A Safe Landing for the Climate
(Chapter 2)
Green House Gases
• Greenhouse gases are
gases in an atmosphere
that absorb and emit
radiation within the
thermal infrared range.
This process is the
fundamental cause of the
greenhouse effect. Common
greenhouse gases in the
Earth’s atmosphere include
water vapor, CO²,
methane, nitrous oxide,
and ozone.
• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is a
scientific intergovernmental body tasked to evaluate the
risk of cliamte change caused by human activity. The
panel was established in 1988 by the World
Meterological Organization WMO) and the United
Nations Environment Program (UNEP.
• The IPCC does not carry out research, nor does it
monitor climate or related phenomena. A main activity of
the IPCC is publishing special reports on topics relevant
to the implementation of the UN Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Tipping Point
Defined as the levels at which the momentum for
change becomes unstoppable.
It is also defined as the moment of critical mass, the
threshold, the boiling point.
• Parliamentarian:
Defined as a person who is expert in the formal rules
and procedures of deliberative assemblies and
other formal organizations.
• Preindustrial:
It is an adjective relating to, or being a society or an
economic system that is not or has not yet become
industrialized.
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Radiative forcing: The warming effect of changed concentrations in
GHGs and aerosols, gaseous suspensions of fine solid or liquid particles that
are associated with most CO2 emission on the energy balance of the lower
atmosphere.
Inertia : - When no one wants to do anything to change a situation.
Technically ,it means the force that keeps an object in the same position on
keeps it moving until it is moved or stopped by another force.
It could also mean a lack of energy and a feeling that you do not want to do
anything.
Carbon cycle: The change from carbon dioxide to living matter and back
to carbon dioxide.
Montreal protocol: (on the substances that depletes the ozone layer ) Is
an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out
the production of a number of substances believed to be responsible for
ozone depletion.
• Stringent : Very strict and must be obeyed. (short-term reductions
in greenhouse gas emissions)
• Feasibility of … : A plan, idea, or method that is possible and
likely to work.
• Substantial : Something which is considerable.
• Sustainability consequences: Able to continue without causing
damage to the environment.
• Deforestation: The cutting or burning down of all the trees in an
area.
• Ecosystems : The totality of interactions among organisms and
the environment in the area of consideration
• LPJ : Lund Potsdam Jena
• Unmitigated-Not diminished or moderated in
intensity or severity; unrelieved.
• Without qualification or exception; absolute.
• Science is looking for a way to discover the answer
to how to create a pathway for emission levels to
decrease through controlling climate temperature,
and much like a jet aircraft carrying people aboard
• Must safely land, they are trying to find the safest
and healthiest way to avoid unmitigated problems
in the foreseeable future on the planet.
• Tropospheric Ozone• Tropospheric ozone is a greenhouse gas and
initiates the chemical removal of methane and
other hydrocarbons from the atmosphere. Thus, its
concentration affects how long these compounds
remain in the air.
• The troposphere is the lowest portion of Earth's
atmosphere. It contains approximately 75 percent
of the atmosphere's mass and 99 percent of its
water vapor and aerosols.