Page 525 - Environment: The Science Behind the Stories

Causes Consequences

Loss of biodiversity
Shift of organisms and ecosystem
and ecological services
communities

Shift of agricultural
Warming zones
atmosphere
Fossil fuel use Spread of tropical Change in ocean
diseases currents

Anthropogenic climate Regional climate
change Glacier and icecap change
Human population melting (e.g., cold Europe)
growth • increased air
Greenhouse
gas temperatures Sea level rise
Growth in per emissions • increased ocean Storm surges and
capita consumption temperatures Stronger coastal erosion
hurricanes?
• altered rainfall and
ENSO patterns
Coral bleaching

Deforestation
Droughts Economic loss

Flooding Health impacts

Crop failures Social disruption
Figure 18.23 Human-induced global climate change
stems from several causes (ovals on left) and results
in a diversity of consequences (boxes on right) for Solutions
ecological systems and human well-being. Arrows in
this concept map lead from causes to consequences. Items As you progress through this chapter, try to identify as many
solutions to anthropogenic climate change as you can. What could
grouped within outlined boxes do not necessarily share any you personally do to help address this issue? Consider how each
special relationship; the outlined boxes are intended merely action or solution might affect items in the concept map above.
to streamline the figure.

the IPCC were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. At the tices could be improved, but they also found that many
same time, however, many Americans who disliked Gore’s media accounts trumpeting the news had misrepresented
politics also came to reject his message on climate change. the content of the emails. The panels agreed that the hacked
In 2009, a hacker illegally broke into computers at the messages among a few individuals in no way called into
University of East Anglia, U.K., and made public several thou- question the vast array of research results compiled by
sand documents, including over 1000 private emails among a thousands of hard-working independent climate scientists
handful of climate scientists. A few of these messages appeared over several decades.
to show questionable behavior in the use of data and the treat- Questions were raised the same year about some of the
ment of other researchers. Climate-change deniers named the IPCC report’s conclusions, and subsequent inquiry revealed
incident “Climategate” and used it to accuse the entire scien- that several statements were inadequately backed by evi-
tific establishment of wrongdoing and conspiracy. The news dence or otherwise misstated or misleading. It is hardly
media disseminated the story widely. surprising in such a vast collaborative effort that a few
However, subsequent investigations into the affair by statements out of thousands would be in error. Yet scien-
six different independent panels all cleared the climate tists wanted to ensure that the IPCC’s reputation for reli-
scientists, concluding that there was no evidence of wrong- ability not be tarnished, and so reforms were set in motion
doing. Each panel concluded that some individuals may to strengthen the IPCC’s process during the preparation of
524 have exercised poor taste or judgment and that some prac- its Fifth Assessment.

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