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Climate Change / Global Warming Why should we be concerned about Global Warming?

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Page 1: Sri lanka -  Why should we be worried

Climate Change / Global Warming

Why should we be concerned about Global Warming?

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QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

NY Times

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Climate and Weather

• Climate – Pattern of weather for a month or longer

-- Includes changes in average weather patterns due to

global conditions such as ocean temperature

• Weather – Day-to-day changes in temperature and rain

-- Changes tied to weather systems such as cold and

warm fronts and hurricanes

What is the difference?

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Many people consider that Global Warming is

the greatest environmental threat of the 21st

Century.

However, during the 80s and early 90s

scientists argued about the causes and effects

of global warming.

In the late 1990s scientists reached a

consensus that global warming was a cause

for concern.

So, why should you be concerned about global

warming?

“Why should we be concerned about Global Warming?”

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Climate Change…

• No longer speculation or theory

• Changes already felt, set to get worse

• Science trying to assess how much, how

fast

• Needed: taking action even before full

knowledge & understanding

• Two types of response:

– Mitigation: preventing problem getting worse

– Adaptation: Learning to live with inevitable

effects

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• “Warming of the climate system is

unequivocal, as is now evident from

increases in global average air and

ocean temperatures, melting of snow

and ice, and rising sea level.”

– IPCC 4th Assessment Working Group I,

Summary for Policymakers, 2007

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What Is Global Warming?

Global warming is the

warming of the earth through carbon dioxide (CO2)and other GHGs. Then the gases trap heat like the glass in a greenhouse. This is where the term the “greenhouse effect” came from.

http://www.worldviewofglobalwarming.org/

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What constitutes a green house gas

(GHG)

June 2, 2009 8

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Green House Gases

• Carbon dioxide, CO2

• Methane, CH4

• Nitrous Oxide, N2O

• Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and Chlorofuorocarbons (CFCs) (covers 13 chemicals)

• Perfluorocarbons, PFCs (covers 7 chemicals)

• Sulfur Hexafluoride, SF6

• Water vapor

Not all GHGs contain carbon

June 2, 2009 9

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Solutions to the problem…

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Explanation of the causes of global warming

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Temperature is increasing!

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What’s Happening

Scientists say that the barrier

insulating the continental ice

caps is melting.

“The impacts of warming

temperatures in Antarctica

are likely to occur first in the

northern sections of the

continent, where summer

temperatures approach the

melting point of water, 32

degrees F (0 degrees C).”

http://www.climatehotmap.o

rg/antarctica.html

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What’s Happening

As the ice melts, big

chunks of glaciers will

break off and become

like ice cubes in a big

glass of water. The ice

chunks, known as

icebergs, create mass in

the ocean. The icebergs

displace the water

causing the ocean level

to rise..

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Evaluation of the different viewpoints held about

global warming by MEDCs and LEDCs

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What Will Happen

“Rising global temperatures are expected to change precipitation and other local climate conditions. Changing regional climate could alter forests, crop yields, and water supplies. It could also affect human health, animals, and many types of ecosystems. http://yosemite.epa.gov/oar/globalwarming.nsf/content/impacts.html

http://www.nrdc.org/globalWar

ming/default.asp

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Explanation of the effects of global warming in

both MEDCs and LEDCs

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Where Has It Been Happening

This is where temperatures have risen in the world.

http://www.worldviewofglobalwarming.org/pages/war

mingmap.html

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How Long Has It Been Going On

“According to NOAA,

the global warming rate in the last 25 years has risen to 3.6 degrees F per century, which tends to confirm the predictions of temperature increases made by international panels of climate scientists (IPCC).” /

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How Long Has It Been Going On

• The earth has had highs

and lows, droughts and

floods, but nothing has

been like the past 150

years.

http://www.worldviewofglobalwarming.org/

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What’s Happening to the Animals

• “Penguin population decline. ”

Reference: Fraser, W. 1998. Antarctic biology and medicine program, University of Montana, personal communication. http://www.climatehotmap.org/antarctica.html

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What’s Happening to the Animals

“Coral reef bleaching,,

results from the loss of

symbiotic zooxantheallae

and/or a reduction in

photosynthetic pigment

concentrations in

zooxanthellae residing

within corals..

http://www.marinebiolog

y.org/coralbleaching.htm

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Regions where major coral reef bleaching

events have taken place during the past 15

years low spots indicate major bleaching events.

http://www.marinebiology.org/coralbleaching.htm

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Carbon neutral

• The “world of the year” in the new Oxford

Dictionary

• adj.: “emitting no net carbon dioxide into

the atmosphere”

• Carbon Footprint ?

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• an environmental regulator establishes a “cap” that limits emissions from a designated group, such as power plants, to a level lower than their current emissions

• The emissions allowed under the cap are then divided up into individual permits that represent the right to emit that amount

• Companies are free to buy and sell permits in order to continue operating in the most profitable manner available to them

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What can you do?• Calculate and understand your “carbon footprint”

• Reduce your use of energy

• Look for ways to use renewable energy

• Support efforts by all who encourage

– Energy efficiency

– Renewables

– Carbon neutrality

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Green House Gases (Counted in a

Carbon Footprint)

• Carbon dioxide, CO2

• Methane, CH4

• Nitrous Oxide, N2O

• Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and Chlorofuorocarbons (CFCs) (covers 13 chemicals)

• Perfluorocarbons, PFCs (covers 7 chemicals)

• Sulfur Hexafluoride, SF6

ANSI/ISO/NSF 14064-1 Greenhouse Gases- Part 1: Specification with Guidance at the Organizational Level for

Quantification and Reporting of GHG Emissions and Removals

Not all GHGs contain carbon

June 2, 2009 31

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Policy Framework

• Inter-governmental response:

– UN-FCCC (global climate treaty), SL ratified 1993

– Kyoto Protocol, SL acceded 2002

• National focal point: Ministry of Environment & Natural Resources (MENR)

• Leading action: Climate Change Secretariat

• National Action Plan for Haritha Lanka:

– Mission 3: Meeting the challenges of climate change

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MENR/CCS Mission

"To lead the country to take comprehensive action to contribute towards local, regional and global efforts in combating Climate Change, and to integrate unavoidable climate change scenarios into national sustainable development plans.“

Source:http://www.climatechange.lk

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“A major part of Jaffna and

other northern areas of Sri

Lanka will be submerged when

sea levels rise. So people are

fighting and dying over areas

that may soon not be there.”

Prof Mohan Munasinghe, former

vice chair, UN-IPCC, in 2007 media

interview

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=37463

Impact on Sri Lanka?

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The Nation newspaper, 23 Oct 2007

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Montage news magazine

cover, April 2007

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• More to come here

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ENSO

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Changes in water

temperature in this

red-shaded area of the

Pacific Ocean on the

equator near South

America are monitored

to track El Niño or La

Niña phase

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ENSO events• Strong conditions influence global weather, e.g.

1982-1983 El Niño

• Flooding, drought, erosion, fires, tropical storms,

harmful effects on marine life

Fig. 7.21

S

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• Caused by changes in sea surface temperature

(SST) in the equatorial Pacific Ocean

• Strongly influence climate around the world

• Return every 2 to 7 years but do not always

follow each other

• Affect production of winter vegetables and

other crops in the southeast U.S.

El Niño and La Niña: What are they?

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• El Niño Phase – Warmer than normal sea surface

temperature in the Pacific Ocean near the equator

Example: Strong El Niño phases in 1982-83 and

1997-98 caused excessive rainfall on the West

Coast and the Gulf coast

• La Niña Phase – Cooler than normal sea surface

temperature in the Pacific Ocean near the equator

Example: 1998-99 and 1999-2000 La Niña phases

caused drier and warmer winters in Florida.

Result: increase forest fires; drier and warmer than

usual temperatures in other parts of the U.S.

El Niño and La Niña Phases

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Normal conditions

Fig. 7.18 a

P

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El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO): Warm

phase (El Niño)

Fig. 7.18 b

P

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P

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P

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ENSO events• El Niño warm phase about every 2 to 10 years

• Highly irregular

• Phases usually last 12 to 18 months

Fig. 7.20

P

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La Niña conditions

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We are responsible for the

solutions…