Scale Of Climate Change Research Articles

Preparing youth for global challenges: can an open classroom climate prepare students for climate action?

ABSTRACT Factors that influence students’ knowledge about climate change have been found to be largely external and based on social interactions. Building from this idea, we use factor analysis and structural equation modeling with the 2016 IEA International Civic and Citizenship Education Study data and create two novel climate change scales (pro-environmental behavior and perceived threats of climate change). We then determine the relationship between open classroom climate, pro-environmental behavior, perceived threats of climate change, and civic participation in secondary students. Findings indicate that when controlling for gender, civic knowledge, and socioeconomic factors, an increase in open classroom climate significantly predicts an increase in activism for climate change. Based on these results, we further examine the relationship between pro-environmental behavior and civic participation in society. Findings indicate that climate variables predict participation positively across the countries, except illegal protest, which was negatively related.

The vulnerability to climate change in Africa: Does industrial development matter?

AbstractIn a context marked by an upsurge in the scale of climate change and its consequences in Africa, this article explores ways to increase the resilience of African economies. It aims to analyze the effect of industrialization on the continent's vulnerability to climate change (VCC). The sample used for this purpose consists of 41 African countries from 2010 to 2021. A dynamic panel model is estimated using the system generalized method of moments. Results show that industrialization reduces the VCC in African countries. It reduces their sensitivity to climate change while increasing their adaptive capacity. Furthermore, results show that industrialization is more likely to reduce the VCC in sectors such as ecosystems, habitat, health, and infrastructures whereas it increases vulnerability to climate change in the food and water sectors. The results, however, reject the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis between industrialization and VCC. These results are robust to the change in industrialization measures. Therefore, African countries would benefit from pursuing their industrial development through greater use of renewable energy. This can help them to sustainably reduce their VCC. In addition, they need to implement specific measures to adapt to climate change in the food and water sectors.

Predicting the Future Distribution of Leucobryum aduncum under Climate Change

Leucobryum aduncum is a moss species reported in many Southeast Asian regions, often found in forests with a high humidity. Climate change may impact the future distribution of this species. This study aimed to model the current distribution and predict the impact of climate change on L. aduncum distribution in the next 50 years across Southeast Asia. In the process, relevant climate variables in the distribution of the species were also identified. The occurrence data of this species with current and future climate models from CMIP6 under moderate (SSP2) scenarios were used to predict current and future L. aduncum distributions. Under the current climate, the predicted suitable areas for L. aduncum included most mountainous areas. However, many Southeast Asian areas showed a lower probability of finding this species in the next 50 years. The distribution area of this species will dramatically decrease by 50.16% in the current area. The most important ecological variables included the “mean temperature of the driest quarter” and the “annual temperature range”. This study suggests the possible impacts of an increased temperature and the scale of climate change on the distribution of sensitive plants like bryophytes.

Spatiotemporal estimation of nutrient data from the northwest pacific and east asian seas

Nutrient data obtained from field observations have the potential to enhance our understanding of oceanic biogeochemical cycling and productivity changes. In particular, long-term nutrient data can provide valuable information on the links between climate change and biogeochemical changes. However, unlike other observational variables such as sea surface temperature, nutrient data are limited in terms of their broad-scale observations and automated sensor-based measurements. In this study, we analyzed nitrate and phosphate data obtained from coastal regions in Northeast Asia and the northwest Pacific from 1980 to 2019 using the spatiotemporal kriging technique and provide results in a spatiotemporal grid format. The data are available at monthly intervals and may be attractive to researchers in the fields of oceanography, marine ecology, and marine biogeochemistry at the climate change scale. Furthermore, sharing the source code of the data production process can contribute to better long-term data reproduction in the future.

Climate change as superordinate curriculum?

Despite being one of the largest carbon emitters in the world, the United States has little direct emphasis on climate change in its schools. Even where there is desire to teach climate change, the politicization of climate change sees school leaders steering teachers away from the topic. This piece examines what we know about climate change education in the U.S., what types of curriculum we have had, what historical conditions saw the U.S. curriculum change, and asks whether and how climate change can and should be a superordinate concern of U.S. schooling. As U.S. schools on whole have never been a site of equity concerning matters of race, class, gender, and many other issues, we ask whether climate change will be subsumed or taken up as a concern. We pose two alternate futures: one in which the scale of climate change as a problem sees changes in how we educate our young and affect the future, or another where the potential for a healthy climate becomes a prime concern of burgeoning revanchist, fascistic leaning governments worldwide and ecofascist social movements within them.

Global histories of empire and climate in the Anthropocene

AbstractThe scientific consensus on the causes of climate change has galvanised global history in the Anthropocene. Within this expanding subfield, however, many historians have afforded imperialism too little explanatory power. This reticence is partly attributable to the intellectual formation of the discipline itself, which long severed human from natural history. It is also due to the paleo‐biological scale of climate change and the related propagation of ‘species history’ by Dipesh Chakrabarty. Obscuring global asymmetries in responsibility for climate change, this approach has deflected attention from the intersections of imperialism and environmental degradation. This article surveys the historiography and methodological challenges of climate change, Chakrabarty's influence on Anthropocene scholarship, and critical responses by global historians. It also summarises recent global histories which have closely analysed the interconnections between empire and climate change, indicating a tipping point in global environmental historiography. These studies reveal intimate, necessarily longue durée linkages between the industrialisation, fossil‐fuel combustion, and exploitative socio‐political structures underpinning both imperialism and climate change.

Healthy Cities – Resilient Cities. Urban development in the context of climate change

The impact of climate change is more and more often taken into account in urban development strategies and concerns mainly reducing threats and protection against the effects of extreme phenomena. Stress factors that are mainly related to civilization changes (economic and technological progress) and environmental changes (nature, resources, and climate) test a city's ability to remain functional in spite of crises. With this in mind, it is necessary to review the development strategies of contemporary cities identify the main course of action aimed at increasing the resistance to threats at the global, regional and local level, identify instruments that help in the planning of adaptations, and assess the scope of such plans. In Poland, the idea of developing healthy and resilient cities is not as popular as in other countries. The first adaptation strategies generally focus on the risks related to extreme weather events. It is expected that subsequent plans will gradually extend the scope of adaptation, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic made us realize that crisis management is insufficient and that the city's resilience should be developed. This paper explores the idea of Healthy Cities and other contemporary concepts of urban spatial development in the context of climate change. The author puts forward a thesis about the influence of the climate agenda on the transformation of the idea of Healthy Cities into the concept of Resilient Cities. The work includes an analysis of the development strategies of European cities, with particular emphasis on the largest cities in Poland, regarding the adaptation of the urban environment to the existing and projected climate hazards. The research goal is to evaluate the strategies for city development adopted by cities in their strategic documents as well as to assess the scale of climate change and its impact on the spatial development policy.

Climate change and health in Iran: a narrative review.

The consequences of climate change are highly impeding the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) anywhere, especially in low and middle-income countries. While climate change scales up, its health-related risks increase, which in turn leads to cause new challenges for public health. As a second largest country of the Eastern Mediterranean Region of World Health Organization, Iran is highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. This study seeks the notion of health risks and challenges of climate change in Iran and provide potential evidence-based remedies to prevent and diminish such destructive effects. A comprehensive literature in various computerized databases was conducted, and numerous published original research and review articles about climate change status and evidences of adverse health consequences of climate change in Iran were reviewed. The evidence suggests that the expected health challenges related to climate change in Iran are: rising temperatures; frequent extreme weather events; reduction of air quality; food-borne, water-borne, and vector-borne diseases; mental health and well-being consequences; and the increasing trend of natural disasters and deaths associated with climatological hazards. By considering the growing burden of diseases associated with climate variability in Iran as well as the interdisciplinary nature of climate change and health issues, an integrated, multi-sectoral, and comprehensive approach for identification, prioritization, and implementation of adaptation options is required by Ministry of Health and Medical Education as a custodian of public health in order to enhance the resiliency and adaption against adverse health effects of climate change.

Effects of Climate Change on Global Arabica Coffee (Coffea arabica L) Production

Coffee is the world’s most important tropical export crop. However, recent studies predict severe climate change impacts on Coffea arabica. Climate change has emerged in recent years as one of the most critical topics. Global and regional climate change impacts analysis shows that the impacts of climate change on climate suitability of Arabica coffee would be very variable at both the national and global levels. The global areas growing Arabica coffee divided into Mesoamerica, South America, Africa and Asia-Pacific. The geographically differentiated impacts of climate change may alter the relative importance of coffee from different countries in the global market. Moderate climate change will increase the area suitable for Robusta coffee cultivation across the globe, but decrease it for Arabica. The key cause of the climate change is the burning of coal, oil, natural gas and mineralization of organic matter. The global dimension and scale of climate change with its pronounced variation of impacts on Arabica producer countries at regional, continental, and global scales. Climate change will have different impacts and producers will have different vulnerabilities at small scales in the mountains where Arabica coffee grown in some countries, such as in Mesoamerica, will lose competitiveness on global markets for quality coffee. They have to diversify into other products to prevent adverse effects on their rural economies generally, further research have to focus on discovering climate change adaptation strategies feasible for smallholder producers for practically implement. Keywords: Arabica Coffee; Climate change; Land suitability; Robusta coffee

Scale of Climate Change and Insurance Sector Risk Management: Looking Beyond the Horizon

Scale of Climate Change and Insurance Sector Risk Management: Looking Beyond the Horizon

Human adaptation strategies to abrupt climate change in Puerto Rico ca. 3.5 ka

The connection between climatic change and social response is complex because change articulates a number of inter-related factors. Human decisions are filtered by social buffers – including social memory, risk perception, and cultural priorities – and the rate and scale of climate change is usually much larger than the scale of human decision-making. In this article, we provide information on climate change based on precisely dated speleothems with the response evident in archaeological sites that have radiocarbon date ranges within the same time frame. A stalagmite recovered from within the catchment area for aquifer recharge of the Pre-Arawak site of Angostura in Barceloneta, Puerto Rico, shows that a significant wet period occurred between 3.9 and 3.1 ka (primarily centered at 3.5 ka). We investigate the effect that this increase in precipitation had on the earliest occupations on the island in the context of palaeoenvironmental, geoarchaeological, and archaeological records from Angostura, Maruca, and Paso del Indio. Our analysis suggests the presence of two different adaptation strategies: settlement relocation and microlandscape modification. Our study concludes that the social response to change cannot be seen as monolithic given that human behavior, even within the same period, addresses the needs of individual groups with different priorities. This multiplicity of responses can indeed enhance resilience as social support can continue through alliances and exchanges, strengthening social bonds that can help buffer catastrophes. The results can help shed light on the range of adaptation strategies to change encompassed within the manifestations of social resilience or vulnerability.

Some advances in studies of the climatic impacts of the Southern Hemisphere annular mode

The Southern Hemisphere (SH) annular mode (SAM) is the dominant mode of atmospheric circulation in the SH extratropics. The SAM regulates climate in many regions due to its large spatial scale. Exploration of the climatic impacts of the SAM is a new research field that has developed rapidly in recent years. This paper reviews studies of the climatic impact of the SAM on the SH and the Northern Hemisphere (NH), emphasizing linkages between the SAM and climate in China. Studies relating the SAM to climate change are also discussed. A general survey of these studies shows that signals of the SAM in the SH climate have been systematically investigated. On interannual scales, the SAM can influence the position of storm tracks and the vertical circulation, and modulate the dynamic and thermodynamic driving effects of the surface wind on the underlying surface, thus influencing the SH air-sea-ice coupled system. These influences generally show zonally symmetrical characteristics, but with local features. On climate change scales, the impacts of the SAM on SH climate change show a similar spatial distribution to those on interannual scales. There are also meaningful results on the relationship between the SAM and the NH climate. The SAM is known to affect the East Asian, West African, and North American summer monsoons, as well as the winter monsoon in China. Air-sea interaction plays an important role in these connections in terms of the storage of the SAM signal and its propagation from the SH to the NH. However, compared with the considerable knowledge of the impact of the SAM on the SH climate, the response of the NH climate to the SAM deserves further study, including both a deep understanding of the propagation mechanism of the SAM signal from the SH to the NH and the establishment of a seasonal prediction model based on the SAM.

The Temporal and Spatial Scales of Global Climate Change and the Limits of Individualistic and Rationalistic Ethics

Here I argue that the hyper-individualistic and rationalistic ethical paradigms – originating in the late eighteenth century and dominating moral philosophy, in various permutations, ever since – cannot capture the moral concerns evoked by the prospect of global climate change. Those paradigms are undone by the temporal and spatial scales of climate change. To press my argument, I deploy two famous philosophical tropes – John Rawls's notion of the original position and Derek Parfit's paradox – and another that promises to become famous: Dale Jamieson's six little ditties about Jack and Jill. I then go on to argue that the spatial and especially the temporal scales of global climate change demand a shift in moral philosophy from a hyper-individualistic ontology to a thoroughly holistic ontology. It also demands a shift from a reason-based to a sentiment-based moral psychology. Holism in environmental ethics is usually coupled with non-anthropocentrism in theories constructed to provide moral considerability for transorganismic entities – such as species, biotic communities, and ecosystems. The spatial and temporal scales of climate, however, render non-anthropocentric environmental ethics otiose, as I more fully explain. Thus the environmental ethic here proposed to meet the moral challenge of global climate change is holistic but anthropocentric. I start with Jamieson's six little ditties about Jack and Jill.

Adaptation to Global Warming: Do Climate Models Tell Us What We Need to Know?

Scientific experts have confirmed that anthropogenic warming is underway, and some degree of adaptation is now unavoidable. However, the details of impacts on the scale of climate change at which humans would have to prepare for and adjust to them are still the subject of considerable research, inquiry, and debate. Planning for adaptation requires information on the scale over which human organizations and institutions have authority and capacity, yet the general circulation models lack forecasting skill at these scales, and attempts to “downscale” climate models are still in the early stages of development. Because we do not know what adaptations will be required, we cannot say whether they will be harder or easier—more expensive or less—than emissions control. Whatever improvements in regional predictive capacity may come about in the future, the lack of current predictive capacity on the relevant scale is a strong argument for why we must both control greenhouse gas emissions and prepare to adapt.

The Melting Himalayas: Cascading Effects of Climate Change on Water, Biodiversity, and Livelihoods

The Greater Himalayas hold the largest mass of ice outside polar regions and are the source of the 10 largest rivers in Asia. Rapid reduction in the volume of Himalayan glaciers due to climate change is occurring. The cascading effects of rising temperatures and loss of ice and snow in the region are affecting, for example, water availability (amounts, seasonality), biodiversity (endemic species, predator-prey relations), ecosystem boundary shifts (tree-line movements, high-elevation ecosystem changes), and global feedbacks (monsoonal shifts, loss of soil carbon). Climate change will also have environmental and social impacts that will likely increase uncertainty in water supplies and agricultural production for human populations across Asia. A common understanding of climate change needs to be developed through regional and local-scale research so that mitigation and adaptation strategies can be identified and implemented. The challenges brought about by climate change in the Greater Himalayas can only be addressed through increased regional collaboration in scientific research and policy making.

Planning for Impacts of Climate Change at U.S. Ports

U.S. ports need to better understand climate change and how it may affect them. In the coming decades, ports are likely to experience higher sea levels and storm surges, as well as other direct and indirect impacts, due to climate change. Most ports do not appear to be thinking about, let alone actively preparing to address, the effects of climate change. Ports do not have specific information about either the types of impacts that they can expect on their facilities or the probabilities of different types of impacts occurring. Although climate change science is making considerable advances, projections of impacts at levels smaller than the regional scale are not available. In addition, ports’ typical planning processes are ill equipped to respond to the high levels of uncertainty associated with the impacts of climate change, the timescales of climate change, and the geographical scale of climate change. The data that ports typically use for planning purposes do not incorporate climate change forecasts. Some ports also believe that climate change does not pose an immediate threat to their facilities. However, several ports are beginning to think about how to prepare for climate change. These include the Port of Miami (Miami, Florida), the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the Massachusetts Port Authority, the Port of Seattle (Seattle, Washington), the Port of Corpus Christi (Corpus Christi, Texas), and the Georgia Ports Authority. To help these and other ports assess their risk, more and better data are needed, as well as better planning tools and methods.

The Human Impact on the Natural Environment (5th ed.) The Human Impact Reader: Readings and Case Studies

Review: The Human Impact on the Natural Environment (5th ed.) Review: The Human Impact Reader: Readings and Case Studies By Andrew Goudie Reviewed by Thomas Fletcher Bishop’s University, Canada Goudie, Andrew. The Human Impact on the Natural Environment (5th ed.). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2000. 511 pp. ISBN 0-262-57138-2 (paperback). US$29.95 Goudie, Andrew (Ed.). The Human Impact Reader: Readings and Case Studies. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1997. 472 pp. ISBN 0-631-19981 (paperback). US$33.95 Andrew Goudie's acclaimed geography textbook, The Human Impact on the Natural Environment, now in its fifth edition, is as relevant as ever to social and scientific aspects of ecology. It is best read in conjunction with his edited volume of articles reprinted from scientific journals, The Human Impact Reader. Both are aimed at upper-level undergraduates and informed readers who want to enrich their knowledge of physical geography as modified by human action, to borrow a phrase from George Perkins Marsh (1864) whose legacy Goudie draws on extensively. The textbook begins with an historical account of how cultural adaptations to technological changes have influenced, and generally intensified, environmental impacts (i.e., I=PAT). It proceeds with separate chapters on human effects on vegetation, animals, soil, water, geomorphology, climate, and atmosphere. The reader follows roughly the same organization in its sections, each of which begins with an introduction to relevant literature. Goudie's textbook has changed little since its first publication in 1981, but he has updated it periodically to reflect recent literature and current issues. The fifth edition is particularly welcome in this regard given the rapid pace of recent research, especially on climate change. Since Rio and Kyoto, it has mushroomed along with public interest and funding, and Goudie does an excellent job documenting and explaining this. Both books demonstrate, somewhat ironically, that the problem of scientific uncertainty is ever present, particularly on this issue: No completely acceptable explanation of climatic change has ever been presented, and no one process acting alone can explain all scales of climate change. The complexity of possibly causative factors is daunting (Goudie

Exploring the use of computer models in participatory integrated assessment – experiences and recommendations for further steps

Integrated assessment (IA) can be defined as a structured process of dealing with complex issues, using knowledge from various scientific disciplines and/or stakeholders, such that integrated insights are made available to decision makers (J. Rotmans, Enviromental Modelling and Assessment 3 (1998) 155). There is a growing recognition that the participation of stakeholders is a vital element of IA. However, only little is known about methodological requirements for such participatory IA and possible insights to be gained from these approaches. This paper summarizes some of the experiences gathered in the ULYSSES project, which aims at developing procedures that are able to bridge the gap between environmental science and democratic policy making for the issue of climate change. The discussion is based on a total of 52 IA focus groups with citizens, run in six European and one US city. In these groups, different computer models were used, ranging from complex and dynamic global models to simple accounting tools. The analysis in this paper focuses on the role of the computer models. The findings suggest that the computer models were successful at conveying to participants the temporal and spatial scale of climate change, the complexity of the system and the uncertainties in our understanding of it. However, most participants felt that the computer models were less instrumental for the exploration of policy options. Furthermore, both research teams and participants agreed that despite considerable efforts, most models were not sufficiently user-friendly and transparent for being accessed in an IA focus group. With that background, some methodological conclusions are drawn about the inclusion of the computer models in the deliberation process. Furthermore, some suggestions are made about how given models should be adapted and new ones developed in order to be helpful for participatory IA.