Part 1: One degree factor (10 points)

“The greatest mistake one can make is to do nothing when s/he can do a little.”

  1. Why is the film called the One Degree Factor?
  2. How do wildlife biologists count caribou populations?
  3. How do warmer temperatures affect mosquito populations, and eventually affect the caribou herd?
  4. How does rain in winter affect caribou (think of their feet and their food)
  5. How have Caribou populations been affected by climate change?
  6. Relate the Caribou population to “mankind”.
  7. What are zooplankton and why are they important in marine ecosystems?
  8. Explain why zooplankton die if the surface temperatures are warm.
  9. What do biologists fear about the “tipping point” for the zooplankton?
  10. Describe 2 major effects from Saharan dust in the Caribbean.
  11. What is the North Atlantic Oscillation?
  12. How can warmer temperatures in the Indian Ocean cause more Saharan dust in the Caribbean?
  13. What is the “tipping point” of a political idea like stopping global warming?

14. In recent years, results from scientific studies have increased public awareness of the possible damage to human health from exposure to indoor air pollution.

(a)Identify two specific indoor air pollutants and, for each, discuss the following.

(i)The type of building most affected by the pollutant

(ii)Source(s) of the pollutant

(iii)The pollutant’s effects on human health

(iv)The method(s) of prevention or cleanup of the pollutant

(b)According to the Environmental Protection Agency, at least 17 percent of the four million commercial buildings in the United States can be considered sick buildings.

(i)Explain what is meant by the term sick building.

(ii)Describe the criteria used for determining whether a building is sick.

15. Read the article below from the Fremont Free Press and answer the questions that follow.

(a) Support Councilwoman Smith’s statement that nitrogen-based fertilizers cause other environmentalproblems by describing one such problem.

(b) Identify a nitrogen-containing primary pollutant that contributes to the formation of photochemical smog. Describe how that primary pollutant forms and explain why Councilman Budd was wrong.

(c) Identify one secondary pollutant that is a component of photochemical smog and describe the following.

(i) How the secondary pollutant forms

(ii) ONE human health effect of the pollutant

(iii) ONE environmental effect of the pollutant

(d) Earth’s natural nitrogen cycle occurs in several steps. Describe one chemical transformation that occurs in the natural nitrogen cycle and discuss the importance of that transformation to an ecosystem.

16. Ozone O3 is an atmospheric trace gas that occurs naturally in the stratosphere. It is also formed as a consequence of human activity in the troposphere, immediately above Earth’s surface. The location of ozone in the atmosphere determines whether the gas protects or damages the environment.

(a) Identify the type of solar radiation that is absorbed by stratospheric ozone, and describe one human health benefit that results from the absorption of this solar energy.

(b) The absorption of solar energy by stratospheric ozone causes ozone molecules to undergo chemical decomposition and formation. Describe the chemical processes that lead to this natural balance between decomposition and formation of stratospheric ozone (you may use chemical equations in your answer).

(c) The Montreal Protocol of 1987 provided a global framework to phase out chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) production and use. Although the Montreal Protocol has led to a dramatic decrease in CFCs released into the atmosphere, stratospheric ozone destruction has decreased only slightly.

i. Explain the process by which CFCs lead to the destruction of stratospheric ozone. (You may use chemical equations in your answer.)

ii. Explain why the rapid decrease in CFC emissions has not led to a similarly rapid decrease in the destruction of stratospheric ozone.

(d) Identify a human activity that leads to the formation of tropospheric ozone as a secondary pollutant and explain why tropospheric ozone levels peak in the daytime.

(e) Identify one negative ecological impact and one negative human health impact that result from the formation of tropospheric ozone.

Part 2: Six° Degrees Could Change the World

1. What could happen to the global climate by the end of this century?

2. What are some current signs of global warming in Australia?

3. How much could the temperature rise over the next 100 years?

4. What is the hidden price for our energy consumption?

If the global climate is raised by 1°….

5. Ranchlands in the United States would become what type of environment?

6. What country would benefit from the 1° temperature shift?

7. ______% of the world’s energy starts as fossil fuels.

8. What is the Carbon “footprint” (impact) of a single cheeseburger?

If the global climate is raised by 2°….

9. What type of environment could be completely lost from the Earth?

10. What will happen when the Ice fields of Greenland melt?

11. What is happening to sled dogs of Greenland?

12. How much could sea level rise over the next 100 years?

13. What are some things that you could do to help prevent the rise of the Earth’s temp by 2°?

If the global climate is raised by 3°….

14. What happened in Paris in the Summer of 2003?

15. Instead of putting out Oxygen as a product of photosynthesis, plants returned______to the atmosphere.

16. How much of the world’s Oxygen is produced by the Amazon rainforest?

17. In a 3° world what extreme weather pattern would become normal?

18. How long was Katrina actually above New Orleans?

If the global climate is raised by 4°….

19. What evidence is there for the loss of glaciers in the Himalayas?

20. What year do they estimate the glaciers will be gone?

21. What will happen to New York if the global climate rises 4°?

If the global climate is raised by 5° or 6°….

22. What is the best way to survive this change?

23. How much does a TV cost to be plugged in when it is not turned on?

24. Cars produce ______of the Earth’s greenhouse gasses.

25. What types of technology can be used to reduce our use of fossil fuels?

26. Where did the CO2 that we are putting into the atmosphere actually come from?

27. Scientific evidence shows a direct relationship between sea level and the global mean atmospheric temperature at Earth’s surface. Increases in the global mean atmospheric temperature during the past century have been accompanied by a gradual increase in sea level; currently the average rate of increase in sea level is 3.0 mm/yr. Additional increases in sea level are expected during the next century as global mean atmospheric temperatures continue to rise. These increases in sea level will affect coastal ecosystems as well as human activity along coastal margins.

(a) Based on the rate cited above, calculate the expected increase in sea level, in meters, during the next 50 years.

(b) Identify TWO phenomena that result from an increase in global mean atmospheric temperature and that contribute to increases in sea level. For each phenomenon that you identify, explain how it causes sea level to increase.

(c) Describe TWO environmental impacts that increasing sea level will have on an estuarine ecosystem such as those in the Mississippi Delta, Chesapeake Bay, and San Francisco Bay.

(d) Although sea level has been rising for over a century, human populations in coastal areas have increased dramatically during this period.

(i) Describe one negative economic impact that an increase in sea level will have on people who live along a coastline.

(ii) Describe TWO viable strategies that governments could use to discourage people from moving to coastal areas.