Activity: Extended Writing

The following is from Nature.com

Climate Change as a Challenge to Ethical Action
Climate change has been described as a "perfect moral storm" because it brings together three major challenges to ethical action in a mutually reinforcing way (Gardiner 2011a). The first challenge stems from the fact that climate change is a truly global phenomenon. Once emitted, greenhouse gas emissions can have climate effects anywhere on the planet, regardless of their source (IPCC 2007). This is often said to result in a prisoner's dilemma or tragedy of the commons structure played out between nation states: although collectively all countries would prefer to limit global emissions so as to reduce the risk of severe or catastrophic impacts, when acting individually, each still prefers to continue emitting unimpeded (e.g., Soroos 1997, Helm 2008, but see Gardiner 2011a). At the same time, there are skewed vulnerabilities: at least in the short- to medium-term, many of the most vulnerable countries and people are those who have emitted the least historically, and whose emissions levels continue to be relatively low. This appears to be seriously unfair and casts a notable shadow over both practical and theoretical efforts to secure global cooperation.
The second challenge is that current emissions have profoundly intergenerational effects. Emissions of the most prominent greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, typically persist in the atmosphere for a long time, contributing to negative climate impacts for centuries, or even millennia (IPCC 2007). This too seems unfair, especially if future negative impacts are severe and cumulative. In addition, the temporal diffusion of climate change gives rise to an ethical collective action problem that is even more challenging than the traditional tragedy of the commons both in its shape and because normal kinds of cooperation do not seem to be possible across generations.
The third challenge to ethical action is that our theoretical tools are underdeveloped in many of the relevant areas, such as international justice, intergenerational ethics, scientific uncertainty, and the appropriate relationship between humans and the rest of nature (e.g., Jamieson 1992). For example, climate change raises questions about the (moral) value of nonhuman nature, such as whether we have obligations to protect nonhuman animals, unique places, or nature as a whole, and what form such obligations take if we do (see, e.g., Jamieson 2003, Palmer 2011). In addition, the presence of scientific uncertainty and the potential for catastrophic outcomes put internal pressure on the standard economic approach to environmental problems (e.g., Sagoff 2007, Stern 2007, Gardiner 2011a), and play a role in arguments for a precautionary approach in environmental law and policy that some see as an alternative (see, e.g., Sunstein 2005, Whiteside 2006).

As you are now an expert on climate change in every aspect, choose an extended writing topic to complete.  This will require further research on your part, so be sure to cite any sources you use. Some topics will require creative thinking, others more deductive research and reasoning. Some will require you to think critically and apply an ethical framework to the topic.  Be thorough in your coverage of the topic.  The following is a list of ideas or questions to begin your investigation. Produce a thorough examination of your chosen topic and be sure to think critically and consider all points of view, including the ethical implications of the topic.

• How can MEDCs help developing nations become more developed without following the MEDCs path as far as greenhouse gas emissions is concerned?
• Should population control in countries with rapid population growth be required or encouraged?  What are the ethical implications of this action?  Are there more ethical ways of encouraging slower population growth?
• Should LEDCs be required to lower greenhouse gas emissions?  Is it ethical for developed countries to force limitations on developing nations?
• What is geoengineering?  What are some of the ethical issues surrounding geoengineering and climate change?  Are geoengineering reasonable?  What could their long term impacts be?
• Should the onus for climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies be placed equally on all nations?  Should it be distributed differently?
• Should MEDCs be required to lower their standard of living and consumption habits in order to be more equal with the rest of the world?

Sources:

The Nature Education Knowledge Project, Ethics and Global Climate Change, http://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/ethics-and-global-climate-change-84226631

Activity: Climate Change Mitigation Action

Climate change mitigation are things which are being done to limit the causes of climate change. These things tend to focus on efforts to curb carbon emissions, especially in the developed world.

Investigate and explore the following sources.  Pick one sector of the economy, agriculture, transportation, construction, etc., and investigate current and proposed various strategies of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.  Read actual climate mitigation strategies written by the governments and organizations which are creating and implementing them.

http://www.unep.org/climatechange/mitigation/Home/tabid/104335/Default.aspx

http://www.thegef.org/gef/CC_mitigation_strategy

http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/publications_ipcc_fourth_assessment_report_wg3_report_mitigation_of_climate_change.htm

http://www.london.gov.uk/priorities/environment/consultations/climate-change-mitigation-and-energy-strategy

http://unfccc.int/focus/mitigation/items/7169.php

Read this website on the Kyoto Protocol and review the function of the agreement in terms of climate change mitigation.  Pick one of the three mitigation mechanisms (International Emissions Trading, Clean Development Mechanism or Joint implementation) and review how the mechanism works.  Research articles which are in favor of that particular mechanism and summarize the reasons the article states for being in favor of it.  Research articles which disagree with that particular mechanism and summarize the reasoning behind the article.

Now, form your own opinion.  Journal answers to the following questions.  Overall, do you think that mechanism is positive and useful? Can you see some of its shortcomings and faults?  Do you think that the mechanism is within the purview of the UN to create?  What are the ethical dilemmas at play?

Case Study: India

India's current population is 1.2 billion and is projected to rise to 1.5 billion by the middle of this century.  India's population is overall young, with nearly half of the population under the age of 25.  It's infant mortality rate is 4.5% and the life expectancy is 67 years.  The majority of it's labor force is involved in agriculture and a third of the population lives in urban areas.

Source: CIA World Factbook

Using reputable sources on the internet, beginning with those listed below, research an example, or case study, of one aspect of the impact climate change is having in India.

http://crs.org/public-policy/pdf/climate-change-india.pdf
http://www.isrj.net/UploadedData/1885.pdf
http://www.iwaponline.com/jwc/004/jwc0040146.htm
http://www.clraindia.org/include/Climate.pdf
http://www.oecd.org/env/cc/36426827.pdf

First, write a summary of the particular case study which you examined in detail.  Next, complete one of the following two assignments.
1-Pretend you are writing a research proposal for an NGO or university.  Propose one aspect of the impact climate change is having in India which you would like to investigate.  Be specific, list particular places or regions of India in which you would like to conduct your research.  Give facts and details about the situation and explain why you think it is a valid research subject, creating/finding graphs and maps to help support your proposal.  Describe your proposed method for research; is it data analysis or field work, quantitative or qualitative, or both?

2-Pretend you are a delegate from India at the next round of climate change talks hosted by the UN. Prepare a presentation of your findings, as well as the findings of other case study research, about how climate change is impacting India.  Be specific, describing actual case studies.  Create/find graphs and maps to help support your presentation.  Additionally, research and present some of the things India is doing to mitigate climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.  Also, research and present some of the things India is doing to adapt to climate change on the national, regional, and local level.

Activity: Population and Climate Change

The world population grew from 1.6 billion to a staggering 6.1 billion people during the 20th century. All of these people use resources everyday.  Population projections suggest that the global population will reach 9 billion in the middle of this century.  It is obvious that as population increases, so too will demand on resources increase, as well as greenhouse gas emissions.  Watch the video below, and pay attention to what Hans Rosling says about greenhouse gas emissions.

Hans Rosling states that the populations of wealthy Western countries must be able to share the resources and carbon emissions with 10 times their current populations by the middle of this century.  Using your imagination, describe this future world of 9 billion people in your journal. You will be around middle age at this point, halfway through this century. What does life look like in the UK?  What is life like in China, The Gambia?  What are the mitigation and adaptation strategies in use for dealing with climate change?  

Developing Nations and Climate Change

Source: New York Times

As nations experience economic development, historically they follow a similar path toward development as the MEDCs.  This includes an increase in fossil fuel burning for electricity, automobile use and therefore emissions, industrial production, and intensive agricultural production.  The worlds two biggest developing economies, India and China, do not vary from this historical model.  

Source: EPA

They are amongst the highest carbon emitting countries in the world, and are projected to continue along this path into the future. With their large and growing populations and their rapid economic development, greenhouse gas emissions are only expected to increase.

Source: Stockholm Environment Institute

Developing nations sometimes view it as their right to burn the necessary fossil fuels to achieve economic development.  The most economically developed nations had opportunity to develop without restriction, so the questions is why can't they do the same?

Both India and China, however, are signatories to the Kyoto Protocol (a UN agreement on restrictions to greenhouse gas emissions) but did not sign on to any binding targets.

India's and China's populations are projected to continue to increase in the coming decades.

Source: bitsofscience.org

Source: bitsofscience.org

Curbing emissions whilst increasing economic development can be difficult and, more importantly, expensive, even for developed nations.  Sometimes countries aren't interested in the difficulty and expense.  While these countries are currently high emitters of greenhouse gases, they are relatively new on the scene and haven't been producing huge amounts of greenhouse gases for as long as the MEDCs.  The question becomes, if greenhouse gases have an additive effect on global warming, shouldn't all historical emissions be added up and considered rather than simply emissions year on year?

Activity: Feedback Loops

The previous post ended with a question: What happens to Earth's albedo when, as we know from the previous post, surface ice cover starts decreasing?

The effect this loss of ice has on Earth's albedo creates something called a positive feedback loop. A feedback loop is when the effect of one process changes another process so that it impacts the effects of the initial process.  A positive feedback loop encourages the cycle, a negative feedback loop inhibits or stops the cycle.

Source: EPA

The loss of Arctic sea ice is of utmost concern for climate scientists as it creates a positive feedback loop.  The speed and extent to which this feedback loop with have an effect on Arctic sea ice and overall climate change has yet to be seen.

The Ocean-Atmosphere Carbon Cycle is another climate feedback loop.  Explore this topic and using writing, diagrams, charts, graphs, and/or maps explain how the feedback loop works.  Note whether this is a positive or negative feedback loop.  Are there any other climate feedback loops you have discovered in your research?

Reflectivity and Albedo

Reflectivity is simply the concept that some surfaces reflect more light while others absorb more light.  Albedo is the measure of the reflectivity of a surface, measuring the percentage of solar radiation reflected and absorbed.  Something with high albedo means it reflects a majority of the light that hits it.

Source: NC State Climate Education K-12

Urban environments have very low albedos because of the amount of tarmac and buildings.  This causes what is known as an urban heat island, where urban areas experience warmer temperatures than the rural areas surrounding them.

Souce: EPA

Different surface types on Earth have differing albedos.

Source: CoCoRaHS

Ice and snow have high albedos and therefore reflect a large amount of light and heat energy from the sun.  When we consider that, as stated in the previous post, seasonal snow covers up to 33% of Earth's surface and ice sheets and glaciers cover an additional 10% of Earth's surface, we can conclude that these surfaces help the Earth reflect a great amount of solar radiation back into space. This prevents the Earth from absorbing more solar radiation and helps keep Earth's surface cooler. Human activity can greatly alter the surface of the Earth, and therefore can greatly alter it's albedo.

What happens to Earth's albedo when, as we know from the previous post, surface ice cover starts decreasing?

Ice and Snow Cover - The Cryosphere

The Cryosphere

In order to take about a more complex aspect of climate change called feedback loops, I would like to begin with a discussion of Earth's ice and snow cover, called the Cryosphere.  Seasonal snow covers up to 33% of Earth's surface and ice sheets and glaciers cover about 10% of Earth's surface.  Additionally, between 70-75% of freshwater on Earth is in the form of icecaps and glaciers.  Ice that covers a large area and grows in any direction is an ice sheet or and ice cap.  Ice caps form at high altitudes, ice sheets in lower altitudes.  There are two ice sheets on Earth, one located in Greenland and one in Antarctica.  Ice sheets are formed by compacted snowfall over hundreds and thousands of years.  Glaciers are ice that covers a much smaller geographical area, form in high altitudes, generally mountainous areas, and grow in one direction.  Glaciers also form by compacted snowfall.  Ice shelves are permanent floating sheets of ice connected to a landmass and are formed when ice sheets or glaciers continue to grow off the landmass and out onto the ocean.  Icebergs are formed when parts of glaciers or ice sheets break off and float into the ocean.

Ice & Climate Change

Arctic sea ice is an important indicator of climate change and it's levels are constantly monitored (as can be seen here).  The ice grows and expands during the winter and melts and contracts during the summer, at it's minimum in September and it's maximum in March.  While continuing to expand and contract normally, overall, however, Arctic sea ice has been dramatically decreasing.  This overall loss has, among other things, contributed to sea level rise.

Source: European Space Agency

Source: European Space Agency

The resources below are fabulous places to explore more about The Cryosphere.

http://nsidc.org/cryosphere/climate-change.html

http://nsidc.org/cryosphere/quickfacts/index.html

http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/CryoSat/Earth_s_changing_ice

http://www.natice.noaa.gov/Main_Products.htm

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/WorldOfChange/sea_ice.php

Activity: Mitigation and Adaptation

There are many different possible responses to climate change.  Broadly, they generally fall into one of two categories: mitigation or adaptation.  Mitigation means things that are attempts to lessen the causes of climate change, particularly the creation of greenhouse gases by individuals and industries.  Adaptation means adapting to particular effects of climate change through planning and engineering.

Using the links in the last post, and this website, list and describe at least five of the different responses to climate change you've come across in your investigation.  Note which are mitigation (reducing the causes of climate change) and which are adaptation (reducing the effects of climate change).

Thinking about your own contribution to greenhouse gases, list at least five different things you could change in your life to mitigate climate change.  Pick two of the things on this list and try them out for a day.  Journal your thoughts and experiences about the day.

Activity: Climate Change Impacts - LEDCs vs. MEDCs

Climate change is impacting society, geography, and ecosystems in a variety of ways.  Truth be told, weather patterns, climates, and ecosystems are so tightly interconnected and delicately balanced that it can be extremely difficult to predict the cascade of impacts which might occur. After exploring the links below, make a list of 6 different examples, giving one instance for each from an LEDC and one from an MEDC.
For example, with rising sea levels, increased coastal flooding has already become an impact of climate change, but it is one which is expected to continue to worsen.  This impacts places in MEDCs like population dense New Orleans and New York City in the US, and also impacts population dense places in LEDCs like the Ganges Delta in Bangladesh.
Whilst many impacts of climate change are negative, there are a few positive impacts which might occur, including extended growing seasons in the UK.  Of your examples from above, identify which are negative impacts and which are positive impacts, if any.

https://koshland-science-museum.org/explore-the-science/earth-lab/impacts#.Uj796WQfZ68
http://www.cgdev.org/page/mapping-impacts-climate-change
http://environment.nationalgeographic.co.uk/environment/global-warming/gw-impacts-interactive/
http://climate.nasa.gov/effects
http://www.wwf.org.uk/what_we_do/tackling_climate_change/impacts_of_climate_change/
http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/impacts-adaptation/

Extended writing - explore the following: Which areas/countries of the world create the most greenhouse gases?  Compare this to the areas/countries of the world most affected by climate change.  [check out these articles: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/jun/19/climate-change-developing-countries-world-bank  http://www.economist.com/node/14447171]

Activity: Climate Change Evidence

A question that often arises within the teaching and discussion of climate change is, "How do we know climate change is happening?" Or "How do we know that this isn't a natural and normal warm period?"  Evidence can be gathered about recent temperature and weather changes through modern records of weather.  To examine weather further back in time, however, has required scientists to be more creatively resourceful and think outside the box to find ways to analyze the weather and climate of the distant past.
As the student, beginning with the resources below, and any other reputable sources you may find, to explore how the following things can be used to learn about the weather and climate of the past and present, making sure to describe which can be useful for finding out information about the past, which can be useful for learning about the present, and which can be used for both.

ice cores
sea levels / water cover
ice sheet cover
glacial cover
tree rings
pollen
rock formations
fossils
ocean chemistry
landforms

http://www.bgs.ac.uk/discoveringGeology/climateChange/general/pastClimatesEvidence.html
http://www.societe.org.gg/planetguernsey/download/3_Historical.pdf
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/guides/457000/457037/html/default.stm
http://know.climateofconcern.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=article&id=71
https://koshland-science-museum.org/explore-the-science/earth-lab/changes#.UjdVMmQfZ69

Source: Nasa Earth Observatory

There are two different types of data presented here, one is direct climate measurement and the other is proxy climate information.  Direct climate measurements are information which are directly related to the state of the climate.  Proxy climate information comes from sources which aren't directly related to climate but information about the climate of the time can be inferred from the data.  Which in the list above give direct climate data and which provide proxy climate evidence?  Explain your reasoning.

Teaching ideas - Climate Change

So far this blog has covered the basic science behind climate change and given a foundational overview of the factors contributing to it.  The past few days I have been observing Geography lessons in a secondary and whilst there I have been thinking how I would teach this subject in particular.  One fact I have come to realize is that while many, if not most, students have heard of climate change or global warming, they generally have varying degrees of understanding of the subject.  Many are aware of the connection of carbon to climate change; most are aware of the fact that human activities contribute to global warming.  With this very cursory knowledge of the subject, there is a lot for students to learn; one cannot assume that students have a solid basic understanding of the topic.

Having been reading and learning about the 'flipped classroom', and having had experience with the teaching style myself, I am curious and interested in applying the concept in my own teaching.  I understand that students may not all have access to computers and internet at home, but in an ideal world a school will have a computer lab or laptop cart which a class could use to recreate a type of flipped classroom.  Since the level of knowledge of about climate change in a class could vary greatly, I like the idea of setting the students a task of exploring the topic on their own, using the various videos and resources I have found so far and others they themselves might find.  This would allow the students to develop ICT skills, research skills, and new literacy skills while reading technical scientific academic writing.  It fosters and encourages personal curiosity in a topic, allowing students to dig deeper into the aspects which interest them most.  The students are actively involved in accessing, acquiring, and assimilating knowledge for themselves and must take responsibility for their own learning.  Whilst exploring climate change and learning about the human contributions to greenhouse gases, students can also begin to form their own opinions and ideas about what could and should be done about this global problem.  This encourages creativity and engagement and also requires students to employ other geographical concepts, such as scale.
I have tried to construct this blog with the idea of a flipped classroom in mind, giving a shallow but broad overview into many different aspects of climate change which might introduce these different topics to students for further exploration on their own.  I will continue to create my blog posts with this goal in mind.

In exploring this topic I found this website from Vanderbilt University which overviews different teaching approaches which I quite like.

Mapping Climate Change

An essential part of any geography topic is the creation, utilization, and analysis of maps on the particular subject.  Maps help give data a spatial aspect and make the information more accessible and relevant.  Maps are the purview of geography and an educated geographer and an informed citizen should both have access to this indispensable way of demonstrating data.

This website from the World Bank has lots of data-driven maps on many different topics. Particularly, you can explore different indications for climate change such as carbon emissions and population growth.

This map resizes the countries of the world to indicate their carbon dioxide emissions rather than their actual true areas.  This type of map is called a cartogram.

Source: viewsoftheworld.net

While it effectively illustrates the difference in carbon emissions per country, this map, however, bothers me as an American.  In order to display the data more truthfully and fairly the size of the countries should be based on carbon emissions per capita.  Of course the China, the United States, and India look swollen and oversized, that would be expected on a map purely based on population since they are the largest countries in the world, as the following map based only on population demonstrates.

Source: worldmapper.org

Climate change data can be explored and mapped in many different ways.  There are maps focused on resource use, energy sources, climate change impacts, future weather projections, ecological impacts, and greenhouse gas emissions.

The website Worldmapper.org has cartograms focusing on different categories like fuel sources, forest loss, and greenhouse gas emissions among many, many others.

This website, ShowWorld, also has many different cartograms based on lots of different data sets.  These cartograms are non-contiguous, meaning the countries are resized but aren't still connected to each other, so their relative shapes are retained, as opposed to the cartograms above and at worldmapper.org which are contiguous and therefore their shapes are often greatly distorted.

This website, by the Center for Global Development, has a set of maps describing the impact of climate change on the different countries of the world.

This website, by the Union of Concerned Scientists, displays a map with interactive information about the specific types of impacts of climate change on specific locations, such as sea level rise and impacts of seaside cities. This map, by National Geographic, is very similar.

This website, by the Nature Conservancy, show past and projected surface temperatures and precipitation.

Student activity - research and find a map demonstrating some aspect of Climate Change and write an explanation as to why you think having the data displayed on a map helps you understand the concept better than if you had seen it in a graph or paragraph.

Meat and Climate Change

Meat would not generally be something we would consider as connected to climate change.  It's connection is, however, inherent and deserves more airtime in my opinion.  I am not a vegetarian, nor am I advocating vegetarianism as a solution to climate change.
This website details the basics of the connection between agricultural meat production and it's environmental impacts.

Source: Mike Lester, The Rome Tribune

The following is taken from the above website:

Concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), or factory farms, are the most rapidly growing system of farm animal production. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that 80 percent of growth in the livestock sector now comes from these industrial production systems. CAFOs now account for 72 percent of poultry production, 43 percent of egg production, and 55 percent of pork production worldwide.

But CAFOs produce high levels of waste, use huge amounts of water and land for feed production, contribute to the spread of human and animal diseases, and play a role in biodiversity loss. Farm animal production also contributes to climate change: the industry accounts for an estimated 18 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, including 9 percent of the  carbon dioxide, nearly 40 percent of the methane (a greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide), and 65 percent of the nitrous oxide (300 times more potent as carbon dioxide).

These facts demonstrate a much overlooked aspect of greenhouse gas emissions.  As I have mentioned before, the popular phraseology of 'Carbon Footprint' misses the connection between climate change and other non-carbon greenhouse gases.  Anthropogenic sources of other non-carbon greenhouse gases should be explored and critically examined in any climate change discussion.  The fact that meat production is something most people are connected to (in the fact that they are meat consumers), and the fact that meat consumption choices are easy to examine on an individual and household level, makes agricultural methane sources a highly relatable aspect of climate to a person's everyday life.

There are many different sources of greenhouse gases which people can single out as obvious starting points for emission reductions.  There are many different governmental policies that can be put in place to reduce emissions.  Among all of this, it seems that meat production is as good a starting point as any, especially on an individual level.  The facts above demonstrate a tremendous need to regulate how meat is produced.  When grown on a smaller scale in a more human and environmentally friendly way, livestock can be produced with much lower levels of greenhouse gas emissions.  Also, it seems, that a general reduction in meat and animal production consumption on the part of consumers is also an effective way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The table below demonstrates the greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture in the UK from 1990-2011.

Source: Department of Energy and Climate Change

Source:
Rising Number of Farm Animals Poses Environmental and Public Health Risks, World Watch Institute, http://www.worldwatch.org/rising-number-farm-animals-poses-environmental-and-public-health-risks

Greenhouse Gases and their sources

There are different greenhouse gases, most naturally occurring in some level in the atmosphere.
The key ones are (in order of abundance): water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide.
Water vapor is naturally occurring in the atmosphere as a part of the hydrologic cycle.  Carbon dioxide is the most infamous greenhouse gas, although naturally occurring, the atmospheric levels of this gas have increased dramatically with the burning of fossil fuels.  Methane, which is 25 times more powerful a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, is a naturally occurring gas coming from natural decomposition of organic matter, though it's levels have increased drastically as well.  Agriculture and livestock receive most of the blame for this increase, particularly as the wealthier societies of the world become enamored with meat, specifically choice cuts often of beef, the number of livestock animals in the world has soared.  Nitrous Oxide is about 300 times more powerful a greenhouse gas and is naturally occurring in and released into the atmosphere by oceans and is also the natural product of biological activity in soils.  About a third of nitrous oxide released into the atmosphere is anthropogenic, meaning it is the product of human activity.  These anthropogenic sources are agricultural soils (large scale intensive horticultural farming), CAFOs (a concentrated form of livestock agriculture, which will be described in more detail in a later post), and the chemical industry.
This website by the US Environmental Protection Agency, has a ton of great information on climate change in general, but it also has a great set of slides about the Greenhouse Effect and different greenhouse gases.

Source: Department of Energy and Climate Change

There is a lot of talk about 'your carbon footprint' these days, but often the connection between daily life, "carbon", and climate is unclear.  The basic understanding of the general public on how "carbon" contributes to climate change is often poor.  For one thing, carbon has become the catchy short form of carbon dioxide, but this can make the connection between human activity and greenhouse gas emission narrow and vague.  An educated citizen, hopefully the product of a geography classroom, must understand on a more in-depth level this connection and should be able to wade through and critically analyze the popular media's presentation of climate change to discern the more critical content and form the questions which should arise from it.

Source: Department of Energy and Climate Change

This report from the government details the greenhouse gas emissions data for the UK for the past 20+ years.

Where it all begins

I have already mentioned a concept called the Greenhouse Effect a couple of times.  I think it is time to discuss exactly what this natural phenomenon is, as it is the very basic building block upon which we understand climate change.

First, let's investigate incoming solar radiation.  The earth receives radiated energy from the sun in many different wavelengths, including Ultra Violet, Visible, and Infrared.  More wavelengths are emitted by the sun, but Earth's atmosphere is most effective in filtering out much of this radiation.  This energy which does reach Earth's surface is very useful for life on Earth, plants absorb it to make sugars and grow.  We humans obviously appreciate the visible light and the infrared radiation for warmth.  The chart below demonstrates the amounts of various wavelengths of radiation received by Earth's surface, which are generally shorter wavelengths.

Source: Nature Publishing Group

Much of this radiation which is absorbed by the Earth is re-radiated back out by the Earth at longer wavelengths.  The Earth's atmosphere is very good at blocking harmful radiation from the Sun, but it also prevents some of this re-radiated energy from escaping back out into space.  This, generally, is a good thing, as it helps keep Earth's atmosphere and surface warmer and makes Earth a nice, habitable place to live.  This action of the atmosphere preventing Earth's short-wave radiation from going out into space and reflecting it back toward Earth's surface is called the Greenhouse Effect.  The name is in reference to how glass in a greenhouse lets radiation in from the sun and traps it inside.  The greenhouse then warms up and is able to maintain an nice warm temperature despite outside temperatures.  This concept is demonstrated in the picture below.

Source: EarthlyIssues.com

While the Greenhouse Effect makes Earth a habitable place for us, in recent history it has become what is now referred to as the Enhanced Greenhouse Effect and is having a negative impact on Earth's atmosphere and climate.  The part of the atmosphere which prevents some radiation from escaping to outer space is a layer of Greenhouse Gases, which are naturally occurring in the atmosphere in low levels.  A few of these important Greenhouse Gases are CO2 and Methane, and in the atmosphere they function to trap Earth's long-wave radiation, keeping the surface and atmosphere warm.  With the advent of the Industrial Revolution and the dramatic increase in large scale burning of fossil fuels, the amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere has been rapidly escalating.  This increased amount of CO2 has heightened the function of the Greenhouse Effect, creating the Enhanced Greenhouse Effect.  Effectively, it's like the natural Greenhouse Gases are a blanket, keeping Earth's surface and atmosphere warm, however with human activity increasing the amount of Greenhouse Gases in the atmosphere the blanket has grown ever thicker and is creating a warmer and warmer climate across the Earth.

Natural Climate Change

Throughout time, Earth's climate has been ever changing.  Some of Earth's historical climate changes are a bit infamous.  The mass species extinctions that mark the end of the Cretaceous period due to major rapid changes in climate is one of the more well known examples of climate change.  The contributing factors to this extreme shift are generally agreed upon as either meteorites or volcanoes, or perhaps a combination of both.  Either way, the gases and ash released into the atmosphere by these events created an enhanced greenhouse effect.  Subsequently this caused a global temperature increase of about 5°C.  It was this event that wiped out most of the dinosaurs of this period.  More reading on this subject can be found here and here.

photo credit: PA

The "Little Ice Age" between the 17th and 19th centuries is a more recent example of natural climate change, although less extreme than the Cretaceous example.  This period was exemplified by unusually cool temperatures probably caused by decreased solar activity and had a profound effect on human populations around the world, most notably recorded in European history.  The unusual weather had profound effects on agriculture, with many places experiencing food shortages and famine.  This led to social unrest in some parts of Europe and also population losses in some instances.  More extensive information about the implications of the "Little Ice Age" can be found here and here, as can good references for more in depth research.

One of the contributing factors to the "Little Ice Age" was decreased solar activity, which is referred to the Maunder Minimum.  The sun goes through a normal 11-year cycle of sunspots where the number of sunspots oscillates up and down.  During the 1600s and 1700s this oscillation remained unusually low and a very small number of sunspots were observed during this period.  It was this low point in sun spots that is the Maunder Minimum.  The 11-year cycle can be seen in the red line in the graph below.  More about solar cycles can be found here.

Source: USGCRP (2009)

Atmospheric Commons

At the end of my last post I mentioned how Vandana Shiva's concept of shared resources of the air around us really changed my perception of pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.  She refers to this concept of how the atmosphere is a non-privately-owned resource as The Atmospheric Commons.  You see, when it comes to pollution and climate change, we're all in this together; the atmosphere belongs equally to all of us.

But I am getting ahead of myself, we should first examine what climate change exactly is and how exactly humans are a contributing factor.

Climate change is, in one sense, simply a change in the long term weather patterns.  More contemporarily, climate change would be defined as an observed phenomenon of higher average temperatures and changing weather and precipitation patterns. The overall climate of the Earth is generally in constant flux, changing all the time, but over thousands, hundreds of thousands, and millions of years.  Changes in climate occur natural due to normal variation in Earth's orbit, cyclical solar activity, and even volcanic eruptions.

However, the important aspect of modern climate change is the time scale in which is occurring. [SCALE is an ever important geographical concept!]  In the last century or so, Earth's average temperatures have been increasing dramatically, about as much as would naturally be expected over the course of a several hundred thousand years.

These higher average temperatures can be found on this great interactive map, seen below.  This map demonstrates that at much, if not most, of the planet has been experiencing high than normal average temperatures.

These higher than normal temperatures are exemplary of this change in climate, and can be seen in the video below which shows global surface temperatures from 1881-2009.  Higher temperatures are just one of the symptoms of climate change, but are often an easy example for people to understand; there are others, but we'll discuss them in subsequent posts.

Shared resources

It can be difficult to conceptualize the fact that the earth has finite resources which are shared by every person on every continent.  I mean, the dirt beneath my feet is beneath my feet, not someone else's.  The water I use in my daily life is delivered to the tap in my house.  I breathe in air every second.  I'm not at a loss for resources, and therefore I rarely come to a point where I am forced to think of how they are shared and distributed across the earth.

I had the opportunity to live in Ghana a few years ago and the lack of resources really became apparent in many ways.  One way in particular was the resource of electricity by way of water.  Most of the electricity in Ghana is hydroelectric.  Therefore, if there isn't rain, there isn't enough water behind the dam, and if there isn't enough water behind the dam, no water will be allowed to flow through the turbines and create electricity.  I was living in Ghana in the months before the country hosted the African Cup of Nations.  Suffering from a long-term drought, Ghana was facing the potential of a lack of electricity whilst the continent, and the world, visited and watched the festivities.  In order to conserve water behind the dam and ensure full electricity during the football tournament, the country was experiencing rolling blackouts.

When the electricity went out, the fridge couldn't be open for the duration, or the food would all spoil in the heat, the internet wouldn't work, the lights, the air conditioning, the telephone, the fans.  In the Western world we rarely butt up against the lack of resources like water or electricity, and any restraint in their use is generally self prescribed.  It was at that point that it really hit home for me that the lack of resources is real and affects the daily life of millions of people around the planet.

It was in reading Vandana Shiva that I became aware of the idea that the atmosphere, the air we breathe, is the most quickly transferred and shared natural resources.  Winds blow, air masses move, and the air I'm breathing into my lungs right now has been all over the world.  The atmosphere is the one resource that no one owns and that we all share.  And yet we don't all pollute it equally.  

At the start...

This blog is the journal of my personal exploration of the topic of climate change.  It will serve as a log of information, resources, and tools that can be used in a classroom setting.  As I begin exploring this topic, I hope to lay down a solid foundation of the basic principles behind climate science, particularly those that are essential to understanding climate change.  Some things might be overly simple and obvious, others might be more difficult to grasp, but I believe that climate change isn't something that only the most educated scientists and researchers can understand.  It isn't, after all, rocket science.  It's climate, something that we all experience first hand every day.

As an introduction to the concept of climate change, I offer an ecological footprint quiz.  You can take the quiz here.  At the end of the quiz you are given the number of earths we would need to provide the resources and process the carbon emissions for your particular lifestyle.  I feel this is a good place to begin considering that not everyone consumes the same amount of earth's resources or has the same amount of impact on the environment and the atmosphere.  Hopefully this will get the wheels turning on the finiteness of our Earth and the fact that we all have to share the same resources.