Global Warming

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 572.

Unit 5

Put forward at least 5 ideas for reducing teen pregnancy.

1. Comment on the photo and the video fragment “Raising public awareness of global warming”. What moral can one derive from it?

2. Imagine the Earth as a hotter place. Think of the likely benefits and troubles that global warming might cause. Consider the vegetation, animal life, ecological balance, rivers, and woods, human activity. Also, consider the ideas below. Divide in to two groups. Group A considers advantages (below and beyond) and Group B finds outweighing counterarguments. Use appropriate speaking strategies for the dispute.

Warmer winters will produce less ice and snow to torment drivers, facilitating commuting and making snow shoveling less of a chore.

Farmers could grow crops nearly all the year round.

Heavy rains could result in dangerous mudslides in mountainous regions.

Global warming would cause some ice at the North and South Poles to melt. Oceans would then rise at least a foot or two. Vast areas of dry land would end up underwater. Countries with very little high ground, like Bangladesh, would mostly disappear.

Transportation would benefit generally from a warmer climate since road transport would suf­fer less from slippery or impassable highways.

You would harvest homegrown once-exotic trop­ical fruit.

Insects that carry tropical diseases like malaria would start to appear in places they've never been before.

Climate changes will affect the established econ­omy structure and labour resources, leading to massive unemployment.

You might be able to swim outside in October even if you lived up North.

There would be fewer colds and cold-related epidemics.

Expenditures for heating and cooling would be cut by about $12.2 billion annually.

Hurricanes and typhoons would become more powerful. Steppes would become replaced by deserts.

3 (a). Read the text about global warming, its causes, mechanisms and possible effects

Over the past, decades the issue of global warming has slowly moved to the forefront of humanity's concerns about the future. Ini­tially treated as, fantasy, global warming is now a primary issue as a result of two indisputable facts:

- Rising Surface Temperatures: The surface temperature of Earth has in­creased 0.45 - 0.6 degrees Celsius

- Rising Sea Levels: The average sea level has risen globally by 10 - 25 cm over the past century.

There have been at least six major extinctions on our planet in the last 600 million years, and these extinctions have eliminated 99% of all species. 'The reasons for these extinctions vary, but what they all have in common are dramatic changes in weather patterns and sea levels.

After considerable study, scientists have realised that our Earth is a closed and very ecologically fragile system, which relies on everything working in concert.

Although our planet has cooled and warmed through recurring cycles for eons, the scientific community now sees the impact of our industrial age and this consensus is worldwide.

- 2,500 scientists of the United Nations sponsored by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warn us that, "...the balance of evidence suggests that there is a discernible human influence on glo­bal climate."

- Doctors from Harvard University and the Johns Hopkins Medical Schools have linked recent US outbreaks of dengue fever, malaria and other diseases to cli­mate change.

- NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies has anal­ysed data from thousands of meteorological stations around the world and have conclusively stated that "there has been a long-term global warming trend underway since the early 1960s."

The levels of carbon dioxide (CO₂), in our atmo­sphere have increased approximately 30% in the last century and methane concentrations have more than doubled.

If CO₂ is not directly responsible for Global Warm­ing, there can be little doubt that its increased pres­ence is a clear sign of danger to come.

The two main engines of Global Warming are:

- Diminished Atmosphere: The reflectivity of our upper atmosphere has diminished due to the de­pletion of certain gases.

- Retained Heat: The amount of heat retained by the varying gases in our atmosphere.

The primary greenhouse gases that are generated in part by man are:

- Carbon Dioxide (CO₂): The primary man-made source comes from the burning of fossil fuels.

- Methane (CH₄): This gas traps over 21 times more heat than CO₂

- Nitrous Oxide (N₂O): This gas traps 270 times more heat than CO₂.

The heat-trapping properties of these gases are un­disputed and the amount of heat retained by Earth is also dependent on the amount of greenhouse gases being trapped inside the atmosphere.

However, an even greater danger seems to loom upon the horizon beyond the pale of greenhouse gases. According to our government, more oxygen is being consumed right now than the planet's eco­system can generate. While this shortfall in oxygen production has yet to reach a state that is harmful to humans, it does signify a serious threat.

Assuming that Global Warming is a worsening nat­ural condition that is being aggravated by humans, this oxygen shortfall is a loud alarm bell. Simply put, we're methodically ripping the lungs out of our planet.

The most respected scientific institutions in the world have consistently produced computer-based scenar­ios that predict:

- Major shifts in temperature and precipitation.

- Varying ranges of infectious disease and increasing cases of infection.

- Rising sea levels.

- Melting glaciers and disappearing snow cover.

- Habitat shifts for plants and animals.

These same scientists will quickly add caveats to their computer-generated models because they will­ingly admit that they need more data to make their models more precise.

But, do we really need a computer to tell us about:

Heat Related Death, Suffering and Star­vation

- The ten warmest years of the 20th century oc­curred within the last fif­teen years, and the first four months of the year 2000 are the hottest on record for the last 106 years.

- Extreme weather events have become more common. As result of extreme droughts and rainfall throughout the U.S., the Department of Agriculture crop forecast for 2000 is "dismal".

- The increase in childhood asthma has been linked to air pollution.

- Experts fear mosquito-born diseases like West Nile Fever will cause outbreaks in summer on the East Coast, as mosquito's population tends to increase in warmer climates.

- Populations of ticks and fleas infected with Lyme dis­ease and antibiotic-resistant strains of TB and Bubonic Plague have flourished in recent warm weather. Infec­tions are on the rise as rodents spread these diseases.

Polar Melt Down

Since 1958, the Arctic icecap has thinned by ap­proximately 50%, as the atmospheric ozone level dropped 45%.

Antarctic atmospheric ozone levels have degraded by 70% and entire mountain ranges in the Antarctic have lost their snow cover. Consequently, huge ice­bergs are breaking free of the Antarctic far ahead of even the most conservative estimates.

Concurrent with the polar melt down, there has been an average global sea level increase of 10-25 cm, which is important for areas with low ground.

If Global Warming continues at its present pace, we can most likely expect the following noticeable effects within our lifetimes:

- A continued rise of global atmospheric temperatures, leading to accelerated melting of the polar ice caps, which in turn will cause average global sea levels to rise, flooding coastal areas and devastating island and coastal nations.

- A continued rise of global sea temperatures, leading to mass deaths of oceanic animals and the accelerat­ed extinction of endangered oceanic species.

- Our polar ozone levels will continue to erode, down­ward from the poles toward the equator, leading to a rise of skin cancers among humans and devastating crops and farmlands.

- Devastating wars between hungry nations desperate for scarce resources, and these countries are likely to use weapons of mass destruction.

- As global warming proceeds, plants and animals are migrating beyond their traditional home grounds. As this 'progresses, we will see certain species of plants and animals become threatened by the pres­ence of other, newly-migrated species, as each vies for both resources (sunlight, water, etc), as well as to establish its position on the food chain of which we are also a member.

Organize a panel discussion and answer the questions on the text and beyond.

1. How much attention is being given to global warming nowadays?

2. Why are the dramatic changes in weather pat­terns and sea levels alarming indicators?

3. How do you understand the conclusion "that our Earth is a closed and very ecologically fragile system"?

4. What were the findings of the Intergovernmen­tal Panel on Climate Change. (IPCC)?

5. How long has global warming been underway?

6. What are the primary engines of global warming?

7. How do you explain the "greenhouse effect"?

8. How can we be affected by excessive global consumption of oxygen?

9. How is destruction of forests related to the dis­cussed problem?

10. What are the current developments that con­tribute to climate change?

11. Have the poles remained unharmed by the cli­mate change?

12. What are the disaster scenarios for humans if nothing is done to mitigate the climate change?

13. What is likely to happen to flora and fauna in the worst-case scenario?

3 (b). Find equivalents of the following among the highlighted words and expressions.

maladies born by mosquitoes; IPCC; worsened by human activity; changes of areas where the species live; decrease in the amount of oxygen; the extent to which the earth is heated; changes in warmth and amount of rainfall; heat trapped by the air; long-lasting rising average temperatures; the global mean level of water; held by the air; CH₄; types of diseases stubborn to antibiotics; shifts in climate; unprecedented weather conditions; to compete for survival; gases causing global warming; the vulnerable complex of natural factors; to become a part of one's habitat; melting Polar Caps; bad influence of mass production; CO₂; decreasing the amount of gases; the ice cover of Polar Caps in the Arctic; historically demonstrating the highest temperatures; N₂O; ability to reflect demonstrated by the upper layer of atmosphere; the amount of ozone on the air

4. Watch the video fragment “The nature of global warming”.

(a) Discuss the following as a group:

1. The Earth was ‘running a fever' in the past decade. What facts confirm this?

2. How is the Pole ice cover changing?

3. What is not clear concerning global warming yet?

4. How much is the Sun's energy heating the Earth? Is it crucial for global warming?

5. How does the planet's brightness influence the degree of its warming?

6. What role do water vapor and clouds play in global warming?

7. What greenhouse gases does NASA monitor? How is their amount changing?

(b) Fill the gaps in the fragments of the script.

Clouds also ________ al lot of sunlight. As our planet warms, more water_______, potentially creating more clouds. More _________increases the Earth's ______ possibly helping to _____the planet. But clouds and the small ______ called _________ that help them form are climate wildcards. Many current climate _______ predict some __________ due to increase of ___________.

Further complicating the issue is that water ______ is actually the world's most abundant______________. That's right. The same ________ that might cool the planet in _________ actually warm it when they're in a form of a ___. They help create a _____around the Earth catching heat ________from the planet's ______ and ______ it within the__________. As the planet warms, more water ________ from the ocean creating more if this heat _________ greenhouse gas. Humans can't directly control the _______ of water _______ in the air. But we can have a much greater ____on other major_____________ . _____________is the second most prevalent greenhouse gas. And it's our biggest ________ to global warming. Fossil fuel _______ releases large amounts of __________into the air. NASA satellite instruments capture the infrared signature of _________ in global atmosphere. They show a ______ throughout the decade. NASA also monitors other greenhouse gases, such as______, ______ and ________. In recent years, _______ have decreased; ______ and ________ are on the rise. Greenhouse gas is most likely the main _______ to current ____________ . It's the key piece of the temperature puzzle and it's unlocked the door to higher and higher temperatures.

5. Read the text about the ways global warming is already changing the world. Correct the statements below.