MULT10018 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Big Science, Human Capital, Social Capital
28 Jul 2018
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1. Climate Change
● Is a change in the balance between incoming and outgoing solar radiation
● Some incoming solar energy is blocked by a blanket of gases that keeps the planet
warm
- heat moves away from the equator towards the poles
● Human actions have thickened the blanket of gases
- trapping more solar radiation
- warming of the atmosphere, land and oceans
- changes in atmospheric and oceanic circulations, weather patterns, and the hydrological
cycles
● Key effects of climate change:
1. air temperature increase by ~ 2-4*C above pre-industrial levels by 2050
- sea-surface temperature increases
2. Rainfall more intense and less frequent, exacerbating existing patterns of flooding and
drying
3. Increases in sea levels (18 - 82 cms by 2100)
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4. Changes in regional climate systems such ENSO and the Asian monsoon
5. In the Pacific, fewer but more extreme events
2. The structural drivers of climate change
● Industrial production is the main driver of GHG emissions, not pop size
● The more industrialized a country is, the more it emits (and the wealthier it becomes)
● Energy used is a good indicator of the impact of people on climate over time and pace
● From ~ 1780 onwards,
- Industrialization becomes a dominant mode of production
- Intense FF use
● IEA emissions calculations:
- Emissions from fossil fuel based energy production were the highest in history in 2011 –
31.6Gigatons (Gt) of CO2 and a 3.2% increase on 2010 (which in itself was 5% above
the previous record year in 2008) (Okereke et al. 2012; IEA 2012).
- "When I look at this data, the trend is perfectly in line with a temperature increase of 6
degrees Celsius (by 2050), which would have devastating consequences for the planet,"
Fatih Birol, IEA's chief economist told Reuters in 2012
● Equity I: Responsibility for CC isn’t equally distributed
- some people and groups have and continue to emit more than others
> richest people emit the most
Document Summary
Is a change in the balance between incoming and outgoing solar radiation. Some incoming solar energy is blocked by a blanket of gases that keeps the planet warm. Heat moves away from the equator towards the poles trapping more solar radiation. Human actions have thickened the blanket of gases. Warming of the atmosphere, land and oceans changes in atmospheric and oceanic circulations, weather patterns, and the hydrological cycles. Industrial production is the main driver of ghg emissions, not pop size: the structural drivers of climate change. The more industrialized a country is, the more it emits (and the wealthier it becomes) Energy used is a good indicator of the impact of people on climate over time and pace. Emissions from fossil fuel based energy production were the highest in history in 2011 . 31. 6gigatons (gt) of co2 and a 3. 2% increase on 2010 (which in itself was 5% above the previous record year in 2008) (okereke et al.
