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CLIMATE CHANGE TOPIC INDEX

CLIMATE CHANGE TOPIC INDEX

 

 

 

"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched everything else in the universe."  Quote by John Muir 

The CAMEL taxomony contains 300 hyperlinked topic areas demonstrating the complexity and interconnectivity of climate change........as John Muir described above.

CAUSES

 A. Past History
1. Proxy methods

a) Boreholes
b) Corals
c) Glacial extent
d) Ice cores
e) Isotopes
f)  Paleomagnetism
g) Tree rings

2. Ancient

a) Snowball Earth
b) Thermal maximums
c) Cataclysmic events

3. Recent

a) Temperature
b) Sea level
c) Precipitation
d) Storms
e) Fires

B. Present Factors
1. External forcing

a) Galactic variations
b) Orbital variations
c) Sunspots

2. Internal forcing

a) Orogeny & epeirogeny
b) Volcanism
c) Albedo
d) Atmospheric gases

   (1) Greenhouse gases

a) CO2
b) CH4
c) N2O
d) CFCs & HCFCs 

  (2) Water vapor
  (3) Noble gases

e) Ocean circulation 

 f) Teleconnections

   (1) El Niño
   (2) La Niña
   (3) Oscillations

3. Human factors

a)   Population
b)   Consumption
c)   Technology
d)   Values

C. Future World
1. Models

a) Grid systems
b) Core equations
c) Emissions scenarios

2.   Verification

a) Temperature verification
b) Sea level verification
c)  Precipitation verification
d)  Greenhouse gas emissions

3. Responsibilities

a) Contributions
b) Burdens                                      c) Capabilities

CONSEQUENCES

A. Physical Earth
1. Land

 a) Fires
 b) Precipitation
 c) Temperature

2. Water

  a) Freshwater
      1) Groundwater
      2) Surface water
   b) Ice
        1) Glaciers
        2) Permafrost
        3) Polar caps
    c) Oceans
        1) Sea level
        2) Temperature

        3) pH,salinity & nutrients
        4) Currents

3. Atmosphere

     a) Composition
        b) Circulation
        c) Storms

4. Global cycles

     a) Carbon
        b) Water
        c) Nutrients

5.  Disasters
B. Life & Death
1. Biosphere

     a) Gaia hypothesis
      b) Primary productivity
      c) Water use

2. Ecosystem disturbance

     a) Productivity

           1) CO2 acclimation
           2) N limitations
           3) Water use

     b) Distributions
     c) Diversity
     d) Seasonality

3. Species shifts

    a) Genes
    b) Populations
    c) Habitat shifts

       (1) Land

a) Polar
b) Alpine
c) Temperate
d) Tropical

       (2) Water

a) Freshwater
b) Marine

C. Humans
1. Human nature

a)   Vulnerabilities
b)   Resilience
c)   Intelligence

2.   Health

a) Food security
b) Water security
c) Disease
d) Heat waves

3. Economics

a) Stability
b) Livelihoods
c) Poverty

4. Societies

  a) National security

     1) Refugees
        2) Resource displacement

    b) Location
       1) Urban
          2) Rural
          3) Coastal

    c) Indigenous peoples

SOLUTIONS

A.  Economics
1. Discount rates
2. Distributional issues

     a) Time
       b) Space

3. Intangibles
4. Risk assessment

   a) Certainties
         1) Consensus
          2) Dangers
    b) Probabilities
           1) Continuous
           2) Thresholds
    c) Uncertainties

B. Mitigation
1. Energy

 a)  Electricity
      1) Generation
            a) Fossil fuels
                  (i) Coal
                  (ii) Natural gas
                  iii) Carbon capture
            b) Nuclear
            c) Renewables
                  (i) Hydro
                  (ii) Wind
                  (iii) Solar
                  (iv) Biomass
                  (v) Geothermal
                  (vi) Wave & tidal
       2) Transmission
               a) Lines
               b) Grids
               c) Meters
       3) Storage

b)  Transportation

     1) Consumption
      2) Efficiency
      3) Alternative fuels

(a) Natural gas
(b) Hydrogen
(c) Electric
(d) Biofuels

c)  Industry

    1) Motors
      2) Steam
      3) Steel
      4) Cement

d)  Buildings                            

      1) Residential
       2) Commercial
       3) Industrial

2. Land & resources

    a)  Agriculture
     b)  Forestry
     c)  Material goods

3. Geoengineering

a) Radiation
    1) Cool roofs
     2) Stratospheric aerosols
     3) Cloud seeding
     4) Space shades

b) CO2 management
      1) Biochar
       2) Air capture
       3) Ocean fertilization

c) Other
     1) Ocean mixing
      2) Ice cap retention

C. Adaptation
1. Current practices

     a)  Natural resources

     b)  Built environments

1) Coastal interface
2) Tourism

2. Cross-cutting efforts

      a) Planning

1) International
2) Local, state, & national

        b) Development
        c) Resilience

3. Future strategies

     a) Discrete projects
       b) Systematic approaches

D. Policy
1. International

      a) Global
       b) Multinational

2. National
3. Local

     a) Region
      b) Community
      c) Campus

4. Environmental justice

ACTIONS

A. Individual
1. Evaluation

   a) Carbon footprint
     b) Personal adaptation

2. Activities

    a) Behavior modification
     b) Education
         (1) Misconceptions
         (2) Difficulties
      c) Volunteer

3. Careers

   a)  Private sector
     b)  NGO
     c)  Government
     d)  Academic

B. Collective
1. Household

   a) Carbon footprint
     b) Personal adaptation

 

The Author

Ginny Brown Ginny Brown came to NCSE as the Project Director for the NSF funded CAMEL (Climate, Adaptation, Mitigation, E-Learning) project. This work centers on developing a community of climate change educators, researchers and students to combat the impact of climate change.  Ginny has twelve years experience in working with academia at both the undergraduate and  graduate level.  Prior to coming to NCSE, Ginny was  the Program Director for the Vulcan Mater ... (Full Bio)

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