Chapter 7

Question 1

Adaptation

Answer 1

Adjustment to different or changing circumstances, such as when insurance companies modify their claims forecasting and setting of premiums with regard to future climate change conditions. The largest challenge for adaptation strategies will occur in the future when the most significant consequences from climate change will appear.

Question 2

Aspirational approach

Answer 2

An approach emphasizing long-term but unspecific and non-binding targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Advocated by developed countries such as Canada (p 224)

Question 3

Atmosphere

Answer 3

The layer of air surrounding the Earth (p. 202)

Question 4

Bali Conference

Answer 4

A UN-sponsored climate change conference held in the first two weeks of December 2007 in Bali, Indonesia, to start a process to create a new framework to replace the Kyoto Protocol,which ended in 2012. There was agreement that both developed and developing countries must participate in reducing greenhouse gas emissions but reluctance from key developing countries, including Canada, to commit to binding targets (p 225)

Question 5

Biochar

Answer 5

Created through pyrolysis of biomass, a type of charcoal used to enhance soil. In addition to sequestering carbon. it increases food security and soil biodiversity (p.235)

Question 6

Cancun Summit

Answer 6

A meeting of representatives from 193 countries and other interests parties held in Mexico in December 2010 to seek advance mitigative action on climate change. Canada continued to be a laggard, and only incremental progress was made (p. 226)

Question 7

Carbon sequestration

Answer 7

Reforestation and afforestation to ameliorate carbon dioxide loadings in the atmosphere because trees and shrbs use the excess CO2 (p 232)

Question 8

Carbon tax

Answer 8

An approach in which greenhouse gas emissions by individuals or companies are taxed. The purpose is to change human behaviour towards activities that produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions (p. 231)

Question 9

Climate

Answer 9

The long-term weather pattern of a particular region (p. 203)

Question 10

Climate change

Answer 10

A long-term alternation in the climate of a particular location or region, or for the entire planet (p. 203)

Question 11

Climate change deniers

Answer 11

Those who, for ideological and economic reasons, use communication tactics to question the science underlying climate change and therefore delay action to mitigate this change (p.220)

Question 12

“Climategate”

Answer 12

The controversy surrounding leaked e-mails from a climate research centre at the university of east anglia, just weeks prior to the the Copenhagen Summit, which appeared, incorrectly, to suggest that researchers had manipulated their data to make climate change appear more severe (p.221)

Question 13

Climate justice

Answer 13

Focuses on the interaction of environmental degradation and social, economic, and racial inequities created by climate change. It calls for resolving the disproportionate impact of climate change on poor and marginalized people (p. 235)

Question 14

Climate modelling

Answer 14

Various mathematical and computerized approaches for determining past climate trends in an effort to build scenarios predicting future climate, which use any or all of the following factors in measurement: incoming and outgoing radiation; energy dynamics or flows around the globe; surface processes affecting climate, such as snow cover and vegetation; chemical composition of the atmosphere; and time step or resolution (time over which the model runs and the spatial scale to which it applies (.p 207)

Question 15

Copenhagen Summit

Answer 15

A two-week meeting of world leaders, environment ministers, and other interested parties held in Copenhagen, Denmark, in late 2009, which sought unsuccessfully to advance the agenda for action on climate change. Canada showed itself at this conference to be among the greatest laggards in seeking action for improved GHG emission standards (p 225)

Question 16

El Nino

Answer 16

A marked warming of the waters in the eastern and central portions of the tropical Pacific that trigger weather changes and events in two-thirds of the world. (p 203)

Question 17

Emission credits

Answer 17

Credits that can be earned by a nation based on land-use or forestry (afforestation, reforestation) initiatives that reduce measurable greenhouse gas emissions (p223)

Question 18

Emissions trading

Answer 18

Under the Kyoto Protocol, a system whereby one country that will exceed its allotted limit of greenhouse gas emissions can buy an amount of greenhouse gas emissions from another country that will not reach its own established emissions limit (p 223)

Question 19

Fossil fuels

Answer 19

Organic (coal, natural gas, oil, tar sands, and oil shale) derived from once-living plants or animals (p 218)

Question 20

General circulation models (GCMs)

Answer 20

The most prominent and complex type of climate modellings, which takes into account the three-dimensional nature of the Earth’s atmosphere and oceans or both (p 208)

Question 21

Geo-engineering

Answer 21

Various technologies, from as simple as tree planting to as complex as stratospheric aerosols and space mirrors, that are used to or have been proposed to mitigate the effects of climate change (p. 226)

Question 22

Global warming

Answer 22

Changes in average temperatures of the Earth’s surface. These changes are not uniform (i.e., some regions experience significantly higher temperatures, others only slight changes upward, and still others might experience somewhat cooler temperatures (p 203)

Question 23

Greenhouse effect

Answer 23

A warming of the Earth’s atmosphere caused by the presence of certain gases (e.g., water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane) that absorb radiation emitted by the Earth, thereby retarding the loss of energy to space ( p 204)

Question 24

Greenhouse gas (GHG)

Answer 24

A gas that contributes to the greenhouse effects, such as carbon dioxide (p 204)

Question 25

Ice caps

Answer 25

An ice mass covering not more than 50,000 km2 of land area (p. 215)

Question 26

Ice shelves

Answer 26

An ice mass extending over more than 50,000 km2 of land area (p 215)

Question 27

Kyoto Protocol

Answer 27

An international agreement reached in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997 that targets 38 developed nations as well as the European Community to ensure that "their aggregate anthropocentric carbon dioxide equivalent emissions of the greenhouse gases (e.g. carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydro-fluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, sulphur hexafluoride) do no exceed their assigned amounts. The Protocol came into effect in 2004 when 55 countries accounting for 55 per cent of 1990 global carbon dioxide emissions had ratified it. Kyoto commitments are legally binding on nations under international law (p 222)

Question 28

Mitigation

Answer 28

Strategies to reduce or minimize the negative consequences from a hazard such as climate change. Mitigation requires action today in order for initiatives to be able to reduce the most serious negative impacts in the future (p 223)

Question 29

Montreal Protocol

Answer 29

Signed in 1987 by 32 nations, established a schedule for reducing use of chloro-flourocarbons and halons to reduce the rate of depletion of the ozone layer (212)

Question 30

Ozone

Answer 30

An atmospheric gas (O3) that, when present in the stratosphere, helps to protect the Earth from UV rays. However, when present near the Earth's surface, it is a primary component of urban smog and has detrimental effects on both vegetation and human respiratory systems (212).

Question 31

Uncertainty

Answer 31

A situation in which the probability or odds of a future event are not known and therefore indicates the presence of doubt (p 218)

Question 32

Weather

Answer 32

The sum total of atmospheric conditions (temperature, pressure, winds, moisture, and precipitation) in a particular place for a short period of time (p 202)

Question 33

The world's average temperature was approximately _____ at the end of the 20th century than it was at the beginning

Answer 33

0.6 warmer

Question 34

________ gas is primarily responsible for the greenhouse effect

Answer 34

carbon dioxide

Question 35

Of the following, _____ is not a general factor in climate change. a) solar radiation b) the shape of the Earth’s orbit c) earthquakes and tsunamis d) volcanic eruptions e) changes in ocean currents

Answer 35

volcanic eruptions

Question 36

The International Panel on Climate Change concluded that global increases of carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere are due to _________

Answer 36

fossil fuel use and land use change

Question 37

Under the Kyoto Protocol, Canada was supposed to cut greenhouse gas emissions by ___________

Answer 37

6 percent below 1990 levels by 2008-2012

Question 38

Greenhouse gas intensity is ______

Answer 38

the ratio of greenhouse gas emissions to economic output

Question 39

Carbon sequestration is ________.

Answer 39

a way for nations to achieve GHG emission reduction targets a way to trap carbon in natural systems such as forests a challenge, as biological sinks are not permanent

Question 40

Weather is a combination of ________.

Answer 40

temperature and precipitation, humidity, winds, air pressure

Question 41

Climate represents average day-to-day weather as well as ________.

Answer 41

seasonal variations

Question 42

. Climate change can be caused by ________.

Answer 42

cyclical changes in the shape of the Earth’s orbit wobbles of the Earth’s axis changes in the angle of tilt of the Earth on its axis alterations in atmospheric greenhouse gases

Question 43

A marked warming of eastern and central Pacific waters that triggers global weather changes is called ________.

Answer 43

El Nino

Question 44

Snow cover in the northern hemisphere has decreased since 1996 by ________.

Answer 44

10%

Question 45

Caution must be exercised in interpreting sea level rise data because ________.

Answer 45

land is still rebounding from the weight of the last glaciation, leading to underestimation of sea level rise

Question 46

________ is being so affected by sea level rise that they are preparing to buy land in other countries so that their citizens can move when their country is flooded.

Answer 46

the maldives

Question 47

In general circulation models, equations are calculated in each grid zone at every layer of the grid, dealing with ________.

Answer 47

conservation of momentum conservation of energy ideal gas law conservation of mass

Question 48

. The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established by ________.

Answer 48

the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme

Question 49

Ozone depletion was the focus of and international protocol signed in ________.

Answer 49

Montreal

Question 50

An example of geo-engineering is ________.

Answer 50

iron fertilization of oceans

Question 51

True or False A general circulation model of climate change using a small grid requires fewer calculations than one using a larger grid.

Answer 51

F

Question 52

True or False In 2007, Canada’s Conservative government rejected the Kyoto Protocol and adopted an aspirational approach instead.

Answer 52

T

Question 53

True or False Canada, China, and India agreed to specific targets at the 2007 Bali conference.

Answer 53

F

Question 54

True or False Canada was labelled a “climate hypocrite” at the 2007 Bali conference.

Answer 54

4

Question 55

True or False In 2008, British Columbia instituted a revenue-neutral carbon tax.

Answer 55

T

Question 56

True or False Corals can indicate how climates have changed in the past.

Answer 56

T

Question 57

True or False Global warming means uniform warming throughout the world.

Answer 57

F

Question 58

True or False Global warming will have a beneficial effect on agriculture globally due to lengthened growing seasons.

Answer 58

F