7.3 Climate Change - Mitigation & Adaptation

Significant Ideas

• Mitigation attempts to reduce the causes of climate change.

• Adaptation attempts to manage the impacts of climate change.

Knowledge & Understanding

• 1. Mitigation involves reduction and/or stabilization of GHG emissions and their removal from the atmosphere.

  2. Mitigation strategies to reduce GHGs in general may include:

     1. • reduction of energy consumption

        • reduction of emissions of oxides of nitrogen and methane from agriculture

        • use of alternatives to fossil fuels

        • geo-engineering.

  3. Mitigation strategies for carbon dioxide removal (CDR techniques) include:

     1. • protecting and enhancing carbon sinks through land management; for example, through the UN collaborative programme on reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries (UN-REDD)

        • using biomass as a fuel source

        • using carbon capture and storage (CCS)

        • enhancing carbon dioxide absorption by the oceans through either fertilizing oceans with compounds of nitrogen, phosphorus and iron to encourage the biological pump, or increasing upwellings to release nutrients to the surface.

  4. Even if mitigation strategies drastically reduce future emissions of GHGs, past emissions will continue to have an effect for decades to come.

  5. Adaptation strategies can be used to reduce adverse affects and maximize any positive effects. Examples of adaptations include flood defences, vaccination programmes, desalinization plants and planting of crops in previously unsuitable climates.

  6. Adaptive capacity varies from place to place and can be dependent on financial and technological resources. MEDCs can provide economic and technological support to LEDCs.

  7. There are international efforts and conferences to address mitigation and adaptation strategies for climate change; for example, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Applications & Skills

1. Discuss mitigation and adaptation strategies to deal with impacts of climate change.

2. Evaluate the effectiveness of international climate change talks.

Guidance

1. CCS is carried out by carbon dioxide being compressed, transported and stored permanently underground (geological sites used as repositories) or chemically fixed to form a carbonate.

2. Mitigation is the use of technology and substitution to reduce resource inputs and emissions per unit of output.

3. Adaptation is the adjustment of natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli or their effects, which either moderates harm or exploits beneficial opportunities.

4. Two mitigation and two adaptation strategies should be considered.

Key Vocabulary

• Species

Textbook Reading and/or Activities

Click HERE for a pdf of chapter 4.

• Pages x-xx

  • Challenge Yourself (p.x)

  • Worked Example (p.x-xx)

  • Exercises (p.x)

Notes

i-Biology Notes (Not available)

A detailed set of notes, created by Stephen Taylor, examining U1 - U8 and A1 - A4.

i-Biology Study Questions (Not available)

A series of questions, created by Stephen Taylor, to help check your understanding of the IB learning expectations. This is VERY GOOD practice.

Bioknowledgy Notes (Not available)

A detailed set of notes, created by Chris Paine, examining all of the IB learning expectations.

Bioknowledgy Study Questions (Not available)

A series of questions, created by Chris Paine, to help check your understanding of the IB learning expectations. This is VERY GOOD practice.

Learning Activities

Chasing Ice

This video, prepared by National Geographic, will help you better understand the causes and impacts of climate change.

Supplemental Reading

Methane Leak in California

This article, published on Apr.16, 2016 by the Huffington Post, describes a massive methane leak from an underground facility and how this issue is, unfortunately, not at all uncommon.

Paris Agreement: Key Elements

This resource, prepared by the European Commission, outlines the key elements of the Paris Agreement, including mitigation, adaptation and transparency.

This video outlines the psychology related to why some people are less likely to accept the evidence that enhanced climate change is caused by humans.

This video examines the realities of the Paris Agreement on curbing global warming (A&S 1-2).

Should Watch Videos

This video outlines the plans and agreements made at the COP21 in Paris and looked at some of the challenges that it faces going forward.

This video outlines all the factors associated with the greenhouse effect and its influence on climate change. It is very detailed but well worth a watch for a general overview.

This video outlines the basic principles of carbon capture and storage while describing some interesting possibilities (and potential impacts) for carbon storage in the near future.

This short video outlines some of the misunderstandings related to climate change and how humans are connected to the issue.