SCI207 GREENHOUSES LAB

PURPOSE

Overview

In Chapter 7, we learned how the build-up of heat-trapping pollution caused by human activities is destabilizing Earth’s climate. This phenomenon – referred to interchangeably as “global warming” and “climate change” – has more recently been called “climate disruption” and even (by sustainable business guru, Hunter Lovins) “global weirding”. Primary human causes of heat-trapping or “greenhouse gas” pollution include the burning of fossil fuels (e.g., coal, oil, natural gas), detailed in Chapter 6. They also include land use changes such as the conversion of forest ecosystems to industrial agriculture, as detailed in chapters 3 and 4. 

In this lab you will use a computer model to explore how human activities are creating a blanket of heat-trapping pollution in Earth’s atmosphere. The model illustrates sources of top heat-trapping pollutants and their general impacts on Earth’s temperature. In the lab questions, you will reflect upon how destabilizing Earth’s climate not only impacts ecosystems and biodiversity, but also critical elements of human well-being such as fresh water supplies and agricultural production.

https://99galaxy.com/viewanswer/view/-Natural-causes-of-climate-XCDwyiaaBf