Sealing the Deal to Save the
Climate
Chapter 6 Terms
• Ratify:
• Make a written agreement official by signing it. People
usually ratify a treaty/an agreement/a decision etc.
• Textbook : Most nations-although not the historically
largest emitter, the united states-ratified an international
climate agreement termed the Kyoto Protocol.
Terms;continued
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Biosphere: The global sum of all ecosystems. It can also be called the zone of life
on Earth.
Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer: It acts as a framework
for the international efforts to protect the ozone layer. However, it does not include
legally binding reduction goals for the use of CFC’s, the main chemical agents
causing ozone depletion This does not include legal framework, the Montreal
Protocol does.
Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer: (Protocol to the
Vienna Convention) -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 . The treaty was opened for signature on September 16, 1987
and entered into force on January 1, 1989 followed by a first meeting in Helsinki,
May 1989. Since then, it has undergone seven revisions, in 1990 (London), 1991
(Nairobi), 1992 (Copenhagen), 1993 (Bangkok), 1995 (Vienna), 1997 (Montreal),
and 1999 (Beijing).
Terms;continued
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Joint Implementation: Participating countries can trade unneeded emission
allotments among themselves or work together jointly on projects that promote
cutting emissions in any other participating industrial country.
Emissions Trading Scheme: Cap and trade approach adopted by the European
Union, in which 45% of CO2 emissions in the EU are restricted; the limited
emissions are allocated among companies and any unused allotments can be traded.
Bali Action Plan: Plan introduced to pick up where the Kyoto Protocol leaves off
when it expires in 2012. The Bali Action Plan did not introduce binding
commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions but included the request for
developed countries to contribute to the mitigation of global warming in the context
of sustainable development. In addition, the Bali Action Plan envisaged enhanced
actions on adaptation, technology development and on the provision financial
resources, as well as measures against deforestation
Sector Concept: Reducing emissions by combining companies into specific sectors
and pledging emissions caps based on those sectors.
Terms;continued
• Kyoto Protocol
• The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement linked to the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The major feature of
the Kyoto Protocol is that it sets binding targets for 37 industrialized
countries and the European community for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions.
Terms;continued
• Mitigation:
• Définitions:
• to lessen in force or intensity, as wrath, grief, harshness,
or pain; moderate.
• to make less severe: to mitigate a punishment.
• to make (a person, one's state of mind, disposition, etc.)
milder or more gentle; mollify; appease
• Usage in the chapter:
• Mitigation is used in the chapter because the main goal
is to reduce pollution, make energy sources more
efficient with less carbon emission, and to avoid
deforestation.
Terms;continued
• Degradation:
• Definitions:
• Physical Geography: the wearing down of the land by the erosive action of
water, wind, or ice.
• Chemistry: the breakdown of an organic compound.
• Usage in the chapter:
• The term degradation is used in the chapter because due to the development
of industrialization deforestation and degradation is on rise. The countries
are questioning themselves if they should allow the reduction in soil loss to
compete with the reduction of fossil fuel emission, but all of the problems
stated above are relative.
More …
• Dividends-anything received as a bonus, reward, or in addition to or
beyond what is expected.
• As the issue of money is united with the concern of climate change, people
are going to see an increase in taxes that go along with trying to search out
possible solutions to a mounting climate problem.
Power-to supply with electricity or other means of power. To give power to;
make powerful
• On Page 186 of the book, it says that people really don’t want carbon based
power, per se,
• What they really want is power itself, where it is flipping on a light switch,
or turning the key in a car to make it start.
Fairness-In a fair manner, straight; directly, as in aiming or hitting. Favorably;
auspiciously.
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• In this chapter, fairness is addressed because there are times when the
wealthy have not taken one the greater commitment to contribute to
change. Under the Greenhouse Development Rights proposal, the world’s
wealthier countries and individuals would have to finance emissions
reductions in low-income countries long after the emissions in industrial
nations bottomed out to zero. Will the wealthy ever take on such
obligations to help save the world’s climate problem? It is suggested that if
they won’t, no one else will.
• Fortified-Having increased the effectiveness of. Strong, reinforced.
• If wealthier countries learn to help the below poverty level countries, and a
common responsibility is understood as to how we all can start to bring
permanent changes to the environment for the better, the world could turn
into a planet full of fortified nations.