Download Climate Change Presentation Climate Change - Honors

Carbon Cycle,
Climate Change, and Sustainability
Review
• Review HW
– Compare answers with your neighbor, be ready to
share (both assignments)
– Leave homework assignment out for stamping
Sustainability: locally and globally
• Locally: using Puget Sound ecosystem services
sustainably has many challenging constraints
• Globally: using fossil fuels (ecosystem service) has
produced unintended consequences (climate change);
– Using fuels more sustainability also has many
challenging constraints!
Review HW
• Please update your answers to last night’s HW.
– Listen to other students
– Record additional info from the screen!
2. “Climate” refers to the average weather conditions in a certain place
over time (e.g. decades, centuries). What evidence is there that climate is
changing dramatically?
1. Glaciers melting, polar ice caps melting, rate of melting is speeding
up.
2. Temperatures risen during the last 30 years; last 10+ years hottest
on record.
3. Droughts longer and more extreme worldwide
2015 winter’s snowpack  record/near-record lows in CA, OR, WA
4. Stronger hurricanes and other tropical storms.
5. Ocean surface temperatures increasing.
.13 degrees F per decade
6. Avg. sea level around the world rising
1 foot/century, but increasing.
Hurricanes in the northern half of the Atlantic Ocean have become stronger over the
last few decades. This graph shows the Power Dissipation Index, which measures total
hurricane power each year based on the number of hurricanes and their wind speed.
The graph also shows how hurricane strength is related to water
temperature. Source: EPA's Climate Change Indicators (2010).
US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency
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3. What is the “Greenhouse Effect” and how are fossil fuels
related to it?
Burning fossil fuels adds carbon dioxide (CO2) to atmosphere.
CO2 acts like a blanket, trapping heat in atmosphere, causing climate
to change.
Others gases (CH4, N2O) function like CO2
Note: the “ozone hole” has nothing to do with climate change/CO2
4. What EVIDENCE is there for scientists to conclude that burning of
fossil fuels are contributing to climate change? How do we KNOW this?
• Increases of CO2 in atmosphere correspond closely with increases in
CO2 emissions from burning of fossil fuels.
• Measure this in air bubbles trapped in ice cores from Antarctica
– 800,000 years of data!
Evidence?
• No evidence that anything else (e.g. sunspots, earth’s orbit,
volcanic activity) are causes.
• Note: there is no doubt in the scientific community: increased
CO2 levels (and other greenhouse gases like methane) are
responsible for and will continue to cause an increase in Earth’s
temperatures.
– Any politician/leader that suggests this issue is not true (or a
“hoax”) is either lying to you or is completely misinformed.
– Only uncertainty is how serious this will be (model
predictions vary) – and what, if anything we should do about
it.
5. What are the likely effects of climate change on people and the
environment? Give at least 5 different examples.
• Increased acidity of oceans harms all pH-sensitive organisms (most of
ocean life!)
• Crop damage from heat, droughts, storms = less food
• Rising sea levels and increased flooding of coastal towns/cities.
• Animals and plants that can’t adapt to warmer temps will die, e.g.
polar bears, coral reefs.
• More wildfires in forests.
• Ticks and mosquitoes that carry tropical diseases like malaria can
survive longer and kill more people.
• Note: intensity/severity difficult to predict, some are potentially
avoidable.
• Questions about info covered today?
– Discuss with your neighbor, be ready to share.
Sustainability and “ecological footprints”
• Paraphrase these while I answer questions.
• Carbon footprint: Estimates how many tons (or pounds) of
carbon dioxide you put into the atmosphere each year through
your lifestyle.
– The bigger your footprint, the more CO2 you put into the
atmosphere. For reference, consider that burning one gallon
of gasoline puts about 20 pounds CO2 of into the air.
• Ecological footprint: Estimates the area of land and ocean
required to support your consumption of food, goods, services,
housing, and energy and assimilate your wastes.
– The bigger your footprint, the more land/ocean needed to
support your lifestyle.
Footprint Quiz!
• http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/
• Click on “footprint science”, then “footprint
basics”, then “your ecological footprint”.
– You are a “new user” (“get started”)
– 90% of electricity from renewable
sources (88% hydro, 2% biomass)
– HW will help with some answers.
• Record your ecological footprint in “# of
Earths” needed if everyone lived like you.
• Record your carbon footprint in “pounds of
CO2”. (22 tons = 44,000 lbs)
• RECORD ACTUAL ANSWERS ON YOUR HW.
• Add your carbon and ecological footprints
to the graphs on the board
• Done? Work on homework in Google Form:
what could you do to lower your footprints?
“Carbon footprint solutions”
Period 1
• Picture of footprints will go here.
PERIOD 2
PERIOD 3
PERIOD 5
Period 6
Today’s goal:
• Review:
– WA State Science Standards expect you to understand:
• Ecosystem services
• Unintended consequences of using ecosystem services
• Sustainable development
• Constraints on making resource use more sustainable
– Discuss and be ready to share: what do each of the above
terms mean (review!)?
• Today’s task:
– Since fossil fuel consumption (ecosystem service) is
unsustainable and has had unintended consequences, we may
have to develop solutions that make it more sustainable.
What are constraints on those solutions?
Carbon Footprint Presentations
• As a group, complete the following on paper (turned in – include names!)
• Develop an answer: “What are 2 effective solutions your group thinks could
be taken to meaningfully lower the average US CO2 footprint?” Solutions
could be at the individual, community, or global level.
– Be reasonable, and fully explain how solution would be implemented.
– USE WHAT YOU LEARNED FROM YESTERDAY’S QUIZ
– What are some of the constraints for each of these steps? Explain each.
• Solutions must have reasonable constraints.
• Groups are being graded on their presentations. Two reasonable answers
with clearly identified constraints will earn full credit.
– Solutions must actually have a chance of working to earn full credit.
Passing a law to make everyone a vegetarian is not a reasonable solution.
• Be ready to present in front of class by the time on the board.
– Choose one or two presenters, two recorders
• http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/
Example
• Solution (you need to develop your own!)
– Consumers could be required by government regulation
to purchase at least 50% of their food from within 200
miles of their home address
• Would lower the amount of carbon dioxide released in
transporting good from far away (average distance food travels
to get to consumers is 1,500 miles)
• Constraints
– Difficult to regulate and enforce
– Consumers might be unwilling to change habits
– Legislators/government agencies might be unwilling or
unable to pass or develop regulations
– Food industry might pushback
Carbon Footprint Presentations
• Each group will present ONE of their two ideas.
– One or two presenters talk
– Two recorders – one records solution, other records
constraint(s)
• Take notes – “Carbon Sustainability Presentations”
• Record:
– Group number
– Main idea of each solution
– Major constraints of each solution
• Be prepared to offer your opinions, thoughts, etc. on solutions
you think might be most effective.
Wrap up discussion
• Discuss, be ready to share:
– Which solution would be most effective?
– In your answer explain why it would be the best
combination of increasing sustainability while
having the least restrictive constraints.