The authors argue that while it seems like the climate change catastrophe is rolling on unchecked, governmental and international action are insufficient, and corporate power continues to hold back progress, the incredible advances that have been made since 2010 have already taken the direst scenarios of 4-8 degrees centigrade of warming off the table. They argue that if this is what could be accomplished in 10ish years with market, individual, NGO, and community forces and technological advances, now that governments (and some businesses) are gettng more serious (and technology continues to drop prices and raise efficiencies), far more progress is in the near future. Hence "We WILL fix climate change!". Not to say that there won't continue to be damages, but we are well on the way to taming their expansion and repairing some of them. There is an extended discussion of doomism and despair and how that really only helps the biggest emitters and fossil companies who benefit if people are too disengaged or depressed to do anything about it (they may even promote it...).
GeoGirl has a lot of interesting stuff which include slides and infographics, not just a talking head. She has posted several in recent months on oceans and climate change, and other climate change aspects. I am only including one here for simplicity, but definitely check out the others, if that's your kind of thing. She also has a website at geogirlscience.com and is on Instagram and LinkedIn.
GeoGirl says:
Hi! My name is Rachel, I post educational geoscience videos. Whether you studying for an exam, or just someone interested in geoscience and related fields, there is something for you on this channel!
About me: I earned my PhD in geoscience at UTEP and now work as an NSF postdoctoral fellow at the University of South Carolina!
The books and references I use for my videos are always linked in the individual video descriptions :)
Environmental educators face a formidable challenge when they approach climate change due to the complexity of the science and of the political and cultural contexts in which people live. There is a clear consensus among climate scientists that climate change is already occurring as a result of human activities, but high levels of climate change awareness and growing levels of concern have not translated into meaningful action. Communicating Climate Change provides environmental educators with an understanding of how their audiences engage with climate change information as well as with concrete, empirically tested communication tools they can use to enhance their climate change program.
Starting with the basics of climate science and climate change public opinion, Armstrong, Krasny, and Schuldt synthesize research from environmental psychology and climate change communication, weaving in examples of environmental education applications throughout this practical book. Each chapter covers a separate topic, from how environmental psychology explains the complex ways in which people interact with climate change information to communication strategies with a focus on framing, metaphors, and messengers. This broad set of topics will aid educators in formulating program language for their classrooms at all levels. Communicating Climate Change uses fictional vignettes of climate change education programs and true stories from climate change educators working in the field to illustrate the possibilities of applying research to practice. Armstrong et al, ably demonstrate that environmental education is an important player in fostering positive climate change dialogue and subsequent climate change action.
It may appear that atmospheric oxygen fraction or ocean pH could not change by very large amounts in
the near term, but there are numerous feedback loops at work in climate change and ocean chemistry
change. Things can change very quickly when several amplifying loops combine into one large cycle. I
don't think they can be ruled out at this time. In either case, ocean circulation, chemistry,
anoxia, and temperature are all undergoing changes large enough to be disastrous to marine life at
many regions and depths.
Scientists have long predicted a weakening of the AMOC as a result of global heating, and
have raised concerns that it could collapse altogether. The new study found that any
such point was likely to be decades away, but that continued high greenhouse gas
emissions would bring it closer.
Rahmstorf said: “We risk triggering [a tipping point] in this century, and the
circulation would spin down within the next century. It is extremely unlikely that we
have already triggered it, but if we do not stop global warming, it is increasingly
likely that we will trigger it.
“The consequences of this are so massive that even a 10% chance of triggering a breakdown
would be an unacceptable risk.”
University of Leicester Press Office:
Global warming disaster could suffocate life on planet Earth, research shows. Formerly a University of Leicester presss release,
now links to the paper itself since the press release was removed:
"Mathematical Modelling of Plankton–Oxygen Dynamics Under the Climate Change" Sergei Petrovskii, 12-01-2015
Wikipedia: Blue Carbon Retrieved February 5th, 2022
-- Blue carbon is carbon sequestration (the removal of carbon dioxide from the
earth's atmosphere) by the world's oceanic and coastal ecosystems, mostly by algae, seagrasses,
macroalgae, mangroves, salt marshes and other plants in coastal wetlands. This occurs through
plant growth and the accumulation and burial of organic matter in the soil. Because oceans cover
70% of the planet, ocean ecosystem restoration has the greatest blue carbon development potential.
Research is ongoing, but in some cases it has been found that these types of ecosystems remove far
more carbon than terrestrial forests, and store it for millennia.
Wikipedia: Stratification (Water)
Almost entirely about Ocean Stratification. Probably the article should be renamed. (There are separate
articles for lake stratification, thermocline, open ocean convection, pycnocline, and aquatic science among other things. It seems to me
that Stratification (Water) might make more sense for a more general chemistry article, rather than ecology/aquatic science).
Retrieved February 5th, 2022
--
Stratification is defined as the separation of water in layers based on a specific quantity. Two main types of
stratification of water are uniform and layered stratification. Layered stratification occurs in all of the ocean
basins. The stratified layers act as a barrier to the mixing of water, which can impact the exchange of heat, carbon,
oxygen and other nutrients.[1] Due to upwelling and downwelling, which are both wind-driven, mixing of different
layers can occur by means of the rise of cold nutrient-rich and warm water, respectively. Generally, the layers
are based on the density of water. Intuitively, heavier, and hence denser, water is located below the lighter water,
representing a stable stratification. An example of a layer in the ocean is the pycnocline, which is defined as a layer
in the ocean where the change in density is relatively large compared to the other layers in the ocean. The thickness
of the thermocline is not constant everywhere, but depends on a variety of variables. Over the years stratification of
the ocean basins has increased.[1] An increase in stratification means that the differences in density of the layers
in the oceans increase, leading to for example larger mixing barriers.
Wikipedia: Dead
zone (ecology) Dead zones are hypoxic (low-oxygen) areas in the world's oceans and
large lakes, which causes these bodies of water to fail to support the marine life living
there. Historically, many of these sites were naturally occurring. However, in the 1970s,
oceanographers began noting increased instances and expanses of dead zones. These occur near
inhabited coastlines, where aquatic life is most concentrated.
Wikipedia: Ocean
Deoxygenation Ocean deoxygenation is the reduction of the oxygen content of the oceans
due to human activities as a consequence of anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide and
eutrophication driven excess production. It is manifest in the increasing number of coastal
and estuarine hypoxic areas, or dead zones, and the expansion of oxygen minimum zones in the
world's oceans. The decrease in oxygen content of the oceans has been fairly rapid and poses
a threat to all aerobic marine life, as well as to people who depend on marine life for
nutrition or livelihood.
Wikipedia: Climate change feedback Climate change feedback is important in the understanding of global
warming because feedback processes may amplify or diminish the effect of each climate
forcing, and so play an important part in determining the climate sensitivity and future
climate state. Feedback in general is the process in which changing one quantity changes a
second quantity, and the change in the second quantity in turn changes the first. Positive
feedback amplifies the change in the first quantity while negative feedback reduces it.
Wikipedia: Anoxic
event Oceanic anoxic events or anoxic events (anoxia conditions) were
intervals in the Earth's past where portions of oceans became depleted in oxygen (O2) over a
large geographic areas. [...] Although anoxic events have not happened for millions of
years, the geological record shows that they happened many times in the past. Anoxic events
coincided with several mass extinctions and may have contributed to them. These mass
extinctions include some that geobiologists use as time markers in biostratigraphic dating.
Many geologists believe oceanic anoxic events are strongly linked to slowing of ocean
circulation, climatic warming, and elevated levels of greenhouse gases.
Wikipedia: Arctic methane
emissions
Arctic methane is much talked about, but I never hear about ancient ANTarctic deposits (yet). Arctic methane release is the release of methane from seas and soils in
permafrost regions of the Arctic. While it is a long-term natural process, methane release
is exacerbated by global warming. This results in negative effects, as methane is itself a
powerful greenhouse gas.
Wikipedia: Greenhouse
gas Section on Anthropogenic greenhouse gases A greenhouse gas (sometimes abbreviated GHG) is a gas that absorbs and
emits radiant energy within the thermal infrared range. [...]
Since about 1750 human activity has increased the concentration of
carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Measured atmospheric concentrations of carbon
dioxide are currently 100 ppm higher than pre-industrial levels. Natural sources of carbon
dioxide are more than 20 times greater than sources due to human activity, but over periods
longer than a few years natural sources are closely balanced by natural sinks, mainly
photosynthesis of carbon compounds by plants and marine plankton. As a result of this
balance, the atmospheric mole fraction of carbon dioxide remained between 260 and 280 parts
per million for the 10,000 years between the end of the last glacial maximum and the start
of the industrial era.
Wikipedia: Great Oxidation Event
There was a time when the atmosphere wasn't full of oxygen:
The Great Oxidation Event (GOE), sometimes also called the Great
Oxygenation Event, Oxygen Catastrophe, Oxygen Crisis, Oxygen Holocaust, or Oxygen
Revolution, was a time period when the Earth's atmosphere and the shallow ocean experienced
a rise in oxygen, approximately 2.4 billion years ago (2.4 Ga) to 2.1–2.0 Ga during the
Paleoproterozoic era. Geological, isotopic, and chemical evidence suggests that biologically
produced molecular oxygen (dioxygen, O2) started to accumulate in Earth's atmosphere and
changed Earth's atmosphere from a weakly reducing atmosphere to an oxidizing atmosphere,
causing many existing species on Earth to die out. The cyanobacteria producing the oxygen
caused the event which enabled the subsequent development of multicellular forms.
Wikipedia: Oxygen
Cycle The oxygen cycle is the biogeochemical transitions of oxygen atoms
between different oxidation states in ions, oxides, and molecules through redox reactions
within and between the spheres/reservoirs of the planet Earth. The word oxygen in the
literature typically refers to the most common oxygen allotrope, elemental/diatomic oxygen
(O2), as it is a common product or reactant of many biogeochemical redox reactions within
the cycle. Processes within the oxygen cycle are considered to be biological or geological
and are evaluated as either a source (O2 production) or sink (O2 consumption).
Wikipedia: Cretaceous-Paleogene
extinction event The Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) extinction event, also known as the
Cretaceous–Tertiary (K–T) extinction, was a sudden mass extinction of three-quarters of the
plant and animal species on Earth, approximately 66 million years ago.
As noted above (The
Atlantic), many large Earth impacts did not lead to mass extinctions at the scale of
this one, and this one coincided with ocean acidification, which is also begininning in our
present climate crisis.
Wikipedia: Eutrophication Eutrophication (from Greek eutrophos, "well-nourished"), distrophication
or hypertrophication, is when a body of water becomes overly enriched with minerals and
nutrients which induce excessive growth of algae. This process may result in oxygen
depletion of the water body. One example is an "algal bloom" or great increase of
phytoplankton in a sandy body as a response to increased levels of nutrients. Eutrophication
is often induced by the discharge of nitrate or phosphate-containing detergents,
fertilizers, or sewage into an aquatic system.
Wikipedia: Oxygen minimum zone The oxygen minimum zone (OMZ), sometimes referred to as the shadow zone,
is the zone in which oxygen saturation in seawater in the ocean is at its lowest. This zone
occurs at depths of about 200 to 1,500 m (660–4,920 ft), depending on local circumstances.
OMZs are found worldwide, typically along the western coast of continents, in areas where an
interplay of physical and biological processes concurrently lower the oxygen concentration
(biological processes) and restrict the water from mixing with surrounding waters (physical
processes), creating a “pool” of water where oxygen concentrations fall from the normal
range of 4–6 mg/l to below 2 mg/l.It is notable that a lethal
decline in aqeuous dissolved oxygen is measurable in single parts per million, unlike
atmospheric oxygen which is around 21% (or 210,000 parts per million) in normal
conditions. It factors out this way because pure water is 1kg per liter, and seawater
at
the surface is 1.025 kg/l, so 4-6mg/l of oxygen is 3.90-5.85 ppm in seawater, or 4-6ppm in pure
water.
Wikipedia: Atlantic
meridional overturning circulation Section on AMOC stability The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) is the
zonally-integrated component of surface and deep currents in the Atlantic Ocean. It is
characterized by a northward flow of warm, salty water in the upper layers of the Atlantic,
and a southward flow of colder, deep waters that are part of the thermohaline circulation.
These "limbs" are linked by regions of overturning in the Nordic and Labrador Seas and the
Southern Ocean. [...]
Atlantic overturning is not a static feature of
global circulation, but rather a sensitive function of temperature and salinity
distributions as well as atmospheric forcings. Paleoceanographic reconstructions
of AMOC vigour and configuration have revealed significant variations over geologic time
complementing variation observed on shorter scales.
Wikipedia: Shutdown of
thermohaline circulation A shutdown or slowdown of the thermohaline circulation is a hypothesized
effect of global warming on a major ocean circulation.
A 2015 study suggested that the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) has
weakened by 15-20% in 200 years.
Wikipedia: Tipping points in
the climate system A tipping point in the climate system is a threshold that, when
exceeded, can lead to large changes in the state of the system. Potential tipping points
have been identified in the physical climate system, in impacted ecosystems, and sometimes
in both. For instance, feedback from the global carbon cycle is a driver for the transition
between glacial and interglacial periods, with orbital forcing providing the initial
trigger. Earth's geologic temperature record includes many more examples of geologically
rapid transitions between different climate states.
General Climate Change and Solutions
The Sun Magazine: Before It’s Too
Late Mary Christina Wood On Avoiding Climate Disaster By Mary DeMocker - February 2019
The New Yorker: How
Extreme Weather Is Shrinking the Planet With wildfires, heat waves, and rising sea levels, large tracts of the
earth are at risk of becoming uninhabitable. But the fossil-fuel industry continues its
assault on the facts. By Bill McKibben - November 16, 2018
Politico.com: What
Covid Is Exposing About the Climate Movement The “it’s not you” approach might be good politics, but the Covid
epidemic
is showing it’s also wrong By Michael Grunwald, 04/21/2020
Echoing my points that every gram of carbon counts and that while we can't solve climate
change with individual action alone, neither can we solve it without individual change. The
author
discusses the corporate-sponsored 'Crying Indian' ad that appeared on the 2nd Earth Day in
1971: while the
ad may have been a ploy to falsely shift responsibility for pollution away from business and
onto
individuals, it also made littering extremely uncool, and Americans
don't chuck much garbage out their car windows anymore.
Climate change is a wicked collective action problem, and no one seriously believes that
7.7 billion people can overcome the
tragedy of the global commons by switching to reusable cups and biking to work. But
while individual change alone can't fix the
climate, the climate can't be fixed without it: When the scientists from the research
coalition
Project Drawdown ranked
the top
solutions for reducing global emissions, No. 3 and No. 4 were reducing food waste and
embracing plant-rich diets, solutions that
depend on people’s everyday life decisions.
[ ranking cited is for Project Drawdown's Scenario 2 ]
But why do I say ignore them all? The climate crisis is urgent, and we need debate to
drive
action.
However, vigorous debates over action are already taking place in good faith
all
over the world,
from the tops of governments to the smallest local action groups.
[ excerpts not sequential ]
The world of finance and business is catching up fast with the science, and almost all
the
technology needed
already exists. In short, no sane or serious actor can countenance denial of climate
danger.
Bad-faith
arguments motivated by greed, egomania or ideology have nothing to add.
I've long thought that bricks and lumber replacements would be a good use for scrap plastic.
Now someone's gone and done it!
Matee’s young company, Gjenge Makers, takes plastic waste and turns it into building
materials. According to Matee, using sand and a mixture of plastic waste can produce
bricks, manholes, and tiles that are stronger than traditional concrete materials used
for construction. Matee boasts that “Our product is almost five to seven times stronger
than concrete.” What’s more, Matee’s recycled bricks are lighter and cheaper than more
traditional construction products. This makes the entire supply chain of construction
cheaper because transportation costs are greatly lowered, and obviously the materials
themselves are cheaper.
Sierra - the national magazine of the Sierra Club: The
End of Oil is Near The pandemic may send the petroleum industry to the grave By Antonia Juhasz | Aug 24 2020
"In a nutshell, he has shown that it’s possible to eliminate 70 percent to 80 percent of
US
carbon emissions by 2035 through rapid deployment of existing electrification
technologies,
with
little-to-no carbon capture and sequestration. Doing so would slash US energy demand by
around
half, save consumers money, and keep the country on a 1.5° pathway without requiring
particular
behavior changes. Everyone could still have their same cars and houses — they would just
need to
be electric."
[ excerpts not sequential ]
"And Griffith emphasizes that, in proportional terms, today’s task is less substantial
than
FDR’s. It took the equivalent of 1.8 US GDPs to win World War II, whereas the total cost of
decarbonizing America is more like 1.2 to 1.5 GDPs, he says. Proportionally, it’s a
significantly smaller interruption to the economy. "
Politico Magazine: My
Life in the Elusive Green Economy The renewable future is here—if you can find a plug. Michael Grunwald - Politico Magazine - March 2018
Scientific American: Fossil
Fuel Subsidies Cost $5 Trillion Annually and Worsen Pollution The International Monetary Fund notes that subsides for burning fossil
fuels enrich the wealthy and make air pollution worse Daniel Cusick - Scientific American - May 2015
Reprinted from Climatewire with permission from Environment & Energy Publishing, LLC.
www.eenews.net
ROAR Magazine: Three reasons why
the Paris climate deal is a fraud World leaders are congratulating themselves on a set of promises they
will never be able to keep without taking on the immense power of the fossil fuel
industry. By Jerome Roos, 12-14-2015
I would not myself call the Paris Climate
Agreement a fraud, but all the problems identified in the article are real and still
largely unaddressed
The New Yorker: The Race
to Solar-Power Africa American startups are competing to bring electricity to communities
that remain off the grid. By Bill McKibben, June 19, 2017
Politico.com: Trump's
unplanned gift to Biden: Clean energy on the rise Oil and gas producers are struggling amid weak prices and growing
pressure to address climate change — a trend that could help Biden make a U-turn in energy
policy. By BEN LEFEBVRE and KELSEY TAMBORRINO | 12/29/2020
Renewables are now on track to surpass coal as the largest source of electricity in the
world by 2025, according to a November report from the International Energy Agency. And
in the U.S., the latest outlook from the Energy Department's Energy Information
Administration is bullish on wind and solar, which along with hydropower and other
renewables will surpass 20 percent of U.S. electricity generation next year, about the
same level as coal or nuclear power. EIA is projecting the U.S. electric power sector
will add a record 23 gigawatts of new wind capacity this year — almost double the
previous record — while utility-scale solar capacity to rise by 12.8 GW in 2020, enough
to power millions of homes.
[ Excerpts not sequential ]
Those weak prices for natural gas and crude oil — which briefly turned negative as the
pandemic took hold in April — have forced 45 oil and gas companies to file for
bankruptcy through the first 11 months of 2020, according to law firm Haynes and Boone.
