Annotated Bibliography: A Full Analysis on Climate Change.docx (original) (raw)

The Inevitability of Climate Change

Global Policy, 2014

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Is Climate Change the "Defining Challenge of Our Age"? Energy & Environment 20(3): 279-302 (2009).

Climate change, some claim, is this century's most important environmental challenge. Mortality estimates for the year 2000 from the World Health Organization (WHO) indicate, however, that a dozen other risk factors contribute more to global mortality and global burden of disease. Moreover, the state-of-theart British-sponsored fast track assessments (FTAs) of the global impacts of climate change show that through 2085-2100, climate change would contribute less to human health and environmental threats than other risk factors. Climate change is, therefore, unlikely to be the 21 st century's most important environmental problem. Combining the FTA results with WHO's mortality estimates indicates that halting climate change would reduce cumulative mortality from hunger, malaria, and coastal flooding, by 4-10 percent in 2085 while the Kyoto Protocol would lower it by 0.4-1 percent. FTA results also show that reducing climate change will increase populations-at-risk from water stress and, possibly, threats to biodiversity. But adaptive measures focused specifically on reducing vulnerability to climate sensitive threats would reduce cumulative mortality by 50-75 percent at a fraction of the Kyoto Protocol's cost without adding to risks from water stress or to biodiversity. Such "focused adaptation" would, moreover, reduce major hurdles to the developing world's sustainable economic development, lack of which is the major reason for its vulnerability to climate change (and any other form of adversity). Thus, focused adaptation can combat climate change and advance global well-being, particularly of the world's most vulnerable populations, more effectively than aggressive GHG reductions. Alternatively, these benefits and more -reductions in poverty, and infant and maternal mortality by 50-75%; increased access to safe water and sanitation; and universal literacy -can be obtained by broadly advancing sustainable economic development through policies, institutions and measures (such as those that would meet the UN Millennium Development Goals) at a cost approximating that of the Kyoto Protocol. However, in order to deal with climate change beyond the 2085-2100 timeframe, the paper also recommends expanding research and development of mitigation options, reducing barriers to implementing such options, and active science and monitoring programs to provide early warning of any "dangerous" climate change impacts. 279 1

Introduction to Climate Change Mitigation

Since the first edition of the Handbook, important new research findings on climate change have been gathered. The handbook was extended to also cover, apart from climate change mitigation, climate change adaptation as one can witness increasing initiatives to cope with the phenomenon. Instrumental recording shows a temperature increase of 0.5 °C Le Houérou (J Arid Environ 34:133–185, 1996) with rather different regional patterns and trends (Folland CK, Karl TR, Nicholls N, Nyenzi BS, Parker DE, Vinnikov KYA (1992) Observed climate variability and change. In: Houghton JT, Callander BA, Varney SDK (eds) Climate change, the supplementary report to the IPCC scientific assessment. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 135–170). Over the last several million years, there have been warmer and colder periods on Earth, and the climate fluctuates for a variety of natural reasons as data from tree rings, pollen, and ice core samples have shown. However, human activities on Earth have reached an extent that they impact the globe in potentially catastrophic ways. This chapter is an introduction to climate change.

Confronting climate change: Avoiding the unmanageable and managing the unavoidable

Global climate change, driven largely by the combustion of fossil fuels and by deforestation, is a growing threat to human well-being in developing and industrialized nations alike. Significant harm from climate change is already occurring, and further damages are a certainty. The challenge now is to keep climate change from becoming a catastrophe. There is still a good chance of succeeding in this, and of doing so by means that create economic opportunities that are greater than the costs and that advance rather than impede other societal goals. But seizing this chance requires an immediate and major acceleration of efforts on two fronts: mitigation measures (such as reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases and black soot) to prevent the degree of climate change from becoming unmanageable; and adaptation measures (such as building dikes and adjusting agricultural practices) to reduce the harm from climate change that proves unavoidable. Avoiding the Unmanageable Human activities have changed the climate of the Earth, with significant impacts on ecosystems and human society, and the pace of change is increasing. The global-average surface temperature is now about 0.8°C above its level in 750, with most of the increase having occurred in the 20th century and the most rapid rise occurring since 970. Temperature changes over the continents have been greater than the global average and the changes over the continents at high latitudes have been greater still. The pattern of the observed changes matches closely what climate science predicts from the buildup in the atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO 2), methane (CH 4), and other greenhouse gases (GHGs), taking into account other known influences on the temperature. The largest of all of the human and natural influences on climate over the past 250 years has been the increase in the atmospheric CO 2 concentration resulting from deforestation and fossil-fuel burning. The CO 2 emissions in recent decades (Figure ES.), which have been responsible for the largest part of this buildup, have come 75% to 85% from fossil fuels (largely in the industrialized countries) and 5% to 25% from deforestation and other land-cover change (largely from developing countries in the tropics). A given temperature change in degrees Celsius (ºC) can be converted into a change in degrees Fahrenheit (ºF) by multiplying by .8. Thus, a change of 0.8ºC corresponds to a change of 0.8 x .8 = .44ºF.

Climate Change. Evidence and Causes

Climate Change. Evidence and Causes, 2023

Climate change is one of the defining issues of our times. It is now more certain than ever, based on many lines of evidence, that humans are changing Earth's climate. The atmosphere and oceans have warmed, which has been accompanied by sea level rise, a strong decline in Arctic sea ice, and other climate-related changes. The impacts of climate change on people and nature are increasingly apparent. Unprecedented flooding, heat waves, and wildfires have cost billions in damages. Habitats are undergoing rapid shifts in response to changing temperatures and precipitation patterns. The Royal Society and the US National Academy of Sciences, with their similar missions to promote the use of science to benefit society and to inform critical policy debates, produced the original Climate Change: Evidence and Causes in 2014. It was written and reviewed by a UK-US team of leading climate scientists. This new edition, prepared by the same author team, has been updated with the most recent climate data and scientific analyses, all of which reinforce our understanding of human-caused climate change. The evidence is clear. However, due to the nature of science, not every detail is ever totally settled or certain. Nor has every pertinent question yet been answered. Scientific evidence continues to be gathered around the world. Some things have become clearer and new insights have emerged. For example, the period of slower warming during the 2000s and early 2010s has ended with a dramatic jump to warmer temperatures between 2014 and 2015. Antarctic sea ice extent, which had been increasing, began to decline in 2014, reaching a record low in 2017 that has persisted. These and other recent observations have been woven into the discussions of the questions addressed in this booklet. Calls for action are getting louder. The 2020 Global Risks Perception Survey from the World Economic Forum ranked climate change and related environmental issues as the top five global risks likely to occur within the next ten years. Yet, the international community still has far to go in showing increased ambition on mitigation, adaptation, and other ways to tackle climate change. Scientific information is a vital component for society to make informed decisions about how to reduce the magnitude of climate change and how to adapt to its impacts. This booklet serves as a key reference document for decision makers, policy makers, educators, and others seeking authoritative answers about the current state of climate-change science. We are grateful that six years ago, under the leadership of Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone, former President of the National Academy of Sciences, and Sir Paul Nurse, former President of the Royal Society, these two organizations partnered to produce a highlevel overview of climate change science. As current Presidents of these organizations, we are pleased to offer an update to this key reference, supported by the generosity of the Cicerone family.

CLIMATE CHANGE AND GLOBAL WARMING: STUDYING IMPACTS, CAUSES, MITIGATION, AND ADAPTATION

RG, 2023

Climate change and global warming have emerged as pressing challenges of our time, with far-reaching consequences for the environment, societies, and economies worldwide. This research paper delves into the multifaceted dimensions of these issues, examining their impacts, root causes, and the strategies employed to mitigate and adapt to their effects. The paper highlights the urgent need for comprehensive and collaborative efforts on a global scale to address these challenges effectively. Through an in-depth analysis of environmental, ecological, and societal impacts, this study underscores the importance of understanding and addressing climate change. Furthermore, it explores the causes of climate change, primarily focusing on greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, and industrial activities. The paper then elucidates a range of mitigation strategies, including the transition to renewable energy sources, energy efficiency improvements, carbon capture technologies, reforestation initiatives, and sustainable urban planning. Additionally, adaptation measures such as climate-resilient infrastructure, enhanced agricultural practices, informed policies, and community engagement are discussed in detail. The paper concludes by emphasizing the crucial role of global cooperation and immediate action in mitigating and adapting to climate change's effects.