Energy and the environment: Global warming, climate change, er, climate volatility: 2012 and beyond

2011 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 22-24
Author(s):  
Jonathan A. Lesser
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Warming Climate

Modelling ecosystem adaptation and dangerous rates of global warming

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Millington ◽  
Peter M. Cox ◽  
Jonathan R. Moore ◽  
Gabriel Yvon-Durocher
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Diffusion Rate ◽  
Individual Species ◽  
Genetic Evolution ◽  
Rates Of Change ◽  
Rapid Climate Change ◽  
Warming Climate ◽  
Intraspecies Competition ◽  
High Trait

Abstract We are in a period of relatively rapid climate change. This poses challenges for individual species and threatens the ecosystem services that humanity relies upon. Temperature is a key stressor. In a warming climate, individual organisms may be able to shift their thermal optima through phenotypic plasticity. However, such plasticity is unlikely to be sufficient over the coming centuries. Resilience to warming will also depend on how fast the distribution of traits that define a species can adapt through other methods, in particular through redistribution of the abundance of variants within the population and through genetic evolution. In this paper, we use a simple theoretical ‘trait diffusion’ model to explore how the resilience of a given species to climate change depends on the initial trait diversity (biodiversity), the trait diffusion rate (mutation rate), and the lifetime of the organism. We estimate theoretical dangerous rates of continuous global warming that would exceed the ability of a species to adapt through trait diffusion, and therefore lead to a collapse in the overall productivity of the species. As the rate of adaptation through intraspecies competition and genetic evolution decreases with species lifetime, we find critical rates of change that also depend fundamentally on lifetime. Dangerous rates of warming vary from 1°C per lifetime (at low trait diffusion rate) to 8°C per lifetime (at high trait diffusion rate). We conclude that rapid climate change is liable to favour short-lived organisms (e.g. microbes) rather than longer-lived organisms (e.g. trees).

Extreme Weather Resulting from Global Warming is an Emerging Threat to Farmworker Health and Safety

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 189-190
Author(s):  
Kent E. Pinkerton ◽  
Emily Felt ◽  
Heather E. Riden
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Extreme Precipitation ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Extreme Weather ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Cold Waves ◽  
Warming Climate ◽  
Weather Events

Abstract. A warming climate has been linked to an increase in the frequency and severity of extreme weather events, including heat and cold waves, extreme precipitation, and wildfires. This increase in extreme weather results in increased risks to the health and safety of farmworkers. Keywords: Climate change, Extreme weather, Farmworkers, Global warming, Health and safety.

scholarly journals The Impacts of Climate Change on Nigerian Ecosystems: A Review

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 267-291
Author(s):  
B. E. Ikumbur ◽  
S. Iornumbe
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Adaptation Strategies ◽  
Adaptation Measures ◽  
Climatic Variations ◽  
Mitigation And Adaptation ◽  
Warming Climate ◽  
The World ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change

Climate change is the single biggest environmental issue facing the world today. It has become a great challenge to our generation and its impact is felt in almost every society in the world. Nigeria is one of the most vulnerable countries in Africa. Nigeria as a developing nation with a population of about 200 million people is likely to be adversely impacted by climate change due to its vulnerability and low coping capabilities. Climate change is evidently linked to human actions, and in particular from the burning of fossil fuels and changes in global patterns of land use. The impacts of human activities, as well as those of natural phenomena on global warming, climate change, and the environment, were presented and discussed. Various manifestations of its impact are evident in Nigeria, which includes temperature rise, increase in draught, and scarcity of food instigated by irregularities in rainfall, over flooding, and so on. This paper examines the concepts of global warming and climate change; its impact on the Nigeria ecosystems. It highlights the climate change-related risks and hazards the nation could face if best practices are not employed to prevent and mitigate its impact. Two sets of measures have been advocated for confronting climate change, these are mitigation and adaptation measures. The review explores possible adaptation strategies that are required to respond to the climatic variations and suggests ways that these adaptation strategies can be implemented.

Narrating Global Warming

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Smith
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Real World ◽  
Risk Evaluation ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Human Action ◽  
Warming Climate ◽  
Binary Oppositions

This article examines global warming using the narrative genre model of risk evaluation. The narrative genre model of risk evaluation offers a systematic and comparative way of looking at the form and structure of storytelling and its consequences for human action. It is based on a number of claims, for example: uncertain events and real world facts are “clues”; we can see things as low mimetic, romantic, tragic, or apocalyptic; binary oppositions play a role as building blocks for wider storytelling activity. The article first provides a background on the issues of global warming, climate change, and greenhouse gas emissions before discussing the rise and growing acceptance of the apocalyptic genre as part of the discourse on global warming. It then considers the critique of apocalypticism, arguing that it is not only a bad genre guess that can be mocked, but also a hegemonic and anti-democratic force. It concludes with a commentary on how the narration of global warming is taking place at two levels.

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