ENVI1153 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Wicked Problem, James Hansen, Ice Shelf
Sustainable Futures Notes
Week 4: Climate Change and Global Poverty
The Big Three Global Challenge:
- Climate change impacts
- Global poverty
- Fossil fuel dependency
-
CLIMATE CHANGE
Unprecedented typhoon Haiyan hits Philippines and Vietnam in 2013
Last three years the hottest on record globally
Rivers forming in greenland ice
Fissures opening in Antarctic ice shelves
There is some good news:
- Coal are evaporation, polluting power plants are closing around the world
- Rapid improvements in battery storage for solar energy
- China and Germany are leading the way in making the shift to renewable energy
Have known about human induced climate change for a long time
- French scientist jean baptiste fourier predicted the greenhouse effect in 1824
- US climate scientist James Hansen takes his concerns to US congress in 1988, called
for limiting temperature increase to 2 degrees
No simple ‘solutions’
Science has given remarkable knowledge and global understanding to help and know
It cannot be only a matter of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, have to change beliefs and
practices.
Need a new formula:
Mitigation + adaption + global cultural and political change = transformation
Global cultural change is even more colplect
We have unprecedented power of real time global communication
Paris agreement was major breakthrough
Effective repsonses include:
High speed rail
Indigenous land management
Onshorer wind turbines
Plant rich diet
Educating girls and family planning
GLOBAL POVERTY
From MDG 2000 to SDS in 2015
- Poverty and hunger was separated
- From eradicate extreme poverty to no poverty
Improvement
Number of people living below poverty line has dropped from 1.85 billion in 1990 to 767
million in 2013. MDG achieved in 2010
Have been some improvements in countries on the gini indek (gap income distribution)
A global index 2017 indicated there was 27% drop in the number of people living with
chronic hunger between 2000 and 2017.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Unprecedented typhoon haiyan hits philippines and vietnam in 2013. Last three years the hottest on record globally. Coal are evaporation, polluting power plants are closing around the world. Rapid improvements in battery storage for solar energy. China and germany are leading the way in making the shift to renewable energy. Have known about human induced climate change for a long time. French scientist jean baptiste fourier predicted the greenhouse effect in 1824. Us climate scientist james hansen takes his concerns to us congress in 1988, called for limiting temperature increase to 2 degrees. Science has given remarkable knowledge and global understanding to help and know. It cannot be only a matter of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, have to change beliefs and practices. Mitigation + adaption + global cultural and political change = transformation. We have unprecedented power of real time global communication.
