivers run between the hills They provide water for the wild animals In the trees nearby the birds make their nests and sing From the sky you send rain on the hills and the earth is filled with your blessings You make grass grow for the cattle and plants for us to use So that we can grow our crops and produce wine to make us happy and olive oil to make us cheerful and bread to give us strength You created the moon to mark the months You made the night and the darkness The sun knows the time to set There is the ocean, large and wide, where countless creatures live, large and small alike All of them depend on you to give them food when they need it. Lord, may your glory last forever I will sing to the Lord all my life. As long as I live I will sing praises to my God May God be pleased with my song. Global Warming What are some of the changes/effects that we can see as a result of Global Warming? A report commissioned by the Australian Government points out that some regions are highly vulnerable to climate change: • Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef • The Murray Darling Basin • SW Western Australia Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis Some effects DUE TO RISING TEMPERATURES: • Land ice sheets are melting e.g. Greenland, Polar Ice Caps • Glaciers are shrinking Greenland ice sheets are breaking off faster than previously believed – in the last 10 years, twice as fast. As the ice sheets in the Arctic recede, polar bears have difficulty finding food. • Krill, whale food, is not as plentiful Krill, whale food, is in short supply. Because of the melting of the polar ice caps, the Inuit people, whose whole livelihood depends on the environment and the cycle of change in the Arctic region, are losing their habitat, food source, way of life, culture. Sea levels are rising (Bangladesh marked above) A 1 metre rise in sea level would flood rice fields in Bangladesh, Vietnam, Thailand, India and China, and force many millions from their homes. Loss of land, crops, freshwater supplies in Pacific Island States e.g. Tuvalu, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, the Carterets in PNG, Bangladesh People have had to relocate, leaving whole islands empty and, in the process of relocating, losing their culture. NZ has agreed to accept climate change refugees from Tuvalu. Canada is funding relocation of parts of Vanuatu. Australia has so far refused to accept any residents from Tuvalu who appealed for relocation. Other effects of global warming: Increase in water temperature in areas where hurricanes form is already resulting in more intense and more devastating hurricanes e.g. Hurricane Katerina that devastated New Orleans in 2005. Areas affected by the Tsunami experienced greater damage and loss in places where mangroves had been removed. Monsoons failing – some areas in Thailand can no longer grow rice. The Australian Scene SPECIES EXTINCTION We could be facing 20 to 50% of species becoming extinct over this century. Shearwaters on Heron Island have to fly too far to find food for their young. When the temperature rises, the amount of food the birds bring back goes down. As the heat affects the plankton, the schools of small fish thin out. The tipping point of water temperature is 29o and the margins of survival are only 1 or 2 degrees. Mountain Nursery Frog Mt Lewis, North Queensland (Picture is from clipart – it is not the actual Mountain Nursery Frog) At 1200m, the forest is shrouded in mist. It is moist enough for the frogs to lay eggs on leaves. As the forest warms, the mist goes further up the mountain, so the frog’s habitat gets higher up. Eventually, there will be no part high enough for the frogs to go as the mist will be above the mountain, not over it. Mountain Pygmy Possum Snowy Mountains When the snow falls on the boulders, it creates a blanket like a doona that keeps the hibernating possums warm underneath. (Picture is from clipart, it is not the actual possom) If the snow melts too frequently during the winter, or melts early in the spring, the possums lose their insulating environment. They wake up and use up their own body fat – and then there is no food to find. With 1o rise in annual average temperature, the snowline will creep almost to the top of the mountain. If the Mountain Pygmy Possum loses its environment, it will become extinct. The Earth’s Rainforests The loss of the rainforests has a great effect on Global Warming AND encapsulates many other ecological issues. Effects of Loss of Rainforests Land degradation Increase in CO² and methane (greenhouse gases) Contributes to the breakdown of the ozone shield Changes rainfall patterns Aids the extinction of species Aids the destruction of human beings Loss of biodiversity will mean a radical impoverishment of biological life and a drastic loss of the Earth’s capacity for biological adaptivity. Effects on Health • Increased incidence of infectious diseases and their movement into ‘new’ regions e.g. malaria in some parts of world, tick-born encephalitis in Sweden. • Older persons are susceptible to thermal stress. One effect is increase in deaths due to heat e.g. in Paris in recent years. Prof Tony McMichael What causes Global Warming? What causes global warming? Effects of Solar Radiation Composition of Earth’s Atmosphere The earth’s atmosphere is made up of: Dividing the 1% on the left into 100 parts gives: 78% Nitrogen 21% Oxygen 1% other gases 76% Carbon Dioxide 13% Methane 6% Nitrous Oxide 5% Fluorocarbons and small amounts of ‘rare’ gases Which gases contribute most to Global Warming? Carbon Dioxide Methane Nitrous Oxide Fluorocarbons Major contributors to high levels of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere: Power plants Cars and trucks Major Transportation Factories Home Heating Systems Deforestation Methane Emissions • during production and transport of coal, natural gas and oil • decomposition of organic waste • rice cultivation • raising livestock (in 1 day, a cow can emit 250gm methane – 1.3 billion cattle burp several times/minute) Nitrous Oxide Emitted during • Industrial activities e.g. nitrogen fertilizers • Automobile exhaust • Disposing of human and animal waste in sewage treatment plants Greenhouse gases are not naturally occurring and contribute to Global Warming Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) (used in air conditioners and refrigerators - don’t harm ozone layer BUT trap heat) Perfluorcarbons (PFCs) Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) (generated in a variety of industrial processes) Australians are the highest emitters of greenhouse gases in the world. We are one of the big causes of the problem yet we have been unwilling to accept the consequences of our lifestyle. Climate Change refugees who are suffering as a result of our lifestyle have been refused entry to Australia by our Government. One way our lifestyle worsens the situation: FOOD The average food item travels over 2,000 km to arrive at our table. If we eat 10 or so items a day, in a year’s time our food will have conquered 8 million km by land, sea and air. Adapted from Small Wonder, Barbara Kingsolver Picture a truck loaded with apples and oranges and iceberg lettuce rumbling to the moon and back ten times a year, all just for you. Multiply that by the number of Australians who like to eat – picture that flotilla of 21 million trucks on their way to the moon and ask yourself the question: Isn’t it time we revised that scenario? • The amount of fuel used to transport our food to where we buy it … • The effect of the emissions from this fuel as it burns to propel the vehicle … This is just ONE contributer to global warming! Names of Presenters whose ideas I drew on for this presentation: • Fr Bill Stoeger SJ – cosmologist and astrophysicist from the Vatican Observatory and University of Arizona • Dr Janette Lindsay – senior lecturer in climatology, climate variability and change at Australian National University. She also holds the position of Education Manager for the Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Accounting. • Professor Tony McMichael MBBS (Univ Adelaide), PhD (Monash Univ), FAFPHM, FTSE – biomedical scientist and Director of the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health ANU. Tony has recently coordinated the Assessment of Health Impacts project for the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. • Fr Sean McDonagh SSC – Christian Ecologist, lecturer, author of many books in the area of religion and the environment, missionary priest with the Columban Fathers • Brendan Mackey – has a PhD in plant ecology from the Australian National University. He has worked as a research scientist with the CSIRO and the Canadian Forest Service. • Fr Denis Edwards MA Fordham, STD, CUA – senior lecturer in systematic theology in the School of Theology of Flinders University. He teaches for Catholic Theological College within the ecumenical consortium of the Adelaide College of Divinity. • Fr Michael Mackenzie – a Catholic priest from the Pacific Island nation of Kirabati http://www.catholicearthcareoz.net/conference.html#content Acknowledgements Pictures used are from clipart, with the exception of the following slides: 1,3,6,18 C O’Keeffe pbvm 32-36 c/f ABC TV Catalyst, 25 May 2006, ‘Tipping Point’ 50, 51 adapted from Small Wonder, Barbara Kingsolver, SMALL WONDER New York: HarperCollins Publishers, April 2002, http://www.kingsolver.com/about/about.asp