A.P.

Environmental Science
Mr. Lindsey

Student Notes – Unit 9, Global Change

The term “global warming” is often used. “Climate change” is more appropriate, it includes global warming as well as all
other anthropogenic changes. We are changing the Earth in many ways, and climate change is only one type of global
change. Solar radiation and greenhouse gases make our planet warm. For millions of years this has been a good thing,
but anthropogenic changes are making it bad.

So, before we continue…why does this even matter?

If there are natural temperature fluctuations, why does it matter if global

temperatures are rising now? Because natural fluctuations take place over
periods of ______________ or ______________ of years. We have built an
entire civilization and infrastructure with a given climate. If ____________
evolves faster than ___________________________, we’re stuck.

Troposphere - the atmosphere’s innermost layer, where weather occurs,

is made up mostly of nitrogen and oxygen, with smaller amounts of
water vapor and CO2. 75% of all air molecules are here.

Stratosphere - the atmosphere’s second layer. The ozone (O3) layer

filters out most of the sun’s UV radiation that is harmful to us and most
other species. The stratospheric ozone layer provides protection from
ultraviolet solar radiation. A protective layer of oxygen and ozone in the stratosphere absorbs over 99%of all incoming
UV light. As stratospheric ozone decreases, more UV rays strike Earth’s organisms, potentially causing damage to cells
and/or cancer.

Energy from the Sun occurs at many wavelengths, including harmful high-energy ultraviolet waves, medium-energy
waves (visible light), and lower-energy infrared heat waves.

Stratospheric Ozone –

Filters harmful UV radiation. Units of measurement/thickness are called “Dobson units” after the scientist who
discovered it. Thinning of the ozone layer was first observed in 1985 over Antarctica. Ozone molecules change
constantly as they absorb UV energy from the sun – it takes energy to break ozone and it takes energy to make ozone;
this is how the ozone layer “absorbs” energy. O3 + UV  O2 + O AND O2 + O + UV  O3

The Antarctic hole actually grows and shrinks seasonally – in the Antarctic spring and summer (Oct-Dec), more sunlight
causes it to naturally break down slightly. “Normal” stratospheric ozone thickness is 400 Dobson units, the thickness of
two stacked pennies. All types of UV waves (type A, type B, and type C) can cause damage to living cells (energy that can
damage cells is called “ionizing radiation”). Excess UV waves coming through a compromised ozone layer contribute to
cancer, cataracts, damage to plants, and kills plankton in the ocean.

Chlorofluorocarbons –

Examples: former aerosol (spray cans) propellants, and old Freon that leaks out of refrigerators and air conditioners
when these are disposed of. When a CFC is hit with UV energy, the chlorine atom from the CFC jumps out and bonds
with an O atom from O3, turning it into O2. A CFC molecule resides in the atmosphere for 200 years, during which it
destroys 100,000 ozone molecules. Cold temperatures help CFCs (hence holes over the Arctic, Antarctic, and Tibet). Be
able to recognize a CFC by its chemical name or formula: i.e. dichlorodifluoromethane (CCl2F2), chloropentafluoroethane
(C2ClF5)

Polar Stratospheric Cloud (PSC) – a cloud of mainly water vapor which forms in the lower stratosphere near the poles in
extremely cold weather. PSCs harbor nitric acid and chlorine, making them little “blowtorches” of the ozone layer.

Montreal Protocol of 1987 –

Signed by 24 nations, it is an environmental success story (mostly). Substitutes for CFCs include hydrofluorocarbons
(HFCs) or hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) – these have far less of an effect on the ozone layer, but some are strong
greenhouse gasses. It took many years for the ozone layer to show improvement because ozone-depleting chemicals
that were produced before they were banned will take years to reach their peak concentrations in the stratosphere.
Instead of CFCs, nitrous oxide (N2O) is currently the most threatening to the ozone layer.

Sources of greenhouse gases are both natural and anthropogenic. Natural greenhouse gases come from volcanic
eruptions, decomposition, digestion, denitrification, evaporation, and evapotranspiration. The most significant
anthropogenic sources of greenhouse gases are the burning of fossil fuels, agriculture, deforestation, landfills, and
industrial production of chemicals.

Residence time – the amount of time a greenhouse gas

persists (resides) in the atmosphere after it is emitted

“And perhaps, the single most important thing to know

about this process is that the amount of human caused
climate change in a given year or decade is mostly
driven by the gradual accumulation of carbon dioxide in
the atmosphere. This isn't accumulation just from the
last year. It is accumulation from the entire industrial history of the world. Suppose I fly
across the Atlantic today--an activity that emits about 900 kg of carbon dioxide. 300 years
from now, 300 kilograms will still be circulating in the Earth's atmosphere. Most of the
rest will have ended up in the ocean. Even 1,000 years from now about a fifth of that
original CO2 will still be in the atmosphere, causing climate change. That is, unless
humanity does something to remove it. Therefore, the amount of carbon dioxide causing
climate change today has almost nothing to do with the last year's emissions. Instead,
today's climate change is due to the accumulation of emissions from activities across the
entire world over much of the last century.” - Dr. David Keith

The major greenhouse gases in the lower atmosphere are:

Nitrous Oxide (N2O)
Methane (CH4)
Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
Ozone (O3)
Water vapor (H2O)
These gases have always been present in the earth’s troposphere in varying concentrations. Fluctuations in these gases,
plus changes in solar output are the major factors causing the changes in tropospheric temperature over the past
400,000 years.
Nitrous Oxide (N2O): Mainly comes from livestock feedlots and other agriculture. It
can also come from the combustion of organic material as part of NOx. Ammonium
nitrate fertilizer put on fields, and this model demonstrates inefficiencies in nitrogen
fertilizer use . Nitrogen that is added to the soil and not immediately taken up by
plants is washed into waterways or released into the air by bacterial action. These
losses can be minimized to an extent by using slow release fertilizers during periods
of wet weather and by careful irrigation practices.

N2O is generated from fermentation of grain or manure. When corn, oats, and other
crops are siloed (stored), they can release large amounts of nitrogen oxides that
they have picked up from nitrates in fertilizer or pesticide. It’s part of silo operation
safety to test the air for poisonous gases (like NOx) before entering. On feedlots N2O
can come from the feed (corn) and/or fermentation of nitrogen compounds in cow
manure.

Methane (CH4): 20 times more efficient at holding heat in atmosphere than CO2.
Released in decomposition in landfills, and from cow burps. Atmospheric methane has
tripled since the industrial revolution. How methane gets into the atmosphere: Leaking
natural gas from wells and petroleum systems: drilling, fracking, transportation,
processing, etc. Cow burps (also sheep and goats). Landfills. Mining. Decomposition of
manure from CAFO’s. Natural decomposition (from wetlands and rice paddies), ocean
seeps, lots of other little things. 

Natural and man-made CO2 is caused by combustion of fossil fuels, biomass, and refuse (trash). Deforestation
contributes to high amounts of CO2 because fewer trees mean less removal of CO2 out of the air, and CO2 is added by
the burning of trees if the deforestation is slash-and-burn.

The remote mountain of Mauna Loa in Hawaii is an ideal place to

measure global CO2 levels. Why does the graph zigzag up and
down? There is more land mass in the northern hemisphere with
more vegetation on it. During the half of the year when it’s
summer in the northern hemisphere, there is more
photosynthesis happening Earth-wide than there is when it is
winter in the northern hemisphere. CO2 levels are lower in the
northern-hemisphere-summer and higher in the northern-
hemisphere-winter.

Ozone (O3) – There are two types of ozone – the “good” ozone that nature
produces to protect us from UV radiation and the “bad” ozone that we produce
because of pollution and the formation of photochemical smog. The “bad” ozone
is a greenhouse gas (GHG).

Obviously water vapor in the atmosphere is not a bad thing, but it does hold a lot
of heat. The most abundant “greenhouse gas,” water vapor is not a big deal,
because even anthropogenic water vapor gets transformed by the hydrological
cycle into precipitation within a few days – it doesn’t remain in the atmosphere.
Since methane holds so much heat, someone has got to talk to these cows and tell them no!

NO! Mr. COW

NO Nitrous Oxide (N2O)

Mr. Methane (CH4)

C Carbon dioxide (CO2)

O Ozone (O3)

W Water vapor (H2O)

Often included in greenhouse gases are anthropogenic chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)

Accounting for the importance of

each is tricky because they contribute
different amounts of warming while
in the atmosphere and stay in the
atmosphere for different lengths of
time (“residence time”). You'll often
see them compared using a metric of
"CO2-equivalents" (or "CO2e"). These
different greenhouse gases also have
different “Global Warming Potential,”
in other words how powerful a
greenhouse gas they are. Be familiar
with the relative GWP of the greenhouse gases. What makes a molecule a greenhouse gas is its shape – symmetrical
molecules are able to absorb and hold energy because they can vibrate efficiently

Let's compare greenhouse gas emissions to air pollution. Air pollution from energy use (coal, oil, natural gas) kills several
million people a year and shortens the lives of people in the most polluted cities by many years. Yet the air pollution you
breathe depends on the emission of pollutants only over the last few days. If we could somehow stop emitting all these
pollutants, the air would be clean in weeks (for example, Beijing once halted all factory emissions a few weeks before
the Olympics, and by the time worldwide visitors arrived, the gray skies had reverted back to blue). Climate is not like
that. Suppose we eliminated all greenhouse gas
emissions today. Temperatures would continue to
slowly increase and only stabilize about a century
from now.

Historical Atmospheric Measurements: Ice cores (a

“direct measurement”) - Gas gets trapped in snow,
and as snow compacts it forms solid ice. Analysis of
these gas bubbles can give us a view of the
atmosphere going back 800,000 years.

Warming temperatures are causing the melting of

land ice – Antarctica, Greenland, glaciers, and
permafrost, resulting in rising sea levels.
The warming planet is also having an effect on humans:
Global warming will increase deaths from (1) Heat and
disruption of food growing and food supply - areas where
food has historically been grown may no longer have the
proper climate for growing food; (2) Spread of tropical
diseases to temperate regions - For example, malaria-
transmitting mosquitos can only survive in areas where the
temperature never goes below 65oF. Rising global
temperatures will increase the range of mosquitos and
therefore malaria as well. (3) Increase the number of
environmental refugees - as warmer temperatures cause
drought, flooding, changes in food supply, etc., individuals
will have to leave areas that have historically been suitable to
live in. (4) Heat waves are killing people globally.

More storms are doing more property damage, resulting in rising insurance rates.

The Kyoto Protocol addressed climate change at the international level. In 1997, representatives of the nations of the
world convened in Kyoto, Japan to discuss how best to control the emissions contributing to global warming. This
meeting produced a treaty on global warming whose first phase went into effect January, 2005 with 189 countries
participating. 191 countries signed and ratified the protocol. It required 37 participating developed countries to cut their
emissions of CO2, CH4, and N2O to 5.2% below their 1990 levels by 2012. The treaty allowed for flexible mechanisms such
as emission trading, and allowed forested countries to get a break in their quotas thus encouraging the preservation of
their forests. Developing countries were excluded from requirements. The U.S. did not sign, but individual states like
California and Maine passed laws that met the requirements at the state level. U.S. did not sign because “developing”
countries such as China, India and Brazil were excluded from requirements. The Kyoto Protocol expired in 2012, but
international meetings are held still held periodically - Copenhagen, Denmark 2009; Cancun, Mexico 2010; Durban,
South Africa 2011; Paris, 2015. These agreements are voluntary and there are no penalties for non-compliance.

Carbon Sequestration – using technology to take CO2 out of the air and pump it into the ground. Another example of
carbon sequestration is a coal-fired power plant that injects CO2 underground instead of releasing it into the air as
exhaust

Carbon Offsetting – planting trees in one place to “make up for” producing CO2 in another place. For example, riding an
airplane and offsetting it by having a tree planted somewhere to soak up the carbon that you were responsible for.

Glacier: Giant mass of ice (freshwater) that moves slowly (geologic time) downhill under its own weight

Some of the world’s floating ice and land-based glaciers are slowly melting and are helping warm the troposphere by
reflecting less sunlight back into space.

Albedo –

The higher the albedo, the more solar energy a surface reflects. Objects absorb solar energy (UV, visible, infrared) from
the sun and release it as heat (infrared radiation) later. Land absorbs and releases solar energy faster than water. White
surfaces have a greater albedo than black ones. Which parts of the Earth are “white?” What color are they underneath?
When the white goes away, will that area absorb more or less solar energy?

Melting of polar ice caps: Between 1979 and 2005, average Arctic sea ice dropped 20%. Climate change is most
profound at the Earth’s ___________ because of ______________.
Thermal expansion – as ocean water warms up, it expands and takes up more space. This also contributes to a rise in
sea level.

“Sea ice” is already floating in the water. If it melts, it will have very little effect on sea level

“Land ice,” if melted, will drain into the ocean and increase the sea level

During this century rising sea levels are projected to flood low-lying
urban areas, coastal estuaries, wetlands, coral reefs, and barrier
islands and beaches.

Because the population is increasingly moving from the interior

toward the coasts where hazards tend to occur, the economic costs
of natural disasters in the US are increasing. Losses of life and
property damage are likely to increase significantly in coming
decades

Global warming will lead to prolonged heat waves and droughts in some areas and prolonged heavy rains and flooding in
other areas. A warmer atmosphere can hold more water vapor, so hurricanes and rainstorms can deliver more
precipitation. We have experience predicting weather with the current atmosphere – changes will be unpredictable.

In a warmer world, agricultural productivity may increase in some areas and decrease in others. Crop and fish
production in some areas could be reduced by rising sea levels that would flood river deltas.

Global warming could alter ocean currents (including thermohaline circulation (remember,
thermohaline circulation delivers warm equatorial water toward the poles, and cold pole
water towards the equator – without it, the equator would be crazy hot and the poles crazy
cold)) and cause both excessive warming and severe cooling.

Warmer surface waters in the oceans: Warmer temperatures may be outside the range of tolerance of organisms
(especially coral). Even if warmer temperatures don’t kill organisms, it may stress the organism and make it more
susceptible to disease. Warm water will dissolve less gas (dissolved O2 and dissolved CO2), which may result in less
dissolved O2 for animals, and less dissolved CO2 available for phytoplankton. This could affect the entire food chain.

Coral reefs may become “bleached” when their photosynthetic symbionts leave, and then you can then only see the
white skeleton. Bleaching can be due to many factors including increasing temperature and decreasing pH.

Ocean Acidification: The oceans act as carbon sinks; increased atmospheric CO2 means increased dissolved CO2 in the
oceans. Higher CO2 levels may actually benefit autotrophs. Dissolved CO2 forms weak carbonic acid (H2CO3), and this
acidity may be outside an organisms’ range of tolerance. More acid also adversely affects “calcifying organisms” (coral,
shellfish, some plankton) that use calcium compounds (like calcium carbonate, CaCO3) which are basic. 40% of the
world’s coral reefs are permanently gone. About 1/3 of CO2 released (naturally and anthropogenically) is absorbed by
the ocean - without the CO2 absorption property of the oceans, the CO2 content in the atmosphere would be much
higher.

Higher dissolved CO2 levels impact marine ecosystems: Dissolved CO2 often converts to H2CO3 (carbonic acid) – free
hydrogen ions combine with carbonate (CO3), which means less carbonate available to combine with calcium to form
calcium-carbonate (CaCO3) which is necessary for shells and calcifying organisms. Many marine organisms, like coral and
mollusks, form skeletons or shells out of calcium. Calcium (typically a base) can be dissolved by carbonic acid, harming
these organisms. These organisms play important roles in food chains and form diverse habitats which maintain
biodiversity.

Conservation of Biodiversity

Why do we care if we anthropogenically cause a few species to go extinct?

Some species have characteristics that make them vulnerable to

ecological and biological extinction 

Endangered Species:

Threatened Species:

Vulnerable Species :

Declining biodiversity has many causes. Conservation biologists

summarize the most important causes of premature extinction as
“HIPPOC”

Habitat Loss: Regarded as the #1 threat to endangered species. Humans are using more land area to support a growing
human population and human activities – more land for “us” means less land for “them.”

Habitat fragmentation – altering a habitat by separating it into pieces,

fragmentation is caused naturally by catastrophes like earthquakes and forest fires,
and caused anthropogenically by deforestation, logging, building roads and
pipelines, pollution, urbanization, and converting land from natural to agricultural.
Fragmentation leads to “edge effects,” essentially converting all habitat to “Edge”
habitat, leaving little “Core” habitat (“edge” species are not affected, “core” species
are). “Habitat loss” and “habitat fragmentation” can be equally damaging

Invasive Species – introduced, nonnative species that cause problems in their new ecosystem, it is the #2 biggest threat
to biodiversity. When exotic species have no natural predators/controls they can wipe out native species, disrupt
ecosystems, and cause large economic losses.

Native species – indigenous to an area. Able to live and thrive in a particular community without causing ecological
damage to other parts of the ecosystem.
Nonnative species – species that migrates, is deliberately
introduced, or accidentally introduced into a community. Can cause
great ecological damage if it outcompetes native species for
resources or has other adverse environmental effects (becomes
“invasive species”)

Many invasive species have been introduced intentionally. Many

invasive species have been introduced unintentionally.

Prevention is the best way to reduce threats from invasive species,

because once they arrive it is almost impossible to slow their spread.
Individuals can: Clean their hiking and fishing gear; Not transport
firewood from one general area to another; Clean their boat before
transferring it to a new body of water; Not set exotic pets free if they
no longer want them. Governments can: Thoroughly inspect goods,
especially agricultural products, that are imported into the country;
Not allow imported goods if they are in shipping containers that
could harbor organisms (such as untreated wood boxes or crates);
Seek to make agreements with other governments as to how goods
and people will best move from one jurisdiction to the other without
transferring organisms.

The quickest way that aquatic invasive species move is through the ballast
water of ships. Ballast water (aka bilgewater) is used to keep ships stable
and balanced: The water is taken on by the ship before it leaves its home
port. The water is discharged into the foreign harbor when it docks. Small
marine organisms in the ballast water, including algae, fish eggs, and
invertebrate larvae, may survive thrive in their new habitat. To prevent
this, ships should take/release ballast water from the open ocean, not ports or bays.

Pollution: Each year pesticides kill an estimated 1/5th of the U.S. honeybee colonies, 67 million birds, and 10 million fish.
Pollution threatens 1/5th of the U.S.’s endangered and threatened species.

Population growth, along with affluenza (uncontrolled consumption), has promoted the premature extinction of some
species. This is related to habitat loss, pollution, overharvesting, and climate change. If there were less humans, we’d
demand less resources from nature.

Overharvesting (overtaking, overconsumption, etc): Taking natural resources such as animal species at a rate higher
than their sustainable yield. For example, in 1500 there were 60 million bison in America. They were killed for sport,
killed to suppress Native Americans, and killed by ranchers and farmers as pests. In 1892 there were only 80 left.
Another example is the Passenger Pigeon. Once the most numerous bird on earth, in 1858, passenger pigeon hunting
became a big business. By 1900 they became extinct from over-harvesting and habitat loss.

Some protected species are killed for their valuable parts or are sold live to collectors. Killing predators and pests that
bother us or cause economic losses threatens some species with premature extinction. Legal and illegal trade in wildlife
species used as pets or for decorative purposes threatens some species with extinction. For example, rhinoceros are
often killed for their horns and sold illegally on the black market for decorative and medicinal purposes.
Climate Change – Only added in the last few years (acronym used to be HIPPO, but now it’s HIPPOC) as a leading cause
of biodiversity loss. Increasing temperatures may be outside the range of tolerance of an organism, leading to
population decline. If rainfall patterns increase (floods) or decrease (droughts) in an area, this can disrupt plant and
animal species. Sea level rise can cover coastal areas and threaten species there. Ocean acidification can cause a decline
in aquatic species populations.

Domestication of Species: Some organisms have been somewhat or completely domesticated and are now managed for
economic returns, such as honeybee colonies and domestic livestock. This can reduce the species diversity of that
organism/population.

Humans can mitigate the loss of biodiversity by: Creating protected areas; Using habitat corridors; Sustainable land use;
Restoring habitat that has been destroyed

One of the world’s most far-reaching and controversial environmental laws is the 1973 U.S. Endangered Species Act
(ESA) -

Its secondary goal is to recover and maintain those populations by removing or lessening threats to their survival. The
law is controversial because private landowners may lose the use of their land if an endangered species is found there (if
a landowner finds an endangered species, the saying goes “Shoot, Shovel, and Shut up”). The ESA forbids federal
agencies (besides defense department) to carry out / fund projects that would jeopardize an endangered species. The
ESA makes it illegal for Americans to engage in commerce associated with or hunt / kill / collect endangered or
threatened species. If a private party wants to start any project that might harm a threatened/endangered species, a
________________________________ is a required part of an application for an _____________________________
under the ESA. It is a planning document to ensure that the anticipated take of a listed species will be minimized or
mitigated by conserving the habitat that the species depends on. One of the biggest success stories of the ESA is the bald
eagle: 400 pairs in 1967 when it was added to protection list, grew to 10,000 pairs in 1997 when it was removed from
protection list - protection of bald eagle habitat under the ESA was critical to its success. There are currently ~1300
species on the US endangered/threatened list. $150 million of funding is spent on “charismatic” species, and $5 million
spent on invertebrates and plants. Keystone species get more attention and funding

Umbrella Species –

By framing conservation efforts around umbrella species, we can preserve a greater amount of land / ecosystems.

Flagship Species –

Biodiversity hotspots are concentrations of rare and potentially endangered species in the U.S., and these areas receive
greater attention. Congress has amended the ESA to help landowners protect species on their land. Some believe that
the ESA should be weakened or repealed while others believe it should be strengthened and modified to focus on
protecting ecosystems instead of individual species. (many scientists believe that we should focus on protecting and
sustaining biodiversity and ecosystem function as the best way to protect species)

National Environmental Policy Act – Requires that all federal agencies provide an _________________________ and an
______________________________________for any proposed government projects. NEPA established the CEQ,
Council on Environmental Quality, which advises the President.
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) of 1975 -

The most well known species that are illegally traded are tigers, elephants, sharks, dolphins, rhinos, and sea turtles. The
goal of CITES is to ensure that international trade of species does not lead to their extinction. Because of the scarcity of
government inspectors, probably no more than 1/10th of the illegal wildlife trade in the U.S. is discovered.

Gene banks, botanical gardens and using farms to raise threatened species can help prevent extinction, but these
options lack funding and storage space. Zoos and aquariums can help protect endangered animal species by preserving
some individuals with the long-term goal of reintroduction, but zoos often suffer from lack of space and money. Zoos
can be excellent places to study and learn about species, and they are a good way to transmit this knowledge/learning
to the public and bring awareness to conservation efforts.