An inconvenient truth study questions

Write a response of approximately 200 words to each of the below questions with reference to the content in the Readings folder:

1. What is the central theme of An Inconvenient Truth, and how is it conveyed?

2. What is climate variability? How is climate change both local and global? Elaborate your answers.

When writing your response, please use your own words and paraphrase what you read in the text or the PPT. You may, of course, use the key words, but insert them into your own phrases. One method of doing this is to look away from the source text when you are writing. Here is a website to help you learn to paraphrase:Climate Studies introduction to climate science Chapter 1 Earth’s Climate as a Dynamic System © American Meteorological Society Background photo: Jean-Baptiste Dodane Essential Questions • • • • • • • How is climate defined? What is a system? Why is climate a unique and complex system? What comprises the climate system? What role do humans play in the climate system? How are humans affecting climate? How are humans affected by changes in this system? Introduction • The Earth is a finite and fragile resource • Earth’s climate can be studied using the systems approach • Climate – state of a complex system consisting of five major components, the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the cryosphere, the lithosphere and the biosphere, and the interactions amongst them • A system is an arbitrary portion of the universe with fixed or movable boundaries which may contain matter, energy or both • The climate system evolves over time due to its own internal dynamics and due to external forcings like volcanic eruptions, solar variations and because of human actions that change the atmosphere and the terrain due to land use • Balanced incoming and outgoing radiation cause a stable global climate • Unbalanced incoming and outgoing radiation cause a climate shift according to the gain or loss of energy • Current evidence shows the Earth is not in a global radiative equilibrium – The system is gaining energy – Climate change is taking place • Earth’s climate system establishes the environmental conditions and sets boundaries for weather • Climate is dynamic – It has changed in the past – Will change again in the future • Changes in climate occur on different scales and vary in magnitude and direction – Natural cycles – Human actions • Consequences grow in number and intensity based upon past and current human actions Climate and Society The importance of climate studies for human endeavors • Climate is variable, but is changing at an unprecedented rate due to the burning of fossil fuels • Human activities link humans to the Earth’s natural systems making climate change more complex • Mitigation - actions that reduce sources of gases which contribute to the warming of the climate system and enhance the mechanisms that remove them from the atmosphere • Gases that contribute to the warming of the climate system are known as greenhouse gases • Adaptation is the adjustment in natural or human systems to actual or expected climatic stimuli or their effects, which moderates harm or exploits beneficial opportunities. • Climate change heightens the vulnerabilities of societies and ecosystems • Affect is both global and local – Economic interdependence enhance the global component Climate and Society Human Vulnerability to Climate • Climate Variability – Change in average state of the climate on all spatial and temporal scales separate from singular weather events – Occur with or without human actions • Climate Change – a change in the state of the climate system, identified by changes in the average conditions and the variability of its properties, which persists for an extended period, typically decades or longer, due to natural or anthropogenic processes and forcings • Climate Vulnerability – Degree to which physical, biological, and socioeconomic systems are susceptible to, or incapable of coping with, adverse impacts of a variation in climate – Storms such as Katrina and Sandy have proven that modern society is not shielded from climateinduced social degradation • Sustainability – Capacity to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs – Balancing mitigation attempts with economic impacts can cause resistance Importance of the Climate System A Changing Climate • Each of the last three decades has been warmer at the surface than any preceding decade since 1850 • Ocean is warming more than any other location – Much of this energy is likely stored in the deep ocean • Plant and animal species also react to changes in climate • Ecosystem - a collection of living organisms within the nonliving substances they depend on or near the surface of the Earth – Changes in the climate affect ecosystems in many ways – Significant ecosystem disturbance signals a change in the climate system Importance of the Climate System Climate Variability vs.