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|a Climate Literacy |h [electronic resource] |b The Essential Principles of Climate Sciences. |
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|a [S.l.] : |b United States Global Change Research Program, |c 2009. |
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|a Please contact the owning institution for licensing and permissions. It is the user's responsibility to ensure use does not violate any third party rights. |
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|a Throughout its history, Earth’s climate has varied,
reflecting the complex interactions and dependencies
of the solar, oceanic, terrestrial, atmospheric, and
living components that make up planet Earth’s
systems. For at least the last million years, our
world has experienced cycles of warming and cooling
that take approximately 100,000 years to complete.
Over the course of each cycle, global average
temperatures have fallen and then risen again by
about 9°F (5°C), each time taking Earth into an ice
age and then warming it again. This cycle is believed
associated with regular changes in Earth’s orbit
that alter the intensity of solar energy the planet
receives. Earth’s climate has also been influenced on
very long timescales by changes in ocean circulation
that result from plate tectonic movements. Earth’s
climate has changed abruptly at times, sometimes
as a result of slower natural processes such as
shifts in ocean circulation, sometimes due to sudden
events such as massive volcanic eruptions. Species
and ecosystems have either adapted to these past
climate variations or perished.
While global climate has been relatively stable
over the last 10,000 years—the span of human
civilization—regional variations in climate patterns
have influenced human history in profound ways,
playing an integral role in whether societies thrived
or failed. We now know that the opposite is also
true: human activities—burning fossil fuels and
deforesting large areas of land, for instance—have
had a profound influence on Earth’s climate. In its
2007 Fourth Assessment, the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stated that it had
“very high confidence that the global average net
effect of human activities since 1750 has been one
of warming.” The IPCC attributes humanity’s global
warming influence primarily to the increase in
three key heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere:
carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. The
U.S. Climate Change Science Program published
findings in agreement with the IPCC report, stating
that “studies to detect climate change and attribute
its causes using patterns of observed temperature
change in space and time show clear evidence
of human influences on the climate system (due
to changes in greenhouse gases, aerosols, and
stratospheric ozone).”1
To protect fragile ecosystems and to build
sustainable communities that are resilient to
climate change—including extreme weather and
climate events—a climate-literate citizenry is
essential. This climate science literacy guide
identifies the essential principles and fundamental
concepts that individuals and communities should
understand about Earth’s climate system. Such
understanding improves our ability to make
decisions about activities that increase vulnerability
to the impacts of climate change and to take
precautionary steps in our lives and livelihoods that
would reduce those vulnerabilities. |
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|a Electronic reproduction. |c Florida International University, |d 2015. |f (dpSobek) |n Mode of access: World Wide Web. |n System requirements: Internet connectivity; Web browser software. |
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|a. |x U.S. Global Change Research Program |
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|a. |x Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change |
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|a Climate Change Science Program. |
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|a Federal Documents Collection. |
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|a dpSobek |c Sea Level Rise |
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|u http://dpanther.fiu.edu/dpService/dpPurlService/purl/FI15042681/00001 |y Click here for full text |
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|a http://dpanther.fiu.edu/sobek/content/FI/15/04/26/81/00001/Climate Change Science Program_2009_Climate Literacythm.jpg |
