Global Warming Pack
56
1 Global Warming “We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive.” Albert Einstein, 1954
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A pack for advanced learners of English. Students research various facets of global warming and read a variety of newspaper articles with question and answer sections. Finally students make a powerpoint presentation about global warming.
Transcript of Global Warming Pack
1
Global Warming
“We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive.”
Albert Einstein, 1954
Part 1: ‘The Science’
1. Name 3 of the main greenhouse gasses.
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2. What is the ‘greenhouse effect’? Is this a good thing?
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3. Below is an image which helps to explain the concept of global warming. Use the space below to describe global warming in your own words.
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What is global warming?
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4. Below is a graph that shows CO2 levels since 1850. In your own words, how has the CO2 level in
the atmosphere changed since 1850?
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5. Below is a graph that shows global annual temperatures for the same period. In what ways, if any, do
you think the 2 graphs are linked?
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6. What level of CO2 do climatologists agree is fairly safe?
___ ppm.
7. What temperature increase do climatologists agree is fairly safe?
___ degrees.
8. What, if any, is the consensus among climatologists regarding future CO2 and temperature trends
with a business as usual approach (BAU)?
2050
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2075
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2100
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Part 2: ‘The Causes’
1. The graph below from the ‘The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’ identifies
the global warming contributions by industry. Please describe the graph in the space provided below.
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2. Does anything in the graph surprise you? Justify your answer.
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5
What are some causes?
3. Below is a table showing the top 10 countries by carbon dioxide emissions. The table also shows the CO2 per person for each country. Analyze and explain the data in your own words.
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4. Through your research, you will have noticed that a significant contributor to global warming is the
animal agriculture industry. Now visit, the following environmental organisations and try to find
mention of animal agriculture on their sites. Fill in the below table:
Name of organisation Any mention? Comment
1 http://www.greenpeace.org/japan/ja/
2 http://www.sierraclub.org/
3 http://wwf.org/
4 http://amazonwatch.org/
5 http://350.org/
6 https://www.edf.org/
5. Discuss your findings.
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6. How do the findings make you feel?
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7. Read the following infographic and answer the questions that follow.
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Questions
1. What percentage of amazon deforestation is due to animal agriculture?
___ %
2. What percentage of global greenhouse gas emissions are attributed to animal agriculture?
___ %
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3. What percentage of the Earths water is used by animal agriculture?
___ %
4. What is the effect on animals and insects from rainforest destruction?
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5. What does fish by-kill mean?
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6. What percentage of the Earth’s land does animal agriculture use?
___ %
7. How much water does it take to make a hamburger?
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The video has been purchased and you may watch it at:
www.cowspiracy.vhx.tvThere are Japanese subtitles. (http://www.cowspiracy.com/facts/)
1. Briefly describe what the film is about and the argument that it makes.
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2. List six facts described in the movie that impressed you and explain how each fact relates to the
film's argument.
Fact Relation to argument Fact Relation to argument
1. 2.
3. 4.
5. 6.
3. What is the call to action in this movie? How do you think you will respond to that call? Describe
your reasons.
9
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Part 3: ‘The potential effects’
1. If temperatures continue to rise, what effects will it have on the following:
1 ice and snow
2 coastlines
3 water cycle
4 ecosystems
5 water resources
6 agriculture
7 coastal occupation
8 human health
2. Below is a graph showing the IPCC projected sea level rise for the 21st century.
10
What are some potential effects?
3. For every degree of temperature increase in the next 2000 years, what is the estimate for
corresponding sea level increase? (Wikipedia)
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4. Is this represented in the IPCC graph? Why or why not?
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5. The map below shows a specific area susceptible to sea level increases. Analyze the information in your own words.
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6. What is currently happening to the worlds’ coral reefs?
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7. What likely effect will this have on fish?
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8. What effect will this in turn have on humans?
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9. What is currently happening to honey bees around the world? And what effects will this have?
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10. In climate science there is something called a ‘feedback loop’. These can be split into 2 types; positive
and negative. Please define them in your own words below.
Positive Feedback __________________________________________________________________
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Negative Feedback _________________________________________________________________
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11. Please discuss some examples of positive feedback:
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12. Please discuss some examples of negative feedback:
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Sea Levels Could Rise At Least 20 FeetJuly 9th, 2015 By Brian Kahn http://www.climatecentral.org/news/sea-levels-rise-20-
feet-19211
Words bolded may or may not appear in your final exam.
Even if the world manages to limit global warming to 2°C — the target number for current climate
negotiations — sea levels may still rise at least 6 meters (20 feet) above their current heights, radically
reshaping the world’s coastline and affecting millions in the process.
That finding comes from a new paper published on Thursday in Science that shows how high sea levels rose
the last time carbon dioxide levels were this high.
That was about 3 million years ago,
when the globe was about 3-5°F
warmer on average, the Arctic was
14.4°F warmer, mega sharks swam
the oceans, and sea levels stood at
least 20 feet above their current
heights. The mega sharks aren’t
coming back but those sea levels
could be no matter what happens in
December’s climate summit in
Paris.
“Even if we meet that 2°C target, in
the past with those types of
temperatures, we may be
committing ourselves to this level of
sea level rise in the long term,”
Andrea Dutton, a geochemist at the
University of Florida and one of the
study’s co-authors, said. “The
decisions we make now about where 13
we want to be in 2100 commit us on a pathway where we can’t go back. Once these ice sheets start to melt,
the changes become irreversible.”
The study examined past changes and laid out a framework for using them to refine our understanding of
what the future holds for coastal communities. According to separate research by Climate Central, a 20-foot
sea level rise would reshape the U.S. coast, causing Louisiana to lose its boot and transforming the Bay
Area into the Bays Area by forming a second inland bay. It would also threaten the world's coastal nations
and megacities.
Sea levels have already risen about
8 inches compared to pre-industrial
times. That rise has helped boost the
surge and flooding damage from
storms like Sandy and Typhoon
Haiyan, and dramatically increased
the occurrence of everyday
flooding during high tide in cities
from Baltimore to Honolulu.
The most recent projections from
the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change indicate that if emissions continue on their current trend, sea levels could continue to rise
another 39 inches by the end of this century.
By 2050, 26 major U.S. cities will face an “emerging flooding crisis.” Globally, storm damage could cost
cities from Hong Kong to Dhaka to New York trillions annually unless adaptation measures are taken.
According to Climate Central estimates, 150 million or more people are currently living on land that will
either be submerged or exposed to chronic flooding by 2100.
But sea level rise isn’t going to just
turn off after 2100 and according to
climate scientists, current
greenhouse gases are baking much
more than 3 feet of sea level rise
into the system. The world’s
oceans, ice sheets and climate are
constantly performing an intricate
dance. The current rate of warming 14
could have them dancing a different routine forcing ice sheets to accommodate by melting, and sea levels in
turn to rise.
“Ice sheets as we see them today appear to be out of equilibrium with the present climate,” Dutton said.
Recent research showed the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, which contains enough ice to lift sea levels 10-13
feet, appears to have entered collapse, mostly driven by warm water and, to a lesser degree, air melting its
ice shelves from above and below. Those ice shelves essentially act as doorstops, keeping the rest of
Antarctica’s massive stores of ice on land. Losing them would send ice tumbling to the sea and, after it
melted, lapping up against the shorelines around the world. Other parts of the Antarctic ice sheet are also
less stable than previously believed and could further drive sea level rise from the southern hemisphere’s
store of ice.
The planet’s other major cache of land ice is Greenland. Its melt and contribution to sea level rise has
increased over the past decade and scientists project that it will play an increasingly larger role in raising the
oceans.
In addition to looking at the deep past, Dutton’s analysis also considered the more (geologically) recent past
by looking at periods around 400,000 and 125,000 years ago when global temperatures were 3.6°F and
1.8°F above pre-industrial times, respectively. Because they’re more recent, Dutton’s analysis was able to
get better estimates of the upper bounds of sea level rise. And those results don’t bode well for the world’s
coastlines as they showed that sea levels were up to 42 feet higher than the present.
“These numbers are consistent with our study on sea level commitment,” Anders Levermann, a sea level rise
expert at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research who authored a 2013 study, said.
Levermann said the Dutton’s approach of breaking down sea level rise by the different ice sheets could help
with regional sea level estimates. For example, Greenland’s melt could drive up sea levels on the Eastern
Seaboard in addition to having a potential impact on ocean circulation.
“We’re going to reach temperatures we had in the past periods in the next couple decades. Understanding
which the most vulnerable sectors of polar ice sheets are is critical to projecting future pattern of sea level
rise regionally,” Dutton said.
The big outstanding question — and the one that’s most relevant to people living along the coasts — is just
how long it could take sea levels to rise to such great heights. The process isn’t linear. It’s currently
accelerating and that trend is expected to continue. Dutton said her group is working on new techniques to
better define the rates of rise, but other efforts have shown tipping points could cause sudden, rapid rises
faster than previous estimates.
15
“There are some recent modeling efforts that now show you could get a section of the Antarctic ice sheet,
several meters worth of sea level rise, to go in a decade. We used to think it was centuries,” she said.
Questions
1. What may happen if the global temperature increases by only 2°C?
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2. Why does the journal Science predict this?
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3. In paragraph 3, Andrea Dutton says that if we make the wrong decisions now, we may not be able to
go back?
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4. What effect has the 8 inch sea level rise since pre-industrial times had recently?
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5. What forecast for sea level rise has the IPCC made lately?
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6. How many people are living on land vulnerable to sea level increases?
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7. If the West Antarctic Ice Sheet melted, what could be the effect on sea levels?
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8. In paragraph 8, the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is likened to a ‘doorstop’. Please explain this reference.
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9. In paragraph 10, Dutton compares sea level data from 400,000 years ago (3.6°C hotter) and 125,000
years ago (1.8°C hotter). What was the sea level at those times?
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10. How do you think Japan would be affected by such a change? Consider water, food, society, eco
systems.
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Climate Change Triggering 'Historically Unprecedented' Glacial Ice MeltBy Avaneesh Pandey @avaneeshp88 [email protected] on August 10 2015 6:45 AM EDT
Words bolded may or may not appear in your final exam.
The first decade of the twenty-
first century has not been a
good one for the planet's
climate. Of the 15 warmest
years on record, 14 have
occurred since 2000. Rising
global temperatures have also
made glaciers -- ice masses
that currently occupy nearly 10
percent of the world’s total
land area -- increasingly
unstable.
Although the melting of glaciers is a well-documented effect of climate change, a
new study has now shown how alarming this rate of ice-loss is. According to the
study, published in the International Glaciological Society’s Journal of Glaciology, the
first decade of the twenty-first century witnessed a “historically unprecedented”
rate of glacial ice melt.
“The observed glaciers currently lose between half a metre and one metre [1.6 feet
and 3.2 feet] of its ice thickness every year -- this is two to three times more than the
corresponding average of the 20th century,” Michael Zemp, director of the
University of Zurich’s World Glacier Monitoring Service and lead author of the study,
said, in a statement. The research also shows that ice-melt would continue even if
climate change somehow stopped and temperatures stabilized.
For the purpose of the study, the monitoring service compiled data on changes in
glaciers over the last 120 years. A total of over 5,000 measurements of glacier
volume and mass changes since 1850 and more than 42,000 records from
17
observations and reconstructions dating back to the sixteenth century were
analyzed.
Analysis of the data showed that despite isolated cases where ice volume and
thickness increased, none of the advancing glaciers have come close to the
maximums achieved during the so-called “Little Ice Age” -- a period of cooling
between the sixteenth and the nineteenth century. The long-term trend remains one
of retreat.
“Exact measurements of this ice loss are reported from a few hundred glaciers only.
However, these results are qualitatively confirmed from field and satellite-based
observations for tens of thousands of glaciers around the world,” Zemp said, in the
statement.
Previous studies have shown that glaciers in the European Alps and Greenland are
especially vulnerable to the effects of climate change. While the Alps could lose
anything between 75 percent and 90 percent of their glacial ice by the end of the
century, Greenland’s glaciers -- which have the potential to raise global sea levels by
up to 20 feet -- are expected to melt faster as their exposure to warm ocean water
increases.
The meltwater from these glaciers, in addition to the water released by glaciers in
West Antarctica -- a region currently shedding the weight of Mount Everest every
two years -- would further raise sea levels that have already risen nearly seven
inches over the past 100 years.
Questions
1. Which organization stated that we have never before witnessed this amount of glacial melt?
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2. The current glacial melt is how much more than the normal melt?
0% - 29% 30% - 59% 60% - 90% 91% +
3. What would happen to the ice if climate temperatures steadied?
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4. The scientists involved in this research studied data from many periods. When was the first period
involved in the study?
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5. According to the study, what is the overall picture of the ice melt? What word does the paper use to
illustrate this?
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6. What was the little ice age? And when was it?
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7. Which glacier, if melted, could raise sea levels by 20 feet?
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8. Which paragraph provides additional evidence to support ice melting from all around the world?
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9. Ice in West Antarctica is currently melting at the speed of:
1/2 Everest per year 1 Everest per year 2 Everests per year
10. What do you think the consequences of this predicted glacial melt will be?
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Part 4: ‘What needs to be done?’
1. Consider some of the key causes of global warming and consider some ways to deal with them?
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Solutions
Problems
SolutionsSolutions
SolutionsSolutions
2. Research some of the ways in which scientists and conservationists are proposing we deal with the threat of global warming. Define them below.
a) Carbon sequestration____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
b) Renewable energy____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
c) Geoengineering____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
d) Move away from fossil fuels____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
e) Change to a vegan diet____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
f) Reduce consumption____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. Choose 3 from the previous list as your preferred way to combat global warming and justify your answer._________________________________________________________________________________
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4. There are various perspectives held by people regarding humans’ role in the larger ecological picture. These can be split into 3 main types. Please define them in the space below.
Ecocentrism Anthropocentrism Technocentrism
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5. Which do you think you are? Justify your answer._________________________________________________________________________________
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Geo-engineering: Climate fixes 'could harm billions'By David Shukman, Science editor, http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30197085
26 November 2014
Words bolded may or may not appear in your final exam.
Schemes to tackle climate change could prove disastrous for billions of people, but might be
required for the good of the planet, scientists say.
That is the conclusion of a new set of studies into what's become known as geo-engineering.
This is the so far unproven science of intervening in the climate to bring down temperatures.
These projects work by, for example, shading the Earth from the Sun or soaking up carbon dioxide.
Ideas include aircraft spraying out sulphur particles at high altitude to mimic the cooling effect of volcanoes
or using artificial "trees" to absorb CO2.
Long regarded as the most bizarre of all solutions for global warming, ideas for geo-engineering have come
in for more scrutiny in recent years as international efforts to limit carbon emissions have failed.
Now three combined research projects, led by teams from the universities of Leeds, Bristol and Oxford,
have explored the implications in more detail.
The central conclusion, according to Dr Matt Watson of Bristol University, is that the issues surrounding
geo-engineering - how it might work, the effects it might have and the potential downsides - are "really
really complicated".
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Sun block
"We don't like the idea but we're more convinced than ever that we have to research it," he said.
"Personally I find this stuff terrifying but we have to compare it to doing nothing, to business-as-usual
leading us to a world with a 4C rise."
The studies used computer models to simulate the possible implications of different technologies - with a
major focus on ideas for making the deserts, seas and clouds more reflective so that incoming solar radiation
does not reach the surface.
One simulation imagined sea-going vessels spraying dense plumes of particles into the air to try to alter the
clouds. But the model found that this would be far less effective than once thought.
Another explored the option of injecting
sulphate aerosols into the air above the Arctic
in an effort to reverse the decline of sea-ice.
A key finding was that none of the simulations
managed to keep the world's temperature at the
level experienced between 1986-2005,
suggesting that any effort would have to be
maintained for years.
More alarming for the researchers were the potential implications for rainfall patterns.
Although all the simulations showed that blocking the Sun's rays - or solar radiation management, as it is
called - did reduce the global temperature, the models revealed profound changes to precipitation including
disrupting the Indian Monsoon.
Prof Piers Forster of Leeds University said: "We have found that between 1.2 and 4.1 billion people could
be adversely affected by changes in rainfall patterns.
"The most striking example of a downside would be the complete drying-out of the Sahel region of Africa -
that would be very difficult to adapt to for those substantial populations - and that happens across all the
scenarios."
Despite the risk of catastrophic side-effects from geo-engineering, the study authors believe that research
should continue just in case runaway warming leaves no other options.
22
Prof Forster said: "If we were in a really desperate situation, trying to cool the temps for a 10-20 year time
period, there could be some merit in those circumstances in introducing solar radiation management to give
you a 10-20 year time period."
Lack of knowledge
According to Prof Steve Rayner of Oxford University, it is easier to devise the technology than to
understand its effects or how its use should be governed.
"If you were just thinking of the capability of putting sulphate aerosols in the atmosphere, that you could do
in less than two decades - whether you would know it was smart to do it in less than two decades is another
question.
"We don't know enough - we have a few islands
of knowledge in a sea of ignorance and it's
absolutely worth knowing more. There is the
potential that some of these technologies may be
part of a broader tool kit of ways in which we
can better manage climate change.
"People decry solar radiation management as a
band-aid but band-aids can be useful for healing."
Geo-engineering has long been one of the most controversial aspects of the debate about solutions to
climate change and few experiments have been conducted in the field.
One of the largest, known as Lohafex, was an
Indian-German experiment in 2009 which
involved dumping six tonnes of an iron
solution into the South Atlantic to encourage
plankton to bloom - trapping carbon which
would then be sent to the seabed when the
organisms died. Results showed limited
success.
Another proposal for the trial flight of a
balloon in Britain, as part of geo-engineering research for the SPICE project, attracted stiff opposition from
23
It would have been the precursor to a test of a technique for pumping sulphate aerosols into the atmosphere
in an effort to bounce solar radiation back into space and cool the planet.
Questions
1. What word does Dr. Matt Watson use to describe geoengineering?
_________________________________________________________________________________
2. Were any of the attempts in their study successful in reducing temperatures? Justify your answer.
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3. According to the report, how many people will be affected?
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4. How might solar radiation management affect India?
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5. Which part of the world will be most affected, according to this paper? Why are scientists worried
about this especially?
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6. What does Prof Steve Rayner believe the problem of geoengineering is?
_________________________________________________________________________________
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7. Do you think we should considering using this option? Justify your answer.
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Part 4: ‘Current situation’
Research the following solutions and briefly summarize what is being/not being done.
In the search field, enter the below solution followed by _____ statistics.
Potential solution What is being done?
1 Electric vehicles
2 Photovoltaics
3 Wind generation
4 Geothermal
5 Vegan diet
6 Consume less (GDP)
7 International CO2 emission controls
8 Buy local produce
9 Reduce fossil fuel use
10
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Reduce water consumption
11 ?
1. Having researched the above, what level of progress (if any) do you think we are making toward reducing global warming?
Perfect Impressive Average Unimpressive Terrible
2. Please justify your answer in the space below.____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
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3. Please read the following open letter sent to President Obama by a group of scientists associated to the
Cato institute Think Tank.
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4. Why do you think these scientists and the Cato Institute disagree with President Obama?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
5. Now, do some research. Go to your search engine and type in CATO INSTITUTE Funding. Who is the
chairman of the board?
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6. What industry is he/she involved in?
____________________________________________________________________________________
7. What, if any, do you think is the connection between this person and their industry and the CATO
INSTITUTE’s scientists?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
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8. The same people are heavily involved in resisting the widespread use of renewable energy. In your
search engine, type in FOSSIL FUEL COMPANIES ATTACK RENEWABLES. In your own words,
summarize their involvement.
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9. Why do you think that many people around the world disbelieve in manmade global warming?____________________________________________________________________________________________
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27
Merchants of Doubt film exposes slick US industry behind climate denial
Robert Kenner’s forthcoming documentary lifts the lid on the ‘professional deceivers’ manipulating US debate on climate change
Words bolded may or may not appear in your final exam.
Stephen Leahy Thursday 20 November 2014
Who remembers that climate change was a top priority early in George W Bush’s first term as US president? Merchants of Doubt, a new documentary film released in US cinemas this week, reminds us that in June 2001 Bush and the Republican party were 100% committed to curbing carbon emissions causing global warming.
Six months later everything changed. The film shows Republican party leader John Boehner calling the idea of global warming “laughable”, said Merchants of Doubt director Robert Kenner.
With the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center occupying attention, Americans For Prosperity, a powerful, fossil-fuel lobby group founded by the billionaire Koch Brothers, launched a decade-long, multi-pronged campaign to sow doubt about the reality of climate change.
By equating the findings of climate scientists as an attack on personal freedoms, they cleverly shifted the focus away from science to political opinion. “Creating a focus point away from what is actually going on is how magicians pull off their tricks,” said Kenner who directed the Oscar-nominated documentary Food Inc.
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The deception has worked well. Few Americans know 97% of scientists agree climate change is caused by human activity and is happening now.
Inspired by the 2010 book of the same name, Kenner’s film is about deception and profiles many of the charming and always smiling professional deceivers who work for the tobacco, chemical, pharmaceutical, and fossil fuel industries. The tobacco industry knowingly and successfully deceived the public for 50 years about the connection between smoking and cancer, the 1988 tobacco lawsuit settlement revealed.
In a pattern of manipulation clearly evident today in the manufactured ‘debate’ over climate change, the tobacco industry used media-friendly pseudo-experts, doctored ‘science’ studies and attacked the credibility of scientists or experts who said otherwise, Kenner said.
Peter Sparber, one of the tobacco industry’s most successful deceivers, told Kenner that he could get the public to believe a garbage man knew more about science than prominent climate scientist James Hansen.
“If you can sell tobacco you can sell anything,” Sparber tells Kenner.
Selling confusion and doubt around a complex issue like climate change was far easier than selling tobacco. Nearly all of those well-paid climate misinformers have no science background and often clear ties to industry lobby groups and yet are treated as expert commentators on climate science by media. It’s not just Fox News. Serious news outlets like CNN and the New York Times are complicit by featuring misinformers in news articles and on discussion panels, he said.
The film also focuses on the many self-described “grassroots” organisations that are actually promoting specific corporate and political interests. These organisations are often aided by, and passionately supported by, ordinary citizens who believe they are fighting for personal freedoms and libertarian or conservative values.
Kenner is hoping audiences “will realise they’ve been lied to” and develop better “bullshit detectors”.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/nov/20/merchants-of-doubt-film-exposes-slick-us-industry-behind-climate-denial
Questions
1. What did the Koch brothers do?__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. How do magicians pull off their tricks?__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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3. How is the climate science debate linked to the debate on the dangers of smoking from the 60’s and 70’s?__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
4. How are the media partly to blame for the misinformation?____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Pacific nations beg for help for islanders when 'calamity' of climate change hits
Words bolded may or may not appear in your final exam.
Coalition of Fiji, Kiribati, Tuvalu and Tokelau ask wealthy nations to help their people migrate and find work if they have to flee because of rising sea levels
Tuesday 13 October 2015
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/oct/14/pacific-nations-beg-for-help-for-islanders-when-calamity-of-climate-change-hits
Pacific island nations have pleaded with wealthy countries to help their people
migrate and find work if they are forced to flee their homelands because of the
consequences of climate change.
A coalition of low-lying island nations said moving people because of rising sea
levels, storms and ruined agriculture was a last resort, but the “calamity” of climate
change required industrialised countries to devise a plan.
In a joint statement after a summit in
Kiribati the Pacific nations – Fiji,Kiribati,
Tuvalu and Tokelau – said they were
“gravely concerned over the lack of
effective international response to
climate change” that posed “major
existential challenges” to their
populations and cultures.
They repeated calls for an international
body to be set up to coordinate population movement caused by climate change.
The creation of such a body was included in an early draft of a UN agreement to be
negotiated at climate talks in Paris in December but the idea was dropped last
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week. Australia opposed it, although countries including Britain, the US and France
were open to the concept.
The countries called for funding for health and education programs, and aid to raise
buildings above predicted sea level increases and safeguard water supplies from
saltwater intrusion.
Wealthy nations should “prepare our people for ‘migration with dignity’, capable of
contributing to other nations’ economies and development processes as skilled
migrant workers”, the Pacific leaders said.
Developing nations have access to the UN-administered green climate fund to help
adapt to or mitigate climate change. In 2009 nations agreed at Copenhagen to
provide $100bn in “climate finance” although this target has not been met and will
be debated again at the Paris talks.
“There is a view that Australia is putting coal ahead of people”.
David Ritter, Greenpeace Australia
There is no body that oversees the orderly movement of people because of climate
change impacts. The UN refugee convention applies only to those fleeing
persecution, with little appetite among the richest nations to expand its definition to
include “climate refugees” – amid predictions that up to 250 million people may be
displaced worldwide by 2050.
People living on coral atolls in the Pacific are considered particularly vulnerable to a
sea level that is rising by 1.2cm a year, four times faster than the global average.
Coastal erosion, tainted water supplies and failing crops have prompted communities
to move inland or to other islands.
Pacific leaders have taken an increasingly strident tone in calling for action, with
Anote Tong, the president of Kiribati, recently calling Australia “very selfish” for its
continued commitment to coalmining.
Peter Christian, the president of Micronesia, told a UN gathering in New York earlier
this month: “I speak as an islander who has walked the shores of many atoll islands,
where there was once sandy beaches and coconut trees.
“Now there are none. I am told this will continue. We must become more cohesive in
our actions to bring a useful conclusion to help mitigate the threat of sinking islands
and prevent the potential genocide of Oceanic peoples and cultures.”
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The chief executive of Greenpeace Australia, David Ritter, said Australia should do
more given its clout in the region.
“Australia is the richest, largest country in the region, so to sit back and say we are
doing enough is pathetic really,” said Ritter, who attended the Kiribati summit.
“People in the Pacific are very polite but privately the view of Australia is very clear:
this is a country not doing enough. There’s a view that Australia is putting coal ahead
of people.
“At the moment, if you are forced out of your home due to inundation you simply
become stateless. There’s no mechanism to ensure that these people won’t fall
through the cracks. When you go to Kiribati and see people trying to repair
sandbagged seawalls, you can see why this is a live issue for them.”
Questions
1. What was Australia’s position on creating a plan to coordinate population movement? Why do you think they held this position?_________________________________________________________________________________
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_________________________________________________________________________________
2. How many people may be climate refugees by 2050?
_________________________________________________________________________________
3. How does sea level rise on coral atolls in the Pacific compare to the global average?
_________________________________________________________________________________
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4. What does Anote Tong think of Australia?
_________________________________________________________________________________
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5. In your own words, what do you think the people of Pacific Islands want from developed countries?
_________________________________________________________________________________
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6. Do you agree with them? Justify your answer.
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Renewables Can Create Jobs and Heal the Planet: Report
Words bolded may or may not appear in your final exam.
"The Clean Energy Future represents a pathway away from climate destruction.... Should we let greed and inertia prevent us from taking it?”
The U.S. can reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050, while creating half a million jobs a year
and lowering energy costs for consumers, simply by limiting use of fossil fuels and allowing the renewables
sector continue to grow at its current pace, according to a new report published this week.
The report, The Clean Energy Future: Protecting the Climate, Creating Jobs and Saving Money, refutes
claims that meeting the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) targets for greenhouse gas
(GHG) reductions would take a toll on the economy and introduces an energy platform that would:
Transform the electric system, cutting coal-fired power in half by 2030 and eliminating it by 2050;
building no new nuclear plants; and reducing the use of natural gas far below business-as-usual
levels.
Reduce greenhouse gas emissions 86 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, in the sectors analyzed
(which account for three-quarters of US GHG emissions).
Save money—the cost of electricity, heating, and transportation under this plan is $78 billion less
than current projections from now through 2050.
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Create new jobs—more than 500,000 per year over business as usual projections through 2050.
"The Clean Energy Future represents a pathway away from climate destruction."
"This report presents a practical, realistic way for the United States to address the climate crisis and proves
that we don’t have to choose between jobs and the environment," said May Boeve, executive director of the
environmental action group 350.org, which helped craft the report along with the Labor Network for
Sustainability and Synapse Energy Economics.
Most of the jobs created from the program would occur in the construction and manufacturing industries,
such as electric auto production, the report states. That will serve three separate, but intertwining purposes
—supporting economic growth; concentrating job creation in sectors that have a high proportion of workers
of color; and helping unite environmental and labor advocates, who occasionally spar over their respective
causes.
"We don't have to choose between jobs and the environment."
— May Boeve, 350.org
"For unions and other jobs advocates, climate protection is also a great jobs program," the report states.
"This program will help bring together environmental and labor advocates around their common interest in
putting Americans to work saving the earth's climate."
Figure 2. Job creation in the Clean Energy Future, 2016 - 2050 The graph shows differences between employment in the Clean Energy Future and reference case projections, by year and major category of employment. Each category includes direct, indirect and induced employment.
"The workers displaced from fossil fuel industries are not cardboard cutouts," the report continues. "They
have done hard, dirty and dangerous jobs that kept our lights on and our cars moving for all the years before
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we recognized the need for a different energy future. In addition to our thanks, they deserve a just
transition, with assistance in training and placement in new jobs, or retirement with dignity."
Industry accounts for 18 percent of carbon emissions in the U.S. alone, largely emanating from the
manufacturing of chemicals, primary metals, paper, and cement, the report states. Switching to recyclable
materials and investing in renewables will contribute to reducing greenhouse gases by 80 percent by 2050.
But the crux of the report focuses on its potential impact on the job market and uniting environmentalists
and labor advocates.
"This report is good news for American workers," said Joe Uehlein, founder of the Labor Network.
"Protecting the climate has often been portrayed as a threat to American workers' jobs and the U.S.
economy. But this report shows that a clean energy future will produce more jobs than 'business as usual'
with fossil fuels."
The report concludes: "The Clean Energy Future represents a pathway away from climate destruction that is
also far better for workers and consumers than our current pathway based on fossil fuels. Should we let
greed and inertia prevent us from taking it?"
http://commondreams.org/news/2015/10/16/renewables-can-create-jobs-and-heal-planet-report
Questions
1. In the opening quote, what does it refer to?
_________________________________________________________________________________
2. What does the plan aim to do with regard coal by 2050?
_________________________________________________________________________________
3. How many jobs does the plan aim to generate per year by 2050?
_________________________________________________________________________________
4. What type of jobs would the plan produce?
_________________________________________________________________________________
5. What does the plan suggest regarding former fossil fuel company workers?
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
6. What is the core focus of the report?
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
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Part 5: ‘The future’
Consider all the information and opinions you have gathered and discuss what you consider to be the outcome for humans if we continue on our current path. Business as usual (BAU).
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Part 6: ‘Hope’
Please make a list of things that would help reduce our carbon footprint.
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What can we do?
1. Enter the solutions in the table below.
Individual Governments
France launches global drive for climate dealDiplomats mobilised for unprecedented PR push, with Paris summit seen as last chance to reach agreement.
Fiona Harvey Environment correspondent Monday 19 October 2015
France has launched an unprecedented diplomatic drive to shepherd nations big
and small towards a major climate change deal, ahead of a Paris summit next
month that is the next major make-or-break moment for the movement against
global warming.
Every one of France’s ambassadors, in embassies and consulates around the
globe, has been educated on the demands of climate change, and instructed in
how to communicate the messages to the governments they deal with, ahead of
the summit, which starts on 30 November.
Ambassadors have been holding public events, private meetings, talks with their
diplomatic counterparts, businesses, NGOs and even schoolchildren.
At home, the outer walls of the foreign ministry, a stately 19th-century edifice on the banks of the Seine, are
covered in a series of banners declaring, in several languages, the messages of Paris Climate 2015. Even 38
the Eiffel Tower, further down the riverbank, has been pressed into service, lit up at night with climate
slogans.
François Hollande, the president of France, has been visiting world leaders for the past year, urging them to
come to Paris. Laurent Fabius, foreign minister, who will be in charge of the talks, has made it his mission,
with a punishing schedule of events and public speaking. Ségolène Royal, environment minister and co-host,
has also been touring capitals and conferences.
Climate diplomacy has never seen such a concerted push.
“It’s a top priority for our diplomacy. All our ambassadors are fully mobilised, all around the world,” Sylvie
Bermann, the French ambassador to the UK, told the Guardian.
She has hosted a series of public seminars and events in the UK, with one forthcoming on climate change
and refugees. The embassy itself has also taken on the green message, with her new official car a hybrid
Peugeot 508 – a French manufacturer, of course.
Even in countries such as India and Poland where, Bermann said “there might be more fisticuffs” over
climate change, the embassies have been engaging governments, and in China, where she was posted before
coming to London – she is a fluent Chinese speaker – she notes a major push involving government and
NGOs.
With three months to go before the conference, France’s ambassadors were lectured by Ban Ki-moon, UN
secretary-general, who also has a big stake in the success of Paris, having presided over the previous
conference in Copenhagen in 2009 that was widely derided as a failure, as it collapsed into scenes of chaos
in the final hours.
“For Hollande’s administration, this is not just about the climate: it is about the government’s political
survival,” one prominent global official told the Guardian. “They need this to be a success, to have
something to celebrate, as they’re in trouble in so many other areas of politics.”
At the two-week summit, governments will meet under the auspices of the United Nations in the first
attempt for six years to forge a new global agreement on climate change.
COP21, as it is known in the jargon, is seen as a make-or-break conference, the last chance for the two-
decades-old UN process to bring nations together to tackle what many scientists regard as the biggest single
threat to humanity.
This week, governments will gather in Bonn for the last chance before the Paris conference to amend the
text of the potential agreement. Previous such meetings have produced little progress, however.
For Hollande, whose low poll ratings have seen him become the most unpopular French president on record,
securing a climate change deal is crucial for his reputation at home.
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France, marked by high unemployment and economic sluggishness, will go to the polls in regional elections
while the climate talks are wrapping up in December, in two rounds on 6 and 13 December. Hollande, who
still hopes to run for the presidency in 2017, will seek to use any successful deal to boost his standing.
Will the climate diplomacy succeed? Elements of an agreement are slowly falling into place. Most countries,
including all the biggest economies, have now submitted plans on their emissions to come into force after
2020, when current commitments expire. The US and China, the two biggest emitters, made a joint
announcement on their emissions, for the first time, in a marked show of unity.
But there is still no guarantee of success, and France has tried hard to learn the lessons of Copenhagen, the
location of the last climate change summit.
If Paris succeeds, it will not be down only to the French government and its troupes of ministers, civil
servants, ambassadors and negotiators. But if it fails, the French and the UN know they will cop the blame.
Questions
1. How is France trying to encourage other countries to make a deal on the climate?
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
2. Is there any precedent for climate diplomacy?
_________________________________________________________________________________
3. What does Sylvie Bermann say is the current case in China regarding climate change?
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
4. When and where was the last climate change summit?
When? ________ Where? ________
5. Who will be blamed if the Paris summit fails to produce a clear strategy?
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
Project
Spoken: This is a group project. You should use this pack to help guide you to make a presentation on
global warming. You should discuss the following:
1. The science
2. The causes
3. The potential effects
4. What needs to be done?
5. Current situation
6. The future
7. Hope 40
The presentation should be between 15-20 minutes and the workload should be shared equally.
It might be a good time to improve your presentations by using https://prezi.com/.
Due date: ___/___/___
Written: Make a petition requesting the Japanese envoy to the Paris 2015 climate talks to take urgent action to avert catastrophic climate change. Distribute the petition to AICJ students that want to sign it then send it to the Japanese delegation on behalf of AICJ students.
Due date: ___/___/___
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