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25 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Describes the earth's average surface temperature for the past 900,000 year |
Prolonged periods of cooling and warming |
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The most abundant greenhouse gas in the atmosphere |
Water vapor |
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The gas that has shown the greatest increase since the industrial revolution |
Carbon dioxide |
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The average rise in global temperature in the last 100 years |
1 degree F |
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The increase in carbon dioxide, in ppm, the last 200 years. |
100 ppm |
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Methods of deriving past climate history |
Tree ring data, ice core bubbles, pollen and plankton artifacts, and radioisotopes of rocks and fossils |
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The heat-waste problem can only be solved by |
Increasing the energy efficiency |
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Problems associated with ocean surface acidity |
Disruption of food webs, reducing iron levels need for photosynthesis, decreasing phytoplankton populations, and dissolving calcium carbonate shells of marine animals |
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Possible disastrous effects of a warmer atmosphere |
Sea level rise, Health problems, ice and snow melting, and flooding or drought |
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Climate models predict that global warming will be most severe in |
Polar regions |
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Adverse effects of rising sea levels |
Contaminate coastal aquifers, disrupt coastal fisheries, accelerate coastal erosion, and flood areas where one-third of the world's human population lives |
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Reasons why addressing global climate change is difficult |
The problem is global, not regional, the problem is global, not regional, problems will be solved by long-term political solutions, and many of the problems and solutions are controversial |
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Strategies to reduce climate change |
Improve energy efficiency, stop cutting down tropical forests, carbon capture, and shift from fossil fuels to a mix of carbon-free energy resources |
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Examples of carbon capture and storage |
Massive planting of trees, the use of biochar for fertilizer, growing more switchgrass, and pumping it deep underground |
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Strategies to prevent climate change |
Reduce deforestation, slow population growth, improve energy efficiency, and shift from coal to natural gas |
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The Kyoto Protocol |
The mission of the treaty was to slow global warming and climate disruption |
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The country who's goal is to reduce carbon emissions to zero by 2030 |
Costa Rica |
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Efforts made to reduce CFC and HFC emissions |
Copenhagen Protocol, Montreal Protocol, US asked UN to enact mandatory reductions, and DuPont replaced CFC with higher priced alternatives |
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Effects of ozone depletion on humans |
Suppression of immune system, more cataracts, worse sunburn, and more skin cancers |
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Products containing CFCs |
Cleaners for electronic equipment, gases for insulation and packaging, propellants in aerosol spray cans, and coolants in air conditioners and refrigerators |
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Chemicals capable of destroying ozone (other than CFCs) |
Halons in fire extinguishers and crop fumigants, carbon tetrachloride used as a solvent, and methyl bromide used as a fumigant |
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Expected results of phasing out ozone depleting chemicals |
Improved health benefits, increase in phytoplankton productivity, and reduced risk from sunburn and UV exposure |
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Location of the ozone hole |
Antarctica |
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Where ozone depletion is occurring in the atmosphere |
Stratosphere |
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Where global warming is occurring in the atmosphere |
Troposphere |