Climate Change: Why is it important?

Climate Change with Dr. Edelstein- environmental psychologist 

• sustainability- remaining on earth within its limits
• how we live our lives to allow future people to have the same opportunities
• climate change- arises from the use of fuel 
• Newburgh water has pfos-escaping from Stewart air force base, used to clean planes
• people have to be tested for it
• most chemicals petroleum based (fossil fuels)
• Al Gore- climate change
• studying climate in Hawaii and for correlation between climate change and particles in the air in college 
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• teacher Roger Revel
• Rex Tillerson- Secretary of State 
• CEO of exon mobile
• ran a campaign against climate change to prevent people from being against fossil fuels
• an inconvenient truth 
• based on Al Gore's teachings on climate change
• Apollo Mission first time there were pictures of Earth
• first time people actually could see where we live
• water planet
• spherical
• hydro logical cycle happening
• through exploration. we found out that the world was not flat, it is endless
• ingrained in use that we have and endless earth with endless resources
• but the picture of the earth from space shows us the earth is finite 
• the form that the matter is in has been changed by human 
• Law of conservation of matter- energy and matter cannot be destroyed
• matter is neither created or destroyed it can only be changed from one form to another
• matter has weight and takes up space
• Entropy Law- the world moves from a state of order to disorder (eventually the end of the universe) 
• from clean to messy
• when you drive and the molecules of gas are burned 
• the gas particles are broken down into random molecules (pollutants)
• ENERGY=the ability to do work
• the Earth as a system
• an organization of some type
• what is imputed into the system and outputted
• open system
• the waste is still in the environment but transformed 
• closed systems do not import or export
• the earth is an open and closed system
• with matter it is closed
• open system with energy because of the sun (primary productivity)
• people run the world as if it were a closed system
• using petroleum(matter)to run the earth
• could run it as an open system with the use of renewable energy (solar power)
• there is a finite amount of petroleum
• when we use the sun it does not cause negative effects
• order can only be created by work
• Climate change need for the use of something different
• Must we change?
• The atmosphere- two layers
• the Troposphere- where we live
• when we pollute the troposphere it decreases the life quality of everything on earth
• the stratosphere
• the layer susceptible to climate change
• ozone O3 if we breathe this it hurts our lungs
• factories can produce this ozone
• it can cause damage to children 
• Ozone collects at the poles and thins the stratosphere allowing more UV rays to come in
• can cause skin cancer from the increased ozone
• Montreal protocol -the world agreed to use less chlorofluorocarbons to decrease the amount of ozone 
• closing the hole in the Stratosphere
• As the amount of co2 increases in the atmosphere the less of the sun rays can bounce  back into space causing it to heat up
• lighter colors reflect more heat
• the lighter color parts of the earth reflect more heat
• the poles because of the snow
• albedo-reflective 
• how much heat is trying to escape and how much is being absorbed
• the Earth gains heat as it absorbent rays
• positive feedback loop
• an acceleration of an existing trend
• the ice is melting = less albedo
• exposing ocean and plants
• removing of the ice caps
• less ice in the winter
• less albedo =heats up the earth
• less ice
• continues until eventuall,y it will not be able to reverse itself
• thickening of the blanket of gases and less albedo at the same time
• burning forests, coal mining, industrial agriculture, air transport all contribute to green house gasses, fertilization, thinning of permafrost
• cows produce ruminant farts- methane
• as the Arctic thaws, the methane gas is released into the atmosphere
• Anomaly- not the norm
• there have been years when it has been colder than normal
• recently the curve has been going up for heat exponentially 
• rapid increase, doubling over time
• world population also has exponential growth
• the combustion of fossil fuels has also increased exponentially
• it is almost identical to the curve of increasing temperature
• 2016 was the hottest year on record 
• heat events are occurring more and more around the world where crops are dying, people over heating, dangerous
• the oceans are increasing heat dramatically as well
• coral reefs are being destroyed 
• the main sources of life in the oceans and they are becoming deserts
• they are producing increasing, more disastrous, frequent, deadly storms
• the water cycle
• the intensifying heat in the ocean creates more rain 
• rain bombs drop unbelievable amounts of water in a short time
• massive hurricanes- Harvey
• there were no zoning laws to keep wet lands, keep people from building too low
• low resilience- low roads still flooded
• they can completely wipe out an area and it may never come back
• everything in the area becomes contaminated
• black mold becomes a toxic presence when homes get wet 
• resilience
• the same heat that evaporates the oceans, evaporates the water from the earth 
• creating major droughts
• more fires that continually get worse (California, Russia, Australia)
• worldwide weather catastrophes, extreme temperatures, droughts, fires, all have exponential growth
• since 1997 it has almost increased by 1/3
• declining ice masses 
• decrease in albedo
• water poured into the ocean, increasing water levels
• coastal cities flooding
• Miami is at the most risk for sea level rise
• Al Gore- predicts water flooding NYC with water level rising- massive damage
• disease spreads more rapidly, increase refugees, wars, tragedies 
• Worldwide we have made strides towards preventing this
• Texas wind-powered state
• green economy
• using open system more than fossil fuels