Lesson: Human Dimensions of Climate Change

Transcription

1 What will we learn? By the end of this lesson, you should be able to: explain what the climate system is; explain what we mean by the human causes of climate change; explain what we mean by the human consequences of climate change; define and differentiate between key terms related to the human dimensions of climate change discuss how reasons for concern about climate change risks are increasing. Lesson: Human Dimensions of Climate Change Critical Interfaces between Humans and the Climate System Figure 1.1: Schematic view of the components of the global climate system (bold), their processes and interactions (thin arrows) and some aspects that may change (bold arrows). Click to expand for a text description of Figure 1.1 From Baede, A.P.M., E. Ahlonsou, Y. Ding, and D. Schimel, 2001: The Climate System: An Overview. In: Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Houghton, J.T., Y. Ding, D.J. Griggs, M. Noguer, P.J. van der Linden, X. Dai, K. Maskell, and C.A. Johnson, eds.). Cambridge University Press, p. 88.

2 The climate system is comprised of five natural components: 1. the atmosphere, 2. the hydrosphere, 3. the cryosphere, 4. the land surface, and 5. the biosphere. The atmosphere is the envelope of gases that surrounds Earth, including the naturally occurring greenhouse gases that warm the planet s surface. The hydrosphere includes all of Earth s liquid water and gaseous water (water vapor), whereas the cryosphere includes all frozen water (ice). Note that the cryosphere is technically part of the hydrosphere, but climate scientists usually treat it as a separate component of the climate system because its physical properties differ from those of water and water vapor. The land surface does not include water- or icecovered surfaces but consists of all other vegetated and non-vegetated surfaces. The biosphere is the realm of life and is found in all of the other natural components, especially the hydrosphere and land surface. In fact, the biota is made up of and requires the presence of air, water, and mineral matter that is, material from the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and land to exist. Several external forces influence the five climate system components, with radiation from the Sun being most important. Climate scientists consider the impact of human ac the climate system another example of external forcing. Activities on Figure 1.2 How people interact with the climate system. Click link to expand for a text description of Figure 1.2 Credit: Brent Yarnal. Used with Permission. The framework in Figure 1.2 shows how people interact with the climate system. Starting on the left-hand side, human activities, such as land clearing and fossil fuel burning, put heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, thereby changing the atmosphere s composition, increasing the so-called greenhouse effect, and warming the near-surface layers of the atmosphere. These human activities are therefore causing climate change (top center), which has many characteristics beyond surface warming, including increased evaporation, changed rainfall quantity, intensity, and location, decreased ice and snow cover, and increased sea level among others. These climate changes have impacts on physical systems, biological systems, and human systems (righthand side), with most of these impacts being negative. People respond to these impacts in two ways (bottom), either through mitigation or adaptation. Mitigation aims to reduce or eliminate the causes of climate change; adaptation seeks to reduce or eliminate the impacts. Together, the impacts of and responses to climate change

3 make up the total consequences of climate change. We will expand on the human causes and consequences of climate change later in this lesson and later in this course. The human dimensions of climate change shown in Figure 1.2 interact at all scales of the climate system and human activity. The human causes of climate change result from billions of daily local actions such as emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil fuel combustion and forestry that accumulate to cause a change of global climate. This global-scale change plays out differently in different regions, warming most areas while wetting some areas and drying others. These regional climate changes lead to local impacts that have more or less severity depending on the vulnerability of each place s natural and human systems. Responses vary, too, with local, regional, and global efforts both to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change. Human Causes of Climate Change Figure 1.3: This image represents one major category of proximate cause of climate change: the emission of greenhouse gases from transportation activities. Credit: U.S. Department of Transportation. (2010, April).(link is external) Transportation's role in reducing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, volume 1: Synthesis report. Research in Innovative Technology Administration. The human causes of climate change fall into two categories: proximate causes and driving forces. Proximate causes are the human activities that directly cause climate change. There are two overarching categories of proximate causes: land transformation and industrial processes. People transform the land surface in many ways, with some important types being deforestation, agriculture, urbanization, mining, reservoir building, land draining, and transportation network building. Industrial processes include energy production, transportation, manufacturing, construction, waste disposal, petrochemical, mineral, and food processing, and many other activities. All of these activities change the flux of energy and mass to the climate system.

4 These images represent the five driving forces of climate change: population growth (represented by innumerable houses); technological development (represented by a driver of climate mitigation, a wind turbine); economic growth (represented by the explosive economic development of Shanghai, China); attitudes and beliefs (represented by a cultural icon, McDonald s golden arches, which denotes attitudes and beliefs about food, convenience, and more); and institutions (represented by the Supreme Court building in Washington, DC). Credit: All images Photos.com except for McDonalds' image: Golden Arches(link is external) / Paula Steele(link is external) /CC BY-NC-ND 2.0(link is external). Driving forces of climate change are complex, interactive actions and rationales that give rise to proximate causes. In other words, driving forces are the underlying reasons why people engage in various activities. There are five driving forces: population growth, technological development, economic growth, institutions, and attitudes and beliefs. Understanding the driving forces helps to answer questions such as, why do people drive cars to work (a proximate cause of climate change) when they could walk, ride a bike, or take a bus? Lesson 2 of this course looks more deeply into proximate causes and driving forces. It also gives some background on greenhouse gas emissions and mitigation, thereby setting up the succeeding lessons on energy emissions and mitigation, transportation emissions and mitigation, local emissions and mitigation, and climate policy. Human Consequences of Climate Change These images show some of the impacts of flooding in Bangladesh, which is a major concern associated with climate change for the country. Credit: Retrieved Aug from: global-changes.com, (link is external)bangladeshrelief.org, (link is external)coastalcare.org. The human consequences of climate change also fall into two categories: impacts and responses. The impacts of climate change denote a positive or negative change in a natural or human system caused by its exposure to climate change. A positive impact on an agricultural system, for example, would be increased yields, but a negative impact would be decreased yields. The severity of the impacts is determined by the vulnerability of that system; that is, how badly the system could be hurt by its exposure to climate change. All things being equal, a crop that is little affected by rising temperature is less vulnerable than one that is greatly affected by the same temperature increase. A farmer who has the knowledge or resources to change his farming practices to match the new temperature regime is less vulnerable than a farmer who lacks sufficient knowledge or resources to adjust.

5 Figure 1.4: This graphic shows one potential mitigation option: the storage of carbon dioxide in geological voids. Click link to expand for a text description of Figure 1.4 Credit: IPCC. (2005). Carbon dioxide capture and storage: Summary for policymakers.(link is external) p. 6. Humans can respond to climate change impacts in two ways. First, they can address the causes of climate change through mitigation. Mitigation involves actions that prevent, limit, delay, or slow the rate of climate change. Mitigation can involve direct interventions in the natural environment, direct interventions in the proximate causes, or indirect interventions through the driving forces. An example of mitigation would be government policies aimed at reducing the number of cars on the road and, consequently, the carbon dioxide emissions from tail pipes. As noted above, upcoming lessons will delve more deeply into the topic of mitigation. An example of climate change adaptation in developing countries; that is, efficient use of waste water in domestic gardens. Credit: Retrieved August 10, 2011 from containergardening.wordpress.com(link is external). Humans can also reduce vulnerability to climate change impacts through adaptation. Adaptation involves actions taken in response to climate change that enhance compatibility with the new environment by reducing vulnerability and building resilience. For instance, coastal communities can take many actions to address the impacts of sea level rise: build sea walls, increase natural vegetation to reduce erosion, or retreat from the coast by promoting inland development and preventing further coastline development. Lesson 3 focuses on climate impacts and adaptation, with special attention to vulnerability and resilience. Lessons 7 through 10 address climate impacts and adaptation in four critical human systems water resources, coastal zones, human health, and cities.

6 Human Dimensions of Climate Change Assignment Date: Name: The basis for this assignment is to find a case study and report on one of three things: Climate change impacts, vulnerability, and adaptations. The scientific consensus demonstrates that climate change in the 21st century is essentially a human problem. People are causing climate change through their everyday actions and through the socioeconomic forces underlying those actions. At the same time, people are feeling the consequences of climate change through various impacts on things they value and through the responses they are making to address climate change. In this first lesson, we introduce the human dimensions of climate change by digging more deeply into its causes and consequences. First, however, we develop a framework for understanding the relationships between humans and climate. We also present the various scales of space and time involved in the human dimensions of climate change. Instructions: 1. Choose 1 case study from the list provided, which are about following: Climate change impacts, vulnerability, and/or adaptations. 2. Report on the case study by following the Report Outline: a. Introduce the main idea of the reading. b. Explain and expand the idea, defining any key terms. c. Present relevant evidence to support your point(s). d. Comment on each piece of evidence showing how it relates to your point(s). e. Conclude your chapter/section/paragraph by either showing its significance to the report as a whole or making a link to the next chapter/section/paragraph.

7 Human Dimensions of Climate Change Rubric Ministry Expectation: B1, B2 Content Criteria Accurately find a case study and report (in sufficient detail) the human dimensions of climate change. *Note: The 50 points devoted to addressing each facet of the prompt will be specifically tailored to each individual assignment. Points Possible 50 Formatting Appropriately cites sources and external content utilized in the report. (10) 50 Thoroughly edited for spelling, grammatical, and other technical errors. (10) Accurately utilizes track changes for editorial revision of the second draft. (10) Demonstrates clear command of the writing symposium topic (lesson 2 onward) from current and previous lessons. (10) Structure: topic sentence, body sentences, and concluding sentence o Are these elements there? o Does the topic sentence clearly state the topic? o Do the body sentences stay on topic and support the topic sentence? o Does the concluding sentence tie it all together? Spelling and grammar o Are all words spelled correctly? o Are there any grammatical mistakes? Stylistic Weaknesses o Is there more than one passive sentence? o Is the verb structure non-parallel? o Are there any long sentences (run-on sentences with multiple conjunction words)? o Are there any long chains of quotes (i.e., three or more)? o Are there any other obvious stylistic weaknesses (e.g., word choice, repetition)?

8 Student Evaluation: Climate Change Assignment Rubric Check Box Requirements Proper use of headers: full name on the left side an assignment number on the right side One inch margins all around the page 12 point serif font such as Times New Roman (What is a serif font?(link is external)) Double-spaced text Final draft words Submitted in your drive folder with me APA citation style properly employed both for in-text citations and a reference list Contains all three required drafts: 1. Unedited First Draft - initial draft of your paragraph 2. Edited Second Draft - includes editorial revisions visible utilizing Track Changes 3. Clean Final Draft - editorial revisions integrated into final draft, no edits visible - clean copy Properly employs Track Changes: 1. Insertion/deletion of text (required) - this is where you do your actual editing. You add words/phrases, remove them, move them, etc. 2. Comment bubbles (optional) - This is where you make comments about your writing. For example, you may highlight a small passage of text and write something in the comment box such as, "Find a corresponding example to support this better." Think of this feature as an electrionic Post-It notepad.