• Environment and Climate Change
• We tend to take the issue of the environment for granted in this country, and in most industrialized countries.
• We seem to assume that the environment can take whatever we dish out.
• We see the environment as a storehouse to be plundered for our needs.
• The environment is viewed as a thing and not an integrated system.
• Just the operation of the climate is an incredibly complex and somewhat fragile system.
• We happen to have a habitable atmosphere on the earth because certain factors came together at the right time to create the elements necessary for the continuation of life.
• We could have followed the same route as Mars if conditions were not just perfect.
• So, what created the conditions for a habitable atmosphere?
• The very progress of life and certain mechanisms that trapped hydrogen in the biosphere and did not allow it to escape into space.
• Hydrogen is very light and will eventually rise out of the atmosphere until very little of it exists.
• If you have no hydrogen, you have no water.
• Without water, the opportunity for the development of life as we know it is minimal.
• What trapped the hydrogen on the earth was the operation of bacteria and animal life.
• Over time, what we know as the environment developed as a flowing balance of interrelated systems such as rock weathering, rainfall, jet streams, evapo-transpiration from trees, production of calcium carbonate by single celled organisms in the sea (e-hux), oceanic currents, etc.
• Our climate has fluctuated from glacial to what they call "inter-glacial," basically the climate we are in now.
• The history of the world since the beginnings of the contemporary climate scheme has been glacial interrupted by brief periods of inter-glacial.
• Carbon-dioxide levels tended to fall within well defined limits but showed wide variation over time, linked with the climate.
• Carbon-dioxide levels are currently higher than they have been in the past 650,000 years.
• 180 ppm during glacial
• 280 ppm during inter-glacial
• 380 ppm now
• CO2 'highest for 650,000 years'
• Carbon-dioxide levels are tightly linked to climate change, but since the levels are far out of synch with the rest of the interrelated processes, the impacts of this high carbon-dioxide are not known.
• Many people talk about global warming, but this is not entirely accurate and can lead to many misleading ideas about the issues of climate change.
• It is more accurate to talk about climate change because the issue is much greater than a simple warming of the atmosphere due to increasing greenhouse gas emissions.
• Although there is a warming of the atmosphere and oceans, there are also changes in the patterns of the circulation of the air and ocean currents.
• So, how does climate change operate?
• As I talked about before, we have an atmosphere because life on earth is able to produce oxygen and hold hydrogen on the planet.
• This gives us an atmosphere.
• An atmosphere is good for a number of reasons.
• First, in our case, we developed the ability to breath in this atmosphere.
• Second, it provides a blanket to keep the heat from escaping into space.
• Greenhouse Effect
• Incoming solar radiation makes its way through the atmosphere.
• Some is bounced back into space by the atmosphere.
• Some is bounced back because of clouds
• Some of it is reflected by the earth.
• Albedo
• Albedo is the lightness or darkness of the earth.
• The greater the albedo, the more light that is reflected back into space.
• Light areas like the polar ice caps reflect a lot of the suns rays back into space.
• Dark areas such as trees and rock will absorb the incoming sun's rays.
• Some of the sun's rays will be absorbed by the surface of the earth.
• The energy from the sun is converted into infrared radiation which makes its way back into the atmosphere.
• If it were not for the atmosphere and the presence of greenhouse gases, all of the heat (infrared radiation) would escape into space.
• The concentrations of greenhouse gases and the operation of the climate have evolved over billions of years.
• While CO2 and other greenhouse gases are produced all of the time, there are natural processes that draw down their levels.
• Methane is highly reactive with oxygen, so it does not last long in the atmosphere.
• Carbon dioxide is drawn down through a number of processes, but one is the capture of CO2 by microscopic plants in the oceans that form their shells from calcium carbonate.
• These calcium carbonate shells fall to the ocean floor when they die.
• Emiliania huxleyi Home Page
• As the shells build up on the ocean floor, they are push under the continental plates by tectonic action.
• This pulls down the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere.
• Climate Change Power Point Slides But due to the burning of fossil fuels and other actions such as burning forests, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has skyrocketed.
• See Power Point slide "Acidification of the Oceans"
• The natural processes of the earth cannot deal with the addition of all of this carbon dioxide, so it is building up in the atmosphere and the oceans.
• We know that the increased carbon dioxide is linked to the warming of the atmosphere.
• Ancient Air Bubbles yield Greenhouse-gas Concerns
• But scientists have just realized that a great deal of the carbon dioxide that has been released by people has been absorbed by the oceans.
• The increase of carbon dioxide in the oceans has created a weak acid solution called carbonic acid.
• Acid oceans spell doom for coral
• This acidification of the oceans is harmful to animal life and has the potential to kill off the coral reefs by the middle of this century.
• Another danger is how the microscopic plant life that keep the carbon dioxide levels down will respond to increasingly acidic seas.
• The increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has led to a rise in overall global temperatures.
• See Power Point slide "Rising Temperatures"
• The change has been referred to as the "hockey stick" because of the abrupt change in direction for the temperature.
• Hockey stick
• After about 1900, the temperature of the earth begins a swift rise.
• There is a small decline about 1950 before it begins to rise again.
• Some argue that this was during the industrial expansion after World War II, but there are a number of factors that affect temperature.
• Models that look at people's impacts and the natural variation that is expected fit fairly well with the actual outcome of temperature.
• Now as I said before, the increase in temperature has a number of effects.
• One of them is the circulation of the atmosphere.
• See Power Point slide "Circulation change"
• Jet Stream Analyses
• The currents of air around the earth are due to the heating of the land and oceans, as well as the spin of the earth.
• These patterns and circulations can be disrupted or changed as the atmosphere heats up.
• What this means is that areas that are normally brought moist air may not receive it as regularly.
• Other places may find that they are more damp than previously.
• Heating also affects the oceans.
• See Power Point slide "Great Ocean Conveyor Belt"
• The ocean currents could change as a result of the freshening of the arctic waters in the North Atlantic.
• "Thermohaline conveyer belt"
• Increasing fresh water in the North Atlantic will stop the circulation of warm water to Western Europe.
• This could potentially lead to much cooler temperatures in places like England, leaving them with a climate similar to coastal regions of Canada at the same latitude.
• BBC's Guide to Climate Change
• There has been a die off of ocean life in the Pacific Northwest
• Migration patterns of animals are being affected
• Forests are being strained by the changing weather pattern, leaving them susceptible to disease.
• See Power Point slides - Oregon Forests
• The trees in the Sisters regions of Oregon are becoming infected with bark beetle and dying in great numbers.
• The amount of dry, dead trees sets the stage for serious wildfire.
• The melting of the polar ice caps have larger consequences than the possible shut down of the thermo-haline conveyer belt.
• Positive Feedback - Runaway Greenhouse
• As the polar caps melt, they expose more land, especially places like Greenland but also Canada and Russia.
• The exposure of the darker soil leads to increased heating of the atmosphere.
• Increased heating leads to more melting of the polar ice caps and glaciers.
• The exposure of the soil in the north also leads to the release of methane as the tundra melts and decaying plant matter begins to decompose.
• Methane may also be released from the oceans as the ocean floor warms and pockets of methane are released as they "melt."
• In pictures: How the world is changing
• This positive feedback is feared to be past the "point of no return."
• Global Warming 'Past the Point of No Return'
• Be worried, be very worried: The climate is crashing, and global warming is to blame
• What is very interesting about the melting of the arctic and the potential for a positive feedback mechanism is that corporations are viewing this as an opportunity for profit.
• Arctic Booms as Climate Change Melts Polar Ice Cap
• As Polar Ice Turns to Water, Dreams of Treasure Abound
• Companies are rushing to the arctic circle to access oil reserves and other resources that were not exposed prior to the onset of climate change.
• While burning more fossil fuels will only create a bigger problem, corporations and the economy that we have will not stop them from accessing this oil.
• In fact, the economy encourages this headlong rush toward destruction.
• Profit is the number one concern of our economy and the people that run it.
• The long term viability of the earth is not taken into consideration.
• So what is the possible outcome?
• Past mass extinction events linked to climate change
• Stark warning over climate change
• What are the solutions to the problem?
• Solving the UK's generation issue
• The solutions proposed by corporations to the problems of the environment are similarly problematic.
• To deal with the problem of declining fossil fuels, there are suggestions to switch to alternative fuels.
• One solution is mixing ethanol with gasoline to reduce the amount of oil we consume.
• A similar solution is to switch to bio-diesel.
• The problem with these solutions is that the people that promote them do not take into account the problem of obtaining the biomass (plant materials) and the corn to produce the fuels.
• The solution cannot be long term because the amount of plant materials necessary to produce enough fuel to meet rising demands would necessarily cut into the land and food needed to meet people's dietary needs.
• Another solution is the use of hydrogen fuel cells.
• There is at least one small problem with this solution.
• Where do we get the hydrogen?
• The processes for obtaining hydrogen are very energy intensive.
• It takes a great deal of energy to get the hydrogen in the first place, so some other source of energy must be found to produce the hydrogen necessary for use in the cars.
• A second problem is the flammability of hydrogen.
• Remember the Hindenburg?
• There has not been a serious attempt to move away from fossil fuels.
• There are a number of reasons for this.
• At the moment, our economy and infrastructure, including transportation systems, are heavily dependent on fossil fuels.
• The automobile industry is tied directly to fossil fuel use.
• The way in which we consume in strip malls and distant shopping centers away from where people live necessitates an individualized system of transportation based in the automobile.
• The plastics industry including many of the ways in which we package our goods.
• Another reason is that many of the alternative technologies cannot be easily made to continue to generate profit like fossil fuels.
• Alternative energy can be individualized and incorporated into the home.
• Solar panels for the roof to generate electricity.
• Heating systems that include heat pumps that circulate water from the ground to cool homes in the summer and heat them in the winter.
• While some of these technologies are available, they are not widespread or affordable for the average consumer.
• Corporations may be attempting to find ways to generate energy that they can continuously make profit.
• Wind or solar farms that are centrally located so that they may be able to charge fees just like with fossil fuels.
• The solutions to the problem must be made to be sustainable and non-toxic to our environment.
• There are solutions that work with the natural ecosystems and advantages of the region.
• Marble trade sucks Indian villages dry
• In India, environmentalists and local farmers combined to develop a system to store and use the monsoon rains to irrigate their fields.
• Wind and solar energy generation may be used.
• One problem that must be solved is the waste created in transportation.
• Both in the case of people and of goods.
• New more energy efficient transportation systems must be established.
• But, to be truly sustainable, transportation must be cut to a minimum so that virtually everyone walks (or pedals) to where they need to be.
• This means a fundamental reorganization of the way our society is structured.
• Cities and towns must be organized to be nearly self-sufficient and people must live near where they work and be within close distance to services like groceries and health clinics.
• Food cannot be shipped from great distances, but from local farms.

Images and some power point slides are from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and James Lovelock's book, "Gaia: The Practical Science of Planetary Medicine."