Greenhouse Gas
Which of the following is NOT a greenhouse gas? a) water vapor b) nitrous oxide c) artificial fertilizers d) carbon dioxide e) methane
c) artificial fertilizers
What was the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere 200 years ago? (before the Industrial Revolution)
275 ppm
True or False: Carbon dioxide is the worst greenhouse gas.
False. Methane (CH4) is at least 25x and up to 85x as potent.
Which country emits the most carbon dioxide per person?
United States - double the global average per person
What is one way farmers can help slow climate change?
Put carbon in the soil in the form of compost or biochar or through rotational grazing OR keep carbon in the soil through low till farming.
True or False: The Greenhouse Effect keeps heat or infared energy from escaping Earth's surface and holds it in the atmosphere. Without the greenhouse effect life on earth would be too cold.
True
What is the current level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere today?
2024: 422 ppm
2023: 407.4 ppm (parts per million) - greater than anytime in the last 800,000 years
True or False: The Carbon Cycle involves the movement of carbon through all of Earth's spheres: geo, bio, hydro, and atmospheres.
True
Which country produces the most greenhouse gases in total each year?
China - even though per person is not as high as the US, altogether China produces the most greenhouse gases of any country. The United States is second place.
Name 2 food crops which contribute high amounts of carbon emissions.
feedlot Beef because cows release methane. Palm oil because rain forest is slashed and burned to grow this crop instead.
TRUE OR FALSE: Composting food scraps releases less harmful greenhouse gases than food scraps in the garbage/landfill
TRUE - in the garbage/landfill, food scraps release methane which is a much worse greenhouse gas than the CO2 released during composting
True or False: Leaving electronic devices and appliances plugged in or on standby when you are not using them increases your carbon footprint.
True - you can plug them into a power strip and turn that off when you leave the house.
True or False: Carbon spends the longest amount of time in the geosphere part of the cycle.
True - the slow carbon cycle which cycles carbon between rocks, soil, ocean and atmosphere takes 100-200 million years making it a good place to store excess carbon. Or as some say leave the fossil fuels in the ground
Name three ways that climate change is affecting the oceans?
arctic sea ice is melting, sea levels are rising, ocean water is becoming more acidic
True or False: In the US, of all the economic sectors, Agriculture is the greatest carbon emissions.
False - Agriculture causes only 9%. Residential and commercial causes 12%. Industry causes 22%. The greatest carbon emitters in the economy are transportation at 29% and electricity at 28%.
https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions#commercial-and-residential
What has been happening to the concentrations of greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere over the past 200 years? What caused this?
It has been increasing. Human activity caused this primarily by burning fossil fuels
What is the name of the process in which plants release oxygen into the air and absorb carbon dioxide from the air?
photosynthesis - so just growing plants and trees and a good way to absorb CO2 frm the atmosphere!
True or False: Carbon is able to move from the air to the ocean by dissolving in water AND from air through living beings through biological processes like eating, breathing and photosynthesis.
True - the fast carbon cycle from living things on land and in the ocean to the atmosphere and back moves 1,000 to 100,000 million metric tons of carbon every year.
TRUE or FALSE - Carbon dioxide levels were as high as they are today in the recorded history of the Earth.
False - They tell us that levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere are higher than they have been at any time in the past 800,000 years. During ice ages, CO2 levels were around 200 parts per million (ppm), and during the warmer interglacial periods, they hovered around 280 ppm (see fluctuations in the graph). In 2013, CO2 levels surpassed 400 ppm for the first time in recorded history (https://climate.nasa.gov/climate_resources/24/graphic-the-relentless-rise-of-carbon-dioxide/)
True or False: Aquaculture of shellfish is not impacted by climate change because they are under water.
False - ocean acidification and warming ocean temperatures are having a great affect on the shellfish industry. In Washington state this is a $100 M industry
Which youth climate activist got person of the year on TIME magazine?
Greta Thunberg
Which continents have had the most wildfires caused by climate change?
North America and South America
Name 3 celebrities who have helped combat climate change
Which countries have NOT joined or left the Paris Climate Accord?
Libya and Yemen. The US left under Trump but rejoined under Biden
Explain how AI contributes to climate change and other environmental problems
AI data centers use massive amounts of electricity, spurring the emission of planet-warming greenhouse gases, they are large consumers of water, which is becoming scarce in many places, and they rely on critical minerals and rare elements, which are often mined unsustainably.