450 PPM

will mean something to you one day.

HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU TURNED ON A LIGHT TODAY?

If your answer is even once, then you are responsible for the

consumption of electrical energy. Our energy today is mass

produced at increasingly higher levels to meet the needs of

our global population—a modest 6,802,000,000 and rising.

The majority of our energy is generated by burning petroleum and

coal. Within the last 150 years the invention of the combustion engine

and other inventions born in the Industrial Revolution have made our

technology dependant upon them.

All energy comes from the sun. For example petroleum and coal are

products of decayed and pressurized once living organisms. This

fossilization process has created massive but finite quantities of these

fuels over centuries. Our once abundant resource, petroleum has

reached a point where many people speculate about a world in which

it has disappeared all together.

When either of these substances is burned, the by-products include

a number of gases, one of which is carbon dioxide. This may not be

news to you but perhaps you are wondering how a process like this

could attract the attention of our world leaders at the 2009 Climate

Conference in Copenhagen.

A lot of the concern has to do with the environment and how a gradual

shift in the concentration of CO2 in our atmosphere is warming our

planet. 100 years ago the atmosphere was void of any human manipulation

but today our hand is readily apparent.

FREQUENT & MORE DAMAGING HURRICANESHURRICANE SEASON 1900–2005

GALVESTON 1900

ATLANTIC-GULF 1919

MIAMI 1926

SAN FELIPE-OKEECHOBEE 1928

FLORIDA KEYS LABOR DAY 1935

NEW ENGLAND 1938

GREAT ATLANTIC 1944

CAROL AND EDNA 1954

HAZEL 1954

CONNIE AND DIANE 1955

AUDREY 1957

DONNA 1960

CAMILLE 1969

AGNES 1972

TROPICAL STORM CLAUDETTE 1979

ALICIA 1983

GILBERT 1988

HUGO 1989

ANDREW 1992

TROPICAL STORM ALBERTO 1994

OPAL 1995

MITCH 1998

FLOYD 1999

KEITH 2000

TROPICAL STORM ALLISON 2001

IRIS 2001

ISABEL 2003

CHARLEY 2004

FRANCES 2004

IVAN 2004

JEANNE 2004

DENNIS 2005

KATRINA 2005

RITA 2005

WILMA 2005

We are talking about greenhouse gases. This topic has been the subject

of much political, scientific and general debate. Everyone is wondering

the extent to which global climate change will effect our lives. How dire

has our situation become and what have we committed to?

Whatever your belief, you cannot refute the science behind

450 PPM. What does that mean you ask? Envision a cube

of air that is made up of 1,000,000 particles. In this case 450

of those particles are CO2 molecules. The parts per million

(PPM) is how many of these particles that are made up of

CO2. The CO2 parts are reflective so the greater their quantity,

the more heat our atmosphere will be trapping.

Paleoclimatology is the historic study of the earth’s climate. It was

sparked by the 19th century investigation of ice ages and their cyclical

nature. People like the physicist John Tyndell noticed the recurrence

of ice ages over millennia but had not properly understood the science.

Many factors that appear to be connected to this cycle including

solar variation and the movement of the earth’s axis in the presence

of C02 but essentially:

MORE CO2 = HOTTER LESS CO2 = COOLER

The paleoclimatologist Lonnie Thompson

investigated the relationship between

CO2 and it’s impact on the earth’s

temperature by drilling through high

altitude glaciers. He studied the air

bubbles that were inside of the ice and

was able to extract information about

atmospheric conditions from thousands

of years ago.

One of the more recent ice specimens

was removed from Antarctica. At a

depth of 3.2 kilometers, the ice fell as

the snow had 800,000 years ago.

Ice cores draw a clear correlation

between the concentration of CO2

and the earths temperature.

SPREADOF HARMFUL DISEASESIn countries north of the equator, the warmer the climate the more

species of disease-carrying insects will begin to emerge as a threat to

their inhabitants. Some believe that global warming is why malaria

cases are increasing in new regions of the Tropic of Cancer.

Sea levels will rise as the increase in atmospheric CO2 melts the

glaciers mass quantities of ice at the poles. The oceans will expand

as they become warmer. This will affect the flow of oceanic currents,

the life inhabiting them and the world’s coastal populations.

If climate change were to happen at the rate our current global

circulation models have determined, it will have distant effects on the

locations of these diseases. The major ones include those transmitted

by poikilothermic arthropods such as mosquitoes and ticks. Although

many scientists agree that global climate change will influence

infectious disease transmission dynamics, the extent of the influence

is not yet known.

However we can predict…

Up until 200 years ago our atmosphere contained 275 PPM of CO2. That

was a useful amount because without some CO2 and other greenhouse

gases our planet would be too cold to sustain human life.

The 18th century marks a point where coal and oil were burned to produce

energy and goods. The amount of carbon in the atmosphere began to

increase exponentially. Many of our everyday activities like turning on

the lights, cooking food, or heating or cooling our homes rely on energy

sources like coal and oil that emit carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping

gases into the atmosphere.

The current concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is about 387 PPM and

this number is rising by about 2 parts per million every year. The next

important figure is 450. There is no sure way to know how our environment

would adapt but it is difficult to foresee that our way of life could continue

under such uncontrollable climate conditions. We may reach that level

within the next 50 to 100 years.

IT USED TO BE 275THEN 390 & NOW…

In order for the atmosphere to stabilize, we must revert to a level like

350 PPM. To accomplish this we need to lower the amount of globally

emitted CO2 by 90% in the next 40 years.

LOOK AT THE PERSON NEXT TO YOU, CHANCES ARE YOU WILL BE COMPETING FOR VALUABLE RESOURCES IN THE NEAR FUTURE.

LOOK AT THE PERSON NEXT TO YOU, CHANCES ARE YOU WILL BE COMPETING FOR VALUABLE RESOURCES IN THE NEAR FUTURE.

Temperamental weather conditions mean that land surfaces will be warmer

and the sea will evaporate quicker. This will cause both droughts at the

equator and more rainfall at higher latitudes. These events will lead to a

falling water supply in arid regions and higher stress for indigenous and

agricultural plant species, animal migrations and human refugees.

Species will be lost as the temperature increases faster than they

can adapt. The effects of extinction will impact the entire food

chain. Every single study conducted on animal species over the

last one hundred years has indicated stress and or loss in numbers.

The most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report

has stated that we are committed to 2–4 feet of sea level rise and 8–10

degrees Fahrenheit increase by the end of the century. The IPCC report also

emphasizes that these events will displace around 70,000,000 refugees.

Think about that in the context of less land.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

Before we start pointing fingers, we should consider the other

side of climate change—your role.

Educate yourself: know your enemy and be an example in

these dire times.

Be considerate: have you ever stepped back and evaluated

the way you live your life? It is often surprising how often

we disregard something until it posses an immediate threat.

1 2&

TAKE CLIMATE CHANGE & SUSTAINABILITYThe Maryland Institute College of Art

Spring 2010 » THERE IS ONLY A 6 AND A HALF YEAR WINDOW TO ACT!

Enrollment info: GFA 343.01

THOSE WHO DOUBT THE EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE,

CLIMATECHANGEANDSUSTAINABILITY

.EDUBLOGS.ORG

CLIMATECHANGEANDSUSTAINABILITY

.EDUBLOGS.ORG

LET’S JUST HOPE YOUARE RIGHT.