Reading for Environment, Technology & Society, Section 81

Readings: Environment, Technology & Society Sec. 82 (2009)—Due Week X Day X

Tim Flannery 2005, The Weather Makers. How man is changing the climate and what it means for life on earth. Grove Press, NY.

PART 3 THE SCIENCE OF PREDICTION Model worlds...... 153 1. What’s the basic tool for climate prediction? 2. What did the first climate model consist of? Did it work? 3. What research center is the world’s best, and where is it located? Where are the other top ones located? 4. What was the measurement of current temperature increase, based on the 17,000 thermometers, and how does this compare with the model study? 5. Where do aerosols come from, and what effect do they have on temperature? 6. What was the source of the aerosols that appear to have caused the cooling in the 40’s through 70’s? 7. What happened to temperature when we stopped putting sulfur dioxide into the air? 8. What unplanned experiment in temperature did we carry out in the days following 9/11/01, and what was the result? 9. When do we expect that human influences on climate will have surpassed all natural influences? Do you expect to be around then? 10. If global temperatures go up 2 degrees C (almost 4 degrees F), what will happen to the temperatures in the Americas?

The commitment and approaching extreme danger...... 166 1. When will we feel the full effect of the CO2 that is already in the atmosphere? 2. What proportion of the energy has been generated in the period since most of the students in this class were born, compared to the whole time since the Industrial Revolution began? 3. How much do we have to reduce our CO2 emissions to stabilize CO2 in the atmospheric at twice the pre-industrial level? 4. If we double CO2, how much hotter do we expect it to be? 5. How much do we think we might be able to raise the temperature before we cause very large, unpredictable, irreversible changes? 6. Why won’t everybody see big effects at the same time?

Leveling the mountains...... 171 1. When was the last time the world warmed rapidly? How many degrees in how long? 2. How important are alpine areas in terms of their share of the world’s land area? In terms of biodiversity? 3. How much have the species moved uphill in the past century? 4. Why are the ringtailed possums found only at the higher altitudes? 5. What happens to the nutritional value of plants raised on high CO2 and poor mountain soil? 6. How much change would be expected with a 3.6 degree F rise in temperature? 6.3 degrees? 7. How can we save our mountain creatures? 8. Why are so many major human population areas just above the Anopheles mosquito zone?

How can they keep on moving?...... 178 1. How can plants move? Pick up their roots and take a hike? 2. Why are Australia’s eucalyptus at special risk in a warming climate? 3. How much of the area of S. African fynbos is expected to be gone by 2050? Why don’t the creatures just move? 4. How has agriculture imposed barriers to plant (and animal) “migration” to cooler zones? 5. How do you feel about this loss of plants and animals?

Boiling the abyss...... 184 1. What kills the deep sea creatures when we haul them up to the surface? 2. When CO2 is added to water (as in pop), the water becomes acidic. Why does this pose a problem for some sea creatures 3. What was the cause of the mass extinction of species in the ocean 55 million years ago? How is that similar to the situation we face today?