Ice Age misconceptions
A region reliant on agriculture is experiencing drought & food shortages. How could the region adapt its agricultural practices to improve resilience to future droughts? Why/how would this help?
No-till farming, polyculture, less pesticide use, etc. as this would increase the microbial abundance & diversity of the soil, making the topsoil/humus thick which stores more water & nutrients than other layers of soil.
If you could convince every person in the U.S. to follow one habit, which habit would you implement to combat climate change? Why?
Eat less meat, drive less, take more public transit, communicate science, etc.
A person says to you, "we are in an ice age, so warming is going to help us not hurt us", how would you respond?
It is the rate of change that is dangerous to life on Earth. If too rapid for life to adapt to, mass extinctions occur. We've seen this every time that climate has changed as rapidly as it is today.
If you were in in charge of our next move/policy for combating climate change/the 6th mass extinction, what would you implement? Why?
More renewable energy development & implementation?
More regulations on fossil fuel industry?
Carbon tax? Electric car mandates?
More climate education/communication/outreach?
More land use policies/restrictions? More conservation efforts?
50 years from now, Earth will look very different, some populated regions will be underwater, some too hot to go outside in the summer. If you could move anywhere in the world, where would you move to remain the most confortable over the next 50-100 years of climate change?
Mine is Minnesota, I have family there and it will remain relatively protected from global warming effects.
A person says to you "Earth is warming because of the current interglacial period, this is a natural warming trend caused by astronomical factors, humans are not the cause". How would you respond?
We are actually causing more warming on top of the interglacial warming.
Why did the PETM (one of the most rapid global warming events in Earth's history) NOT cause a mass extinction on par with the Big 5?
Life was warm-adapted.
If you could stop one feedback mechanism from operating, which one would you stop to combat climate change and why?
Mine would either be albedo or methan release from melting hydrates, since these mechanisms occur too rapidly for negative feedbacks to keep up.
Solar reflectors can be deployed in space/upper atm to help cool Earth. But they are expensive, and you can only deploy them over one area. Which one do you choose? Why?
(a) The Arctic, to reduce ice melt and protect species like polar bears.
(b) Major urban areas, to reduce dangerous urban heat island effects & improve public health.
(c) Drought-prone agricultural regions, to reduce soil temperatures & water loss.
I guess I would do the Arctic since (1) we can handle the urban areas with more white surfaces & greenery, (2) we can change our agricultural approaches to handle (c), and (3) warming at the poles is much harder to combat and is most dangerous due to the albedo effect increasing warming rates.
How does increasing atm CO2 cause warming?
How does warming cause increase in atm CO2?
Greenhouse effect
Hydrate/ice melting & release of CO2 & CH4
Someone says "most of the CO2 we release to the atm doesn't stay there. It goes into oceans & trees, so we don't need to worry about it" How do you respond?
Well, we do need to worry about all the CO2 going into the oceans and other water bodies because it causes acidification, anoxia, and other harmful effects.
Moreover, the reservoir we are taking it from is the geosphere (rocks) and we ultimately need it to go back to the rocks if we want to balance climate, so we need to (1) stop taking it from the rocks, and (2) work on C sequestration techniques that will help eventually store it back in the rocks.
It's been proposed that bringing back extinct animals may help combat climate change.
For example, mammoths are being brought back from extinction in hopes to use it to transform shrub/tree lands into grasslands which hold more carbon.
Which organism would you bring back and why?
Maybe plants that are efficient at sequestering carbon and can handle rapid change well?
Or other animals that help maintain such plants?
ChatGPT says: Steller’s sea cow (Hydrodamalis gigas) could help restore seagrass meadows, which are efficient at sequestering carbon.
A member of congress holds up a snowball to you and says "see, climate change is a hoax!" What do you say to convince them that climate change is real?
Tbh, I wouldn't want to waste my breath on those peope, but if I had to, I'd probably say:
"Global warming means that on average the globe is increasing in temperature. So, obviously cold regions, although getting warmer, will not loose their snow in a matter of years. And although it seems slow on human timescales, the current rate of warming is faster than any other climate change event in Earth's history. And any time that climate change became this rapid in Earth's past, mass extinction events have occurred, which is why it is a crises we need to address."
The cyclic astronomical changes that have driven the interglacial cycles (the up & down temperature swings) throughout current ice age are called the ______________ cycles.
milankovitch
Someone says "The amount of CO2 we emit to the atmosphere is just a small percentage of the total CO2 flux to the atmosphere every year, so how is this tiny amount causing global change?" How do you respond?
The 'small' amount we contribute has pushed the 'input' of CO2 to the atmoshpere over the 'output', which is leading to increasing amounts of atm CO2 every year.
Moreover, the 'small' numbers are misleading due to all that is going into the hydrosphere & biosphere.
Mine would be the rapid Devonian spread of trees & formation of soils (that would increase C sequestration at a rate that might combat our current situation)
On a scientific expedition to the rapidly melting Antarctic ice sheet, you discover a unique organism that thrives in cold, nutrient-rich environments & could potentially absorb CO₂ more effectively than trees. However, this organism may also disrupt local ecosystems. You have permission to grow it in only one type of area. Which one do you choose? Why?
(a) Arctic waters to slow local ice melt
(b) Temperate coastal zones to maximize CO₂ uptake near populated areas
(c) Antarctic waters to slow local ice melt
I would say the Arctic because it is warming fastest due to albedo.
Extra 100 points for whoever knows why the arctic is warming faster than the Antarctic?