Observe the experiment

Which thermometer will be the hottest?

How does this model the earthLamp =

Beaker =

Black paper=

What’s going on here?

The Greenhouse Effect

What causes the Greenhouse Effect?

“Greenhouse Gases”• CO2• H20• CH4 (methane)• NO (nitrous oxide)• CFCs (chloroflourocarbons)

• How do we contribute to the production of these gases?

Climate Change Public Enemy #1: CO2

• What’s so bad about CO2? • Important logical steps

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The Real Question: Is it our Fault?

• Are global temperatures increasing?

• Are global CO2 concentrations increasing?

• Does the greenhouse effect cause warming?

• Does CO2 contribute to the greenhouse effect?

Are they measurable or testable?

• The average temperature on earth has raised 25% since the early 1800s

• The average temperature has raised 10% since 1958

• The current rate of increase is .4% per year

Global Climate is cyclical• Global warming may not be purely

anthropogenic

Global T and CO2

• Correlation vs causation• What makes this graph so convincing?

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The Real Question: Is it our Fault?

• Are global temperatures increasing?– Yes- scientifically measurable

• Are global CO2 concentrations increasing? • Does the greenhouse effect cause warming?• Does CO2 contribute to the greenhouse

effect?

Are they measurable or testable?

How much of our atmopshere is CO2 anyway?

Are we worried about running out of oxygen?

What makes up the atmosphere?

• Mostly nitrogen

• Next most is O2 (how did it get there?)

• Noble gases, water vapor, CO2

Is the goal to eliminate CO2 from our atmosphere entirely?

We the Carbon Cycle

• We also Homeostasis

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Draw a graph of global CO2 concentration

time

CO2

Seasonal Changes

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Changing compositions

• In 1850 CO2 concentration was 280 ppm and today (2004) it is 350 ppm

• Worldwide- increases average 50% over their 1850 levels

• To what, historically can we attribute this change?

US & China Emissions

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More retrospection

• How do we get this data anyway?

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Method: Ice Coring

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The Real Question: Is it our Fault?

• Are global temperatures increasing?– Yes- scientifically measurable

• Are global CO2 concentrations increasing?– Yes- scientifically measurable

• Does the greenhouse effect cause warming?• Does CO2 contribute to the greenhouse effect?

Are they measurable or testable?

Is the greenhouse effect bad?

Earth without the greenhouse effect?

Global temperatures = 1C

How would that change things?

What happens if there are more of these greenhouse gases

• More sunlight bounces off of them back to the earth’s surface

The Real Question: Is it our Fault?

• Are global temperatures increasing?– Yes- scientifically measurable

• Are global CO2 concentrations increasing?– Yes- scientifically measurable

• Does the greenhouse effect cause warming?– Yes- scientifically demonstrable?

• Does CO2 contribute to the greenhouse effect?

Are they measurable or testable?