Human Impact on the Atmosphere

1
Human Impact on the Atmosphere
2
Pollution Thorpe, Gary S., M.S., (2002).
Barrons How to prepare for the AP Environmental
Science Advanced Placement Exam

• The term Smog (smoke and fog) was first used in
  1905 to describe sulfur dioxide emissions.
• In 1952, severe pollution took the lives of 5000
  people in London
• It isnt pollution thats harming the
  environment. Its the impurities in our air and
  water that are doing it.
  
  Former U.S. Vice President Dan Quayle

www.aqmd.gov/pubinfo/ 97annual.html
3
TheCleanAirAct

• Congress found
• Most people now live in urban areas
• Growth results in air pollution
• Air pollution endangers living things
• It decided
• Prevention and control at the source was
  appropriate
• Such efforts are the responsibility of states
  and local authorities
• Federal funds and leadership are essential for
  the development of effective programs

4
Clean Air Act

• Originally signed 1963
• States controlled standards
• 1970 Uniform Standards by Federal Govt.
• Criteria Pollutants
• Primary Human health risk
• Secondary Protect materials, crops, climate,
  visibility, personal comfort

5
Clean Air Act

• 1990 version
• Acid rain, urban smog, toxic air pollutants,
  ozone depletion, marketing pollution rights,
  VOCs
• 1997 version
• Reduced ambient ozone levels
• Cost 15 billion/year -gt save 15,000 lives
• Reduce bronchitis cases by 60,000 per year
• Reduce hospital respiratory admission 9000/year

6
Clean Air Act

• President George W. Bush signed rules amending
  Clean Air Act that allowed power plants and other
  industries to increase pollution significantly
  without adopting control measures

7
http//www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/12/24/bush.clean.air.a
p/index.html
Appeals court blocks Bush clean air
changes Wednesday, December 24, 2003 Posted 210
PM EST (1910 GMT)

• WASHINGTON (AP) -- A federal appeals court on
  Wednesday blocked new Bush administration changes
  to the Clean Air Act from going into effect the
  next day, in a challenge from state attorneys
  general and cities that argued they would harm
  the environment and public health.

8
Clean Air Act http//www.epa.gov/air/oaq_caa.html

• Title I - Air Pollution Prevention and Control
• Part A - Air Quality and Emission Limitations
• Part B - Ozone Protection (replaced by Title VI)
• Part C - Prevention of Significant Deterioration
  of Air Quality
• Part D - Plan Requirements for Nonattainment
  Areas
• Title II - Emission Standards for Moving Sources
• Part A - Motor Vehicle Emission and Fuel
  Standards
• Part B - Aircraft Emission Standards
• Part C - Clean Fuel Vehicles
• Title III - General
• Title IV - Acid Deposition Control
• Title V - Permits
• Title VI - Stratospheric Ozone Protection

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Outdoor Air Pollution
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Major Sources of Primary Pollutants

• Stationary Sources
• Combustion of fuels for power and heat Power
  Plants
• Other burning such as Wood crop burning or
  forest fires
• Industrial/ commercial processes
• Solvents and aerosols
• Mobile Sources
• Highway cars, trucks, buses and motorcycles
• Off-highway aircraft, boats, locomotives, farm
  equipment, RVs, construction machinery, and lawn
  mowers

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54 million metric tons from mobile sources in 1990
14
Human Impact on Atmosphere

• Burning Fossil Fuels
• Using Nitrogen fertilizers and burning fossil
  fuels
• Refining petroleum and burning fossil fuels
• Manufacturing

• Adds CO2 and O3 to troposphere
• Global Warming
• Altering Climates
• Produces Acid Rain
• Releases NO, NO2, N2O, and NH3 into troposphere
• Produces acid rain
• Releases SO2 into troposphere
• Releases toxic heavy metals (Pb, Cd, and As) into
  troposphere

www.dr4.cnrs.fr/gif-2000/ air/products.html
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Criteria Air Pollutants

• EPA uses six "criteria pollutants" as indicators
  of air quality
• Nitrogen Dioxide NO2
• Ozone ground level O3
• Carbon monoxide CO
• Lead Pb
• Particulate Matter PM10 (PM 2.5)
• Sulfur Dioxide SO2
• Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)
• EPA established for each concentrations above
  which adverse effects on health may occur

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Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2)

• Properties reddish brown gas, formed as fuel
  burnt in car, strong oxidizing agent, forms
  Nitric acid in air
• Effects acid rain, lung and heart problems,
  decreased visibility (yellow haze), suppresses
  plant growth
• Sources fossil fuels combustion, power plants,
  forest fires, volcanoes, bacteria in soil
• Class Nitrogen oxides (NOx)
• EPA Standard 0.053 ppm

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Mobile Source Emissions Nitrogen Oxides
18
Ozone (O3)

• Properties colorless, unpleasant odor, major
  part of photochemical smog
• Effects lung irritant, damages plants, rubber,
  fabric, eyes,
• Sources Created by sunlight acting on NOx and
  VOC , photocopiers, cars, industry, gas vapors,
  chemical solvents, incomplete fuel combustion
  products
• Class photochemical oxidants

19
Ozone (O3)

• 10,000 to 15,000 people in US admitted to
  hospitals each year due to ozone-related illness
• Children more susceptible
• Airways narrower
• More time spent outdoors

20
Mobile Source Emissions Hydrocarbons
Precursors to Ozone
21
Carbon Monoxide (CO)

• Properties colorless, odorless, heavier than
  air, 0.0036 of atmosphere
• Effects binds tighter to Hb than O2, mental
  functions and visual acuity, even at low levels
• Sources incomplete combustion of fossil fuels 60
  - 95 from auto exhaust
• Class carbon oxides (CO2, CO)
• EPA Standard 9 ppm
• 5.5 billion tons enter atmosphere/year

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Mobile Source Emissions - CO
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Lead (Pb)

• Properties grayish metal
• Effects accumulates in tissue affects kidneys,
  liver and nervous system (children most
  susceptible) mental retardation possible
  carcinogen 20 of inner city kids have high
• Sources particulates, smelters, batteries
• Class toxic or heavy metals
• EPA Standard 1.5 ug/m3
• 2 million tons enter atmosphere/year

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Suspended Particulate Matter (PM10)

• Properties particles suspended in air (lt10 um)
• Effects lung damage, mutagenic, carcinogenic,
  teratogenic
• Sources burning coal or diesel, volcanoes,
  factories, unpaved roads, plowing, lint, pollen,
  spores, burning fields
• Class SPM dust, soot, asbestos, lead, PCBs,
  dioxins, pesticides
• EPA Standard 50 ug/m3 (annual mean)

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Mobile Source Emissions Fine Particulate Matter
(PM2.5)
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Sulfur Dioxide (SO2)

• Properties colorless gas with irritating odor
• Effects produces acid rain (H2SO4), breathing
  difficulties, eutrophication due to sulfate
  formation, lichen and moss are indicators
• Sources burning high sulfur coal or oil,
  smelting or metals, paper manufacture
• Class sulfur oxides
• EPA Standard 0.3 ppm (annual mean)
• Combines with water and NH4 to increase soil
  fertility

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VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds)

• Properties organic compounds (hydrocarbons) that
  evaporate easily, usually aromatic
• Effects eye and respiratory irritants
  carcinogenic liver, CNS, or kidney damage
  damages plants lowered visibility due to brown
  haze global warming
• Sources vehicles (largest source), evaporation
  of solvents or fossil fuels, aerosols, paint
  thinners, dry cleaning
• Class HAPs (Hazardous Air Pollutants)
• Methane
• Benzene
• Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), etc.
• Concentrations indoors up to 1000x outdoors
• 600 million tons of CFCs

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Other Air Pollutants

• Carbon dioxide
• ChloroFluoroCarbons
• Formaldehyde
• Benzene
• Asbestos
• Manganese
• Dioxins
• Cadmium
• Others not yet fully characterized

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Formation Intensity

• Factors
• Local climate (inversions, air pressure,
  temperature, humidity)
• Topography (hills and mountains)
• Population density
• Amount of industry
• Fuels used by population and industry for
  heating, manufacturing, transportation, power
• Weather rain, snow,wind
• Buildings (slow wind speed)
• Mass transit used
• Economics

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Thermal Inversion
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Smog Forms
...when polluted air is stagnant (weather
conditions, geographic location)
Los Angeles, CA
32
Primary Pollutants
CO
CO2
Secondary Pollutants
SO2
NO
NO2
SO3
Most hydrocarbons
HNO3
H2SO4
Most suspended particles
H2O2
O3
PANs
and
salts
Most
Natural
Sources
Stationary
Mobile
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Photochemical Smog
UV radiation H2O O2
Primary Pollutants NO2 Hydrocarbons
Secondary Pollutants HNO3 O3 nitric
acid ozone Photochemical Smog
Auto Emissions
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Solar radiation
Photochemical Smog
Ultraviolet radiation
NO Nitric oxide
O2 Molecular oxygen
O Atomic oxygen
NO2 Nitrogen dioxide
H2O Water
Hydrocarbons
PANs Peroxyacyl nitrates
Aldehydes (e.g., formaldehyde)
O3 Ozone
HNO3 Nitric acid
P h o t o c h e m i c a l S m o g
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Indoor Air Pollution
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Why is indoor air quality important?

• 70 to 90 of time spent indoors, mostly at home
• Many significant pollution sources in the home
  (e.g. gas cookers, paints and glues)
• Personal exposure to many common pollutants is
  driven by indoor exposure
• Especially important for susceptible groups
  e.g. the sick, old and very young

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Exposure

• Time spent in various environments in US and
  less-developed countries

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House of Commons Select Committee Enquiry on
Indoor Air Pollution (1991)

• There is evidence that 3 million people have
  asthma in the UK and this is increasing by 5
  per annum.
• Overall there appears to be a worryingly large
  number of health problems which could be
  connected with indoor pollution and which affect
  very large numbers of the population.
• The Committee recommends that the Government
  develop guidelines and codes of practice for
  indoor air quality in buildings which
  specifically identify exposure limits for an
  extended list of pollutants

39
Sources of Indoor Air Pollutants

• Building materials
• Furniture
• Furnishings and fabrics
• Glues
• Cleaning products
• Other consumer products
• Combustion appliances (cookers and heaters)
• Open fires
• Tobacco smoking
• Cooking
• House dust mites, bacteria and moulds
• Outdoor air

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Important Indoor Air pollutants

• Nitrogen dioxide
• Carbon monoxide
• Formaldehyde
• Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)
• House dust mites (and other allergens, e.g. from
  pets)
• Environmental tobacco smoke
• Fine particles
• Chlorinated organic compounds (e.g. pesticides)
• Asbestos and man-made mineral fibres
• Radon

41
Health Effects

• Nitrogen dioxide
• Respiratory irritant
• Elevated risk of respiratory illness in children,
  perhaps resulting from increased susceptibility
  to respiratory infection inconsistent evidence
  for effects in adults
• Concentrations in kitchens can readily exceed WHO
  and EPA standards

42
Health Effects

• Carbon monoxide
• An asphyxiant and toxicant
• Hazard of acute intoxication, mostly from
  malfunctioning fuel-burning appliances and
  inadequate or blocked fumes
• Possibility of chronic effects of long-term
  exposure to non- lethal concentrations,
  particularly amongst susceptible groups

43
Health Effects

• Formaldehyde
• Sensory and respiratory irritant and sensitizer
• Possible increased risk of asthma and chronic
  bronchitis in children at higher exposure levels
• Individual differences in sensory and other
  transient responses
• Caution over rising indoor concentrations

44
Health Effects

• Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)
• Occur in complex and variable mixtures
• Main health effects relate to comfort and
  well-being, but benzene (and other VOCs) are
  carcinogenic
• Concern about possible role of VOCs in the
  aetiology of multiple chemical sensitivity also
  implicated in sick building syndrome

45
Health Effects

• House dust mites
• House dust mites produce Der p1 allergen, a
  potent sensitizer
• Good evidence of increased risk of sensitization
  with increasing allergen exposure, but this does
  not necessarily lead to asthma
• Small reductions in exposure will not necessarily
  lead to reduced incidence and/or symptoms
• Indoor humidity is important

46
Health Effects

• Fungi and bacteria
• Dampness and mould-growth linked to self-reported
  respiratory conditions, but little convincing
  evidence for association between measured
  airborne fungi and respiratory disease
• Insufficient data to relate exposure to
  (non-pathogenic) bacteria to health effects in
  the indoor environment

47
Health Effects

• Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS)
• Sudden infant death syndrome
• Lower respiratory tract illness
• Middle ear disease
• Asthma
• 12 million children exposed to secondhand smoke
  in homes

48
Health Effects

• Fine particles
• Consistent evidence that exposure to small
  airborne particles (e.g. PM10) in ambient air can
  impact on human health mechanisms uncertain
• Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and
  Cardiovascular Disease patients and asthmatics
  probably at extra risk
• Relative importance of indoor sources is unknown

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Health Effects

• Radon
• Can cause lung cancer
• Estimated that 7,000 to 30,000 Americans die each
  year from radon-induced lung cancer
• Only smoking causes more lung cancer deaths
• Smokers more at risk than non-smokers

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Radon Risk Non-Smoker
Radon Level (pCI/L) If 1000 people who did not smoke were exposed to this level over a lifetime.. About X would get lung cancer This risk of cancer from radon exposure compares to What to do
20 8 Being killed in a violent crime Fix your home
10 4 Fix your home
8 3 10x risk of dying in a plane crash Fix your home
4 2 Risk of drowning Fix your home
2 lt1 Risk of dying in a home fire Fix your home
1.3 lt1 Average indoor radon level Fix your home
.4 lt1 Average indoor radon level Fix your home
If you are a former smoker, your risk may be
higher
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Radon Risk Smoker
Radon Level (pCI/L) If 1000 people who smoke were exposed to this level over a lifetime.. About X would get lung cancer This risk of cancer from radon exposure compares to What to do Stop smoking and
20 135 100x risk of drowning Fix your home
10 71 100x risk of dying in a home fire Fix your home
8 57 Fix your home
4 29 100x risk of dying in a plane crash Fix your home
2 15 2x the risk of dying in a car crash Fix your home
1.3 9 Average indoor radon level Fix your home
.4 3 Average indoor radon level Fix your home
If you are a former smoker, your risk may be lower
52
Radon

• 55 of our exposure to radiation comes from radon
• colorless, tasteless, odorless gas
• formed from the decay of uranium
• found in nearly all soils
• levels vary

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(From http//www.epa.gov/iaq/radon/zonemap.html)
Zone pCi/L 1 gt4 2 2 - 4
3 lt2
54
Radon How it Enters Buildings

• Cracks in solid floors
• Construction joints
• Cracks in walls
• Gaps in suspended floors
• Gaps around service pipes
• Cavities inside walls
• The water supply

http//www.epa.gov/iaq/radon/pubs/citguide.htmlho
wdoes
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Radon Reducing the Risks

• Sealing cracks in floors and walls
• Simple systems using pipes and fans
• More information http//www.epa.gov/iaq/radon/pub
  s/consguid.htmlreductiontech

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• Sick Building Syndrome (SBS)
• vs
• Building Related Illness (BRI)

57
Sick Building Syndrome

• A persistent set of symptoms in gt 20 population
• Causes(s) not known or recognizable
• Complaints/Symptoms relieved after exiting
  building

58
Complaints/Symptoms

• Headaches
• Fatigue
• Reduced Mentation
• Irritability
• Eye, nose or throat irritation

• Dry Skin
• Nasal Congestion
• Difficulty Breathing
• Nose Bleeds
• Nausea

59
Building Related Illness

• Clinically Recognized Disease
• Exposure to indoor air pollutants
• Recognizable Causes

60
Clinically Recognized Diseases

• Pontiac Fever Legionella spp.
• Legionnaire's Disease
• Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis
• Humidifier Fever
• Asthma
• Allergy
• Respiratory Disease
• Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

61
Ventilation
62
Movement of Air Into / Out of Homes

• Amount of air available to dilute pollutants
• important indicator of the likely contaminant
  concentration
• Indoor air can mix with outside air by three
  mechanisms
• infiltration
• natural ventilation
• forced ventilation

63
Movement of Air Into / Out of Homes

• Infiltration
• natural air exchange that occurs between a
  building and its environment when the doors and
  windows are closed
• leakage through holes or openings in the building
  envelope
• pressure induced
• due to pressure differentials inside and outside
  of the building
• especially important with cracks and other
  openings in wall

64
Movement of Air Into / Out of Homes

• Infiltration
• Temperature induced (stack effect)
• driven by air movement through holes in floors,
  ceilings
• in winter, warm air in a building wants to rise,
  exits through cracks in ceiling and draws in

65
Movement of Air Into / Out of Homes

• Natural ventilation
• air exchange that occurs when windows or doors
  are opened to increase air circulation
• Forced ventilation
• mechanical air handling systems used to induce
  air exchange using fans and blowers
• Trade-offs
• cut infiltration to decrease heating and cooling
  costs vs. indoor air quality problems

66
Movement of Air Into / Out of Homes

• Infiltration rates
• Influenced by
• how fast wind is blowing, pressure differentials
• temperature differential between inside and
  outside of house
• location of leaks in building envelope

67
Air Pollution Prevention
68
Specific Air Pollution Treatment Technology

• Traditional
• Move factory to remote location
• Build taller smokestack so wind blows pollution
  elsewhere
• New
• Biofiltration vapors pumped through soil where
  microbes degrade
• High-energy destruction high-voltage electricity
  
• Membrane separation diffusion of organic vapors
  through membrane
• Oxidation High temperature combustor

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Absorption
70
Adsorption
71
Combustion
72
Cyclone
73
Filtration
74
Electrostatic Precipitator
75
Liquid Scrubber
76
Sulfur Dioxide Control
http//www.apt.lanl.gov/projects/cctc/factsheets/p
uair/adflugasdemo.html
77
Air Pollution Results
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Comparison of 1970 and 1999 Emissions
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(No Transcript)
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Number of People Living in Counties with Air
Quality Concentrations Above the Level of the
National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) in
1999
84
Trends in Sulfur Dioxide Emissions Following
Implementation of Phase I of the Acid Rain
Program Total State-level Utility SO2 (1980,
1990, 1999)
85
FiftyYearsofAirPollution
Figures are in millions of metric tons per year
86
MobileSourcesThe LastTen Years
VOCs CO NOx PM10 SOx Lead
-3
-8
-10
-24
-29

• Percent reductions shown are based on estimates
  of tons/year from mobile sources over the 1981 -
  1990 time period

-85
87
Who isAffected byAir Pollution?
63
Over 74 million people are subjected to high
levels of at least one of these pollutants
22
19
9
5
1
Ozone CO NO2 PM10 SO2 Lead

• Millions of people living in counties with air
  quality that exceeds each NAAQS (1990 data)

88
Milestonesin theControlofAutomotiveEmissions

• 1952 - Autos linked to air pollution
• 1963 - Original CAA, PCV valves
• 1968 - HC CO exhaust controls
• 1970 - CAA amendments, EPA formed
• 1971 - Evaporative controls
• 1972 - First I/M Program
• 1973 - NOx exhaust controls
• 1975 - First catalytic converters
• 1981 - New cars meet statutory limits
• 1989 - Volatility limits on gasoline
• 1990 - New CAA Amendments

89

• 1987 Montreal Protocol CFC emissions should be
  reduced by 50 by the year 2000 (they had been
  increasing 3 per year.)
• 1990 London amendments production of CFCs,
  CCl4, and halons should cease entirely by 2000.
• 1992 Copenhagen agreements phase-out
  accelerated to 1996.

90
What is the Kyoto Protocol?

• How did we get to Kyoto?
• What are the goals of Kyoto?
• Is Kyoto enough?

91
Steps to Kyoto

• 1985 International Council of Scientific Unions
  (Prof. Bert Bolin)
• Many important economic and social decisions are
  being made today on long term projects, all based
  on the assumption that past climatic data,
  without modification, are a reliable guide to the
  future. This is no longer a good assumption

92
Steps to Kyoto

• 1988 - Toronto - creation of IPCC
• warmest summer to date, international meeting in
  Toronto
• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change formed
• 1990 - First report (FAR)
• overview of the current science of climate change

93
IPCC

• IPCC headed by Prof. Bert Bolin
• 3 working groups
• Climate Science
• Climate Impacts
• Response Strategies
• 1992 - FAR used in Earth Summit meeting in Rio -
  United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
  Change

94
IPCC

• 1995 IPCC Second Assessment Report (SAR)
  completed, published in 1996
• WG I Climate Science
• WG II Impact, Adaptation and Mitigation
• WG III Economic and Social Dimensions
• The balance of evidence suggests a discernible
  human influence on global climate

95
IPCC

• 1997 Kyoto meeting - binding targets set
• culmination of a series of meetings since Rio
  (1992)
• 2001 Bonn - rescuing Kyoto
• 2001 IPCC Third Assessment Report (TAR)
• WG I Climate Science
• WG II Vulnerabilities, Impacts and Adaptation
• WG III Mitigation

96
IPCC

• TAR (2001)
• There is new and stronger evidence that most of
  the warming observed over the last 50 years is
  attributable to human activities (WG I)
• Global losses in weather related natural
  disasters have increased ten-fold from the 1960s
  to the 1990s, and that a portion of this increase
  must be due to increases in frequency and
  intensity of some extreme events. (WG II)
• most of the opportunities to reduce emissions
  will come from energy efficiency gains and in
  reducing release of greenhouse gases from
  industry (WG III)

97
Goals of Kyoto Protocol

• Reduction of greenhouse gases to below 1990
  levels
• 5.2 world wide reduction on average by
  2008-2012
• 6 for Canada by 2008-2012
• When sufficient countries ratify the Protocol (at
  least 55 countries comprising at least 55 of
  emissions), Protocol comes into effect
• USA - 25 of emissions

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Kyoto Emissions Agreement
99
Annex B Countries Annex B Countries Non Annex B Countries Non Annex B Countries
  Fossil-Fuel CO2 Emissions (million metric tonnes C) Bunkers (million metric tonnes C) Fossil-Fuel CO2 Emissions (million metric tonnes C) Bunkers (million metric tonnes C)
1990 3851 78 2126 41
1991 3751 88 2306 41
1992 3663 92 2291 43
1993 3610 92 2341 48
1994 3607 92 2487 50
1995 3624 95 2607 52
1996 3674 95 2704 58
1997 3696 97 2775 61
1998 3690 100 2756 62
Source Gregg Marland and Tom Boden (CDIAC, Oak
Ridge National Laboratory).
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Greenhouse Effect - Conclusion

• Since 1700, humans have directly or indirectly
  caused the concentration of the major greenhouse
  gases to increase
• Scientists predict that this increase may enhance
  the greenhouse effect making the planet warmer by
  0.3 to 0.6 degrees Celsius

101
Cost of Regular Gasoline

• 3.80 Great Britain
• 3.80 The Netherlands
• 3.74 Italy
• 3.69 Belgium
• 3.62 France
• 3.57 Germany
• 3.20 Japan
• 1.39 United States
• in U.S. dollars as of October 13, 1997

102
History of Global Warming

• 1904 Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius was,
  according to NASA, "the first person to
  investigate the effect that doubling atmospheric
  carbon dioxide would have on global climate."

103
History of Global Warming

• Arrhenius began studying rapid increases in
  anthropogenic carbon emissions, determining
  that "the slight percentage of carbonic acid in
  the atmosphere may, by the advances of industry,
  be changed to a noticeable degree in the course
  of a few centuries."

104
History of Global Warming

• The unique research of Arrhenius suggested that
  this increase could be beneficial, making Earth's
  climates "more equable" and stimulating plant
  growth and food production. Until about 1960,
  most scientists thought it implausible that
  humans could actually affect average global
  temperatures.

105
History of Global Warming

• 1950s Geophysicist Roger Revelle, with the help
  of Hans Suess, demonstrated that carbon dioxide
  levels in the air had increased as a result of
  the use of fossil fuels.

106
History of Global Warming

• 1965 Serving on the President's Science Advisory
  Committee Panel on Environmental Pollution in
  1965, Roger Revelle helped publish the first
  high-level government mention of global warming.
  The book-length report identified many of the
  environmental troubles the nation faced, and
  mentioned in a "subpanel report" the potential
  for global warming by carbon dioxide.

107
History of Global Warming

• 1977 "In 1977 the nonpartisan National Academy
  of Sciences issued a study called Energy and
  Climate, which carefully suggested that the
  possibility of global warming 'should lead
  neither to panic nor to complacency.'

108
History of Global Warming

• Rather, the study continued, it should 'engender
  a lively sense of urgency in getting on with the
  work of illuminating the issues that have been
  identified and resolving the scientific
  uncertainties that remain.'

109
History of Global Warming

• As is typical with National Academy studies, the
  primary recommendation was for more research."
  From "Breaking the Global-Warming Gridlock" by
  Daniel Sarewitz and Roger Pielke Jr., THE
  ATLANTIC, July 2000

110
History of Global Warming

• Roger Revelle chaired the National Academy Panel,
  which found that about forty percent of the
  anthropogenic carbon dioxide has remained in the
  atmosphere, two-thirds from fossil fuel and
  one-third from the clearing of forests. It is now
  known that carbon dioxide is one of the primary
  greenhouse gases that contributes to global
  warming and remains in the atmosphere for a
  century.

111
History of Global Warming

• 1980s Representative Al Gore (D-TN), who had
  been a student of Revelle's, co-sponsored the
  first Congressional hearings to study the
  implications of global warming and to encourage
  the development of environmental technologies to
  combat global warming.

112
History of Global Warming

• 1982 Roger Revelle published a widely-read
  article in SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN addressing the
  rise in global sea level and the "relative role
  played by the melting of glaciers and ice sheets
  versus the thermal expansion of the warming
  surface waters."

113
History of Global Warming

• 1983 The Environmental Protection Agency
  released a report detailing some of the possible
  threats of the anthropogenic emission of carbon
  dioxide.

114
History of Global Warming

• 1988 NASA climate scientist James Hansen and his
  team reported to Congress on global warming,
  explaining, "the greenhouse warming should be
  clearly identifiable in the 1990s" and that "the
  temperature changes are sufficiently large to
  have major impacts on people and other parts of
  the biosphere, as shown by computed changes in
  the frequency of extreme events and comparison
  with previous climate trends."

115
History of Global Warming

• With the increased awareness of global warming
  issues, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
  Change (IPCC) was established by the World
  Meteorological Organization and the United
  Nations Environment Programme to assess
  scientific, technical and socio-economic
  information relevant for the understanding of
  climate change, its potential impacts and options
  for adaptation and mitigation. The IPCC was the
  first international effort of this scale to
  address environmental issues.

116
History of Global Warming

• 1990 Congress passed and President George Bush
  signed Public Law 101-606 "The Global Change
  Research Act of 1990. The purpose of the
  legislation was "to require the establishment of
  a United States Global Change Research Program
  aimed at understanding and responding to global
  change, including the cumulative effects of human
  activities and natural processes on the
  environment, to promote discussions towards
  international protocols in global change
  research, and for other purposes."

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History of Global Warming

• As part of the Act, the Global Change Research
  Information Office (GCRIO) was established "to
  disseminate to foreign governments, businesses,
  and institutions, as well as citizens of foreign
  countries, scientific research information
  available in the United States which would be
  useful in preventing, mitigating, or adapting to
  the effects of global change. The office began
  formal operation in 1993.

118
History of Global Warming

• 1992 In June of 1992, over 100 government
  leaders, representatives from 170 countries, and
  some 30,000 participants met in Rio de Janeiro at
  the U.N. Conference on Environment and
  Development (UNCED or the "Earth Summit").

119
History of Global Warming

• There, an international assembly formally
  recognized the need to integrate economic
  development and environmental protection into the
  goal of sustainable development.

120
History of Global Warming

• 1997 In December, 1997, more than 160 nations
  met in Kyoto, Japan, to negotiate binding
  limitations on greenhouse gases for the developed
  nations, pursuant to the objectives of the
  Framework Convention on Climate Change of 1992.

121
History of Global Warming

• The outcome of the meeting was the Kyoto
  Protocol, in which the developed nations agreed
  to limit their greenhouse gas emissions, relative
  to the levels emitted in 1990. The United States
  agreed to reduce emissions from 1990 levels by 7
  percent during the period 2008 to 2012.

122
History of Global Warming

• 1997 In December, 1997, more than 160 nations
  met in Kyoto, Japan, to negotiate binding
  limitations on greenhouse gases for the developed
  nations, pursuant to the objectives of the
  Framework Convention on Climate Change of 1992.

123
History of Global Warming

• The outcome of the meeting was the Kyoto
  Protocol, in which the developed nations agreed
  to limit their greenhouse gas emissions, relative
  to the levels emitted in 1990.
• The United States agreed to reduce emissions from
  1990 levels by 7 percent during the period 2008
  to 2012.

124
History of Global Warming

• Also that year, the United States Senate
  unanimously passed the Hagel-Byrd Resolution
  notifying the Clinton Administration that the
  Senate would not ratify any treaty that would (a)
  impose mandatory greenhouse gas emissions
  reductions for the United States without also
  imposing such reductions for developing nations,
  or (b) result in serious harm to our economy.

125
History of Global Warming

• 2001 The IPCC released its third assessment
  report, concluding on the basis of "new and
  stronger evidence that most of the observed
  warming over the last 50 years is attributable to
  human activities." They also observed that "the
  globally averaged surface temperature is
  projected to increase by 1.4 to 5.8 degrees
  Celsius over the period 1990 to 2100."

126
History of Global Warming

• The same year, President George W. Bush announced
  that the United States would not ratify the Kyoto
  Protocol. The Protocol is now in limbo until one
  of the two crucial holdouts Russia or the
  United States will ratify the treaty.

127
History of Global Warming

• 2003 Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and Senator
  Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) co-sponsored a proposal
  for mandatory caps on "greenhouse gas" emissions
  from utilities and other industries.

128
History of Global Warming

• Although the proposal was rejected in the Senate
  by a margin of 55 to 43, it was the Senators'
  first attempt to garner Senate attention for the
  issue of global warming, and McCain and Lieberman
  were encouraged by the support for the measure.