Climate change + human behavior = ?
DB: This is Earth & Sky, on the relationship between the scientific predictions of future climate change . . .
JB: And what people do to affect climate. Scott Doney at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution said scientists mostly agree on measurements in the last half of the 20th century showing rising sea level, warming sea water and changing ocean chemistry.
DB: But he said there’s less consensus on what we’ll see a century from now. In the end, Doney said, it’s not all about ocean physics. On a world with six billion humans, with nine billion expected by the year 2050, you have to consider what humanity will or won’t do in the coming decades about human-caused climate change.
Scott Doney: It’s a very tricky business because as climate changes – and we’ve already seen this – people will change their behavior. This brings in issues of economics and politics and social dynamics that make it a very complicated but interesting problem. We’ve already committed ourselves to a fairly substantial change in the ocean. What I worry about is not as much the developed world, because I think the developed world has to opportunity to adapt, as the poorer countries, where they just don’t have the resources.
JB: For more, come to earthsky.org. Our thanks today to NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. We’re Block and Byrd for Earth & Sky.
Thanks to:
Scott Doney
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Marine Chemistry & Geochemistry Dept.
Woods Hole, MA
Additional Teacher Resources
Ocean and Climate Change Institute: Abrupt Climate Change
Most of the studies and debates on potential climate change have focused on the ongoing buildup of industrial greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and a gradual increase in global temperatures. But recent and rapidly advancing evidence demonstrates that the climate of the Earth has repeatedly shifted dramatically and in time spans as short as a decade. And abrupt climate change may be more likely in the future. This site offers a variety of links and resources to more information on the connection between the oceans and global climate change.
Environmental Protection Agency: Climate Change
The EPA Climate Change Site offers comprehensive information on the issue of climate change in a way that is accessible and meaningful to all parts of society – communities, individuals, business, states and localities, and governments.
