First, some climate change terminology:

Positive feedback loop: natural processes that can amplify the magnitude of the warming eg, as temperatures rise, ice melts, more dark sea water is exposed, absorbing more heat, causing more ice to melt…

Greenhouse Effect: The insulating effect of atmospheric greenhouse gases (e.g., water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane, etc.) that keeps the Earth's temperature about 15 º warmer than it would be otherwise.Greenhouse Gas (GHG): Any gas that contributes to the "greenhouse effect."

Global Warming: The progressive rise of the Earth's average surface temperature caused by increased concentrations of GHGs in the atmosphere.

Carbon Sinks: Processes that remove more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than they release. Both the terrestrial biosphere and oceans can act as carbon sinks.

Causes

Effects

Solutions

#1 Causes

So who, or what is responsible?

CO2 is released when ever fossil fuels are burned…

…and they’re burned a lot!

Burned for Power generation

Coal

Natural gas Power generation

Home heating

Burned for

Moving us and our stuff around the globe…and for getting more oil, coal and

natural gas out of the ground

Burned for

there are no fewer than 4,000 aircraft in the air at any time over

the U.S.

Causes continued…So who, or what else is responsible?

I don’t even own a car!

Or more accurately, the people who eat them…

I hope this

place has good

plumbing!

beef cattle account for a whopping

70% of all livestock methane

emissions!

Other sources of methane:

a.k.a. cow

burps!

There are billions of tonnes of

methane trapped in the permafrost

Methane is 20-30 times more

powerful than CO2 at trapping

heat!

•Water - sea level rise, coastal flooding, mass evacuations

- fresh water shortage (rivers and lakes)

- ocean water acidification (base of the food chain)

- Thermohaline circulation shut down

- coral bleaching

thermohaline circulation

Hyperlink to animation

A pteropod shell exposed to carbonate ion-depleted seawater with acid levels set to the pH of ocean water

expected in 2100.

The shell dissolved after 45 days. Rising

CO2 levels in the atmosphere, directly

correspond to increasing acidity of

seawater.

• Severe weather - increasing in frequency and severity.

• Disease

Malaria

• Habitat loss & Species Extinction

All of these animals

need arctic ice

to survive…

…and it’s melting fast.

• Heat waves

France heat wave death toll set at 14,802

Posted 9/25/2003 10:56 AM  

• Forest fires

Australia's fires taken as a portent of global warming Submitted by Sid Astbury on Tue, 02/10/2009

• Food shortages due to drought

Palmer Drought Severity Index

Effects summarized:

Water – too much…too little

Animals – in trouble

Weather – hotter & stormier

Disease – diseaseier

Food – less

Fire – more

$$$ - less

…yes, something

can be done !

Tips for Cutting Automobile Emissions

Take it easy: Aggressive driving wastes fuel. Driving like a moron can burn an extra 125 gallons

of gas per year!

Don't idle: Idling for more than 10 seconds uses more gas than restarting your car.

A/C: Air conditioning can decrease your fuel efficiency by as much as 12% in stop-and-go traffic,

so consider cracking the windows.

Keep up the pressure: Low tire pressure wastes over two million gallons of gasoline

in the U. S.— every day!

Skip the drive thru! – instead of letting your car run as you inch toward the pick-up window…turn it off,

get out, and pick it up yourself

A gas powered lawn mower running for 1 hour emits as much pollution as driving 1000 km in a 1992 model

automobile

Zero CO2Zero V.O.C.s

(volatile organic compounds…a.k.a.

pollution)

Half a million trees would be spared if every U.S. household replaced a 500-sheet roll of tree fibre toilet paper with one made from

recycled paper…so quit flushing trees down the toilet!

• Air Dry Your Clothes• Line-dry your clothes in the spring and

summer instead of using the dryer. Save 700 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $75 per year.

Seventy percent of

the levelled rain forest

in the Amazon is

used to raise

animals for meat

consumption….so eat less meat!

Hours for Earth to receive the same energy from the sun as humans consume in a year: 1