Case study 7.3

Climate change

• MitigationAttempts to reduce the causes of climate change.
• AdaptationAttempts to manage the impacts of climate change

Mitigation vs adaptation

Mitigation vs adaptation

Mitigation

• Reduction of energy consumption
• Reduction of emissions of oxides of nitrogen and methane from agriculture
• Use of alternatives to fossil fuels
• Geo-engineering

Strategies that reduce greenhouse effect

• Land management to enhance and protect carbon sinks
• Using biomass as a fuel source
• Using carbon capture and storage (CCS)

Strategies to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (CDR)

Adaptation

• Designed to reduce the adverse affects of climate change and to maximize any positive effects
• Via the various climate change agreements, MEDCs have agreed to provide economic and technological support to LEDCs

Adaptation Strategies

Choose two countries: (MEDC vs LEDC)

Assess the use of energy in two contrasting countries. Discuss the choices that those two societies make and explain the factors determining these choices, including:

• sustainability
• scientific and technological developments
• cultural attitudes
• political, economic and environmental factors

Choose a climate change impact.

• Predicted changes in those two contrasting locations.
• Best mitigation techniques for each of the countries.

Create a case study

• List the stores you would find inside the climate system.
• Identify the flows of energy and/or matter which enter and leave the climate system.
• Decide if you think the climate system is closed or open.
• Draw a system diagram to represent these stores and flows.
• Can you identify if they are transfers or transformations?

Exercise 2: Climate system