BESC 201 11 20 2013 Lecture 33 Outline of Last Lecture I Our Dynamic Climate Outline of Current Lecture II Responding to Climate Change Current Lecture 11 20 2013 Climate change affects society Agriculture Moderate warming may slightly increase production because growing seasons become longer Forestry Enriched atmospheric CO2 may spur greater growth in the near term but other climate effects such as drought fire and disease may eliminate these gains Health Respiratory ailments from air pollution as hotter temperatures promote photochemical smog Expansion of tropical diseases such as dengue fever into temperate regions as vectors of infectious disease such as mosquitos move toward the poles Disease and sanitation problems when floods overcome sewage treatment systems Injuries and drowning if storms become more frequent or intense Economics Widen the gap between rich and poor Impacts will vary regionally in the United States Average temperatures will rise 2 2 6 1 C further by the end of this century Droughts and flooding will worsen Longer growing seasons and enhanced CO2 will favor crops but more drought heat stress pests and diseases will decrease most yields Snowpack will decrease in the West water shortages will worsen Cold weather illnesses will decline hut health problems due to heat stress disease and pollution will rise Some tropical diseases will spread north Sea level rise and storm surges will erode beaches and destroy coastal wetlands and real estate Alpine ecosystems and barrier islands will begin to vanish Drought fire and pest outbreaks will continue to alter forests Northeast forests will lose sugar maples Southeast forests will be invaded by grassland Southwest ecosystems will turn more desertlike These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute Melting permafrost will undermine Alaskan buildings and roads Are we responsible for climate change Well documented that recent increase in global warming is due to the increase in greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere The rise in greenhouse gases results primarily from our combustion of fossil fuels for energy and secondarily from the loss of carbon absorbing vegetation due to desertification Responding to Climate Change Shall we pursue mitigation or adaptation Mitigation pursue actions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions so as to lessen the severity of climate change Adaptation pursue strategies to cushion ourselves from the impacts of climate change We need to pursue adaptation because even if we could halt all our emissions right now the greenhouse gas pollution already in the atmosphere would continue driving global warming until the planet s systems reach a new equilibrium with temperature rising an estimated 0 6 C more by the end of the century We are developing solutions in electricity generation and transportation Electricity Generation Carbon Capture technologies or approaches that remove carbon dioxide from power plant emissions Carbon Storage the carbon is sequestered or stored under pressure in deep salt mines depleted oil or gas deposits or other underground reservoirs Transportation More aerodynamic designs increased engine efficiency and improved tire design can help make our vehicles more fuel efficient The Kyoto Protocol sought to limit emissions U N Framework Convention on Climate Change FCCC outlined a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2000 through a voluntary approach Will emissions cuts hurt the economy Because resource use an per capita emissions are high in the United States and other industrialized nations governments and industries there often feel they have more to lose economically from limiting emissions than developing nations do Market mechanisms are being used to address climate change Permit trading programs aim to harness the economic efficiency of market capitalism to achieve public policy goals while allowing business industry or utilities flexibility in how they meet those goals Carbon taxes are another option Carbon Tax governments charge polluters a free for each unit of greenhouse gases they emit Fee and Dividend funds from the carbon tax or fee paid to the government by polluters are transferred as a tax refund or dividend to taxpayers Carbon offsets are popular Carbon Offsets voluntary payments intended to enable another entity to reduce emissions that one is unable to reduce oneself Carbon Neutrality a state in which no net carbon is emitted Should we engineer the climate Geoengineering drastic assertive steps to alter Earth s climate in a last ditch attempt to reverse global warming