Our Choice Al Gore

Assigned Chapters Introduction Chapter 1: What Goes Up Must Come Down Chapter 2: Where Our Energy Comes From and Where It GOES Chapter 14: Changing The Way We Think Chapter 16: Political Obstacles Chapter 18: Our Choice Al Gore: Our Choice2

Introduction Al Gore: Our Choice3 Serious damage, but we probably still do have time for recovery The solution: to make our choice to act now! The book “proposes” a solution to the climate crises

Note that the solution is not easy! Need “will” if we choose to solve the climate crises Positive “spillovers” for too many countries? Associated positive economic outcomes. Al Gore: Our Choice4

Carbon Dioxide Burning of carbon-based fuels since the industrial revolution has rapidly increased concentrations of carbon dioxide, increasing the rate of global warming and causing anthropogenic climate change Al Gore: Our Choice5

Need joint effort: households and businesses They add up and they reinforce commitment Role of active players The signs of the change we need are now beginning to appear all around us…. Can you name few? Dependency on “foreign oil”! Oil Peack? Al Gore: Our Choice6

Security crises Climate crises Economic crises “our dangerous over-reliance on carbon based fuels is at the core of all three of these challenges Obama’s steps toward building a renewable energy infrastructure Conflict? Al Gore: Our Choice7

Need to promote required incentives “in practical terms, the rescue of future generations must start right now” Next…. CH 1 Al Gore: Our Choice8

WHAT GOES UP MUST COME FOWN CH. 1

Human civilization and environment are colliding! Deterioration of out atmosphere It is global and affecting every part of the earth The source of global warming The reflective problem Al Gore: Our Choice10

Main Sources of global warming 1.Carbon dioxide (CO 2 ): 43% 2.Methane (CH 4 ): 27% 3.Black Carbon: 12% 4.Other sources: 19% All are emitted from many human activities: transportation, farming, heating… Al Gore: Our Choice11

1. Carbon Dioxide The biggest global warming cause Mainly from burning of coal (heat and electricity), burning of oil-based products (gasoline, diesel, jet fuel…) Most discussions of how to solve the climate crises tend to focus on producing energy that do not produce CO 2 land use changesAnother source (comes after fossil fuel) is land use changes Deforestation, burning of trees,… Try to reduce burning od fossil fuel and reduce deforstation Al Gore: Our Choice12

Al Gore: Our Choice13 deforestation Wild fires Soil erosion

2. Methane Although is smaller that CO 2, over a 100 period, methane is more than 20 times strong as CO 2 in its ability to trap heat in the atmosphere. Watch “What Goes Up: Greenhouse Gases” 50% occur in agriculture In agriculture most methane comes from livestock, livestock waste The remaining comes from oil and gas production… Al Gore: Our Choice14

3. Black Carbon Al Gore: Our Choice15 Watch: The Menace of the Brown Cloud

Black Carbon Why it causes a particular threat to India and China? More than 30% of black carbon comes from burring of fossil fuels (mainly diesel truck!) In areas with long dry seasons with no rainfall, black carbon concentration is high Watch and read: Cleaning the Air after the Great Smog of 1952 Al Gore: Our Choice16

The solution to global warming is as easy to describe as it is difficult to put into practice Emissions of the 6 kinds of air pollutants causing the problem must all be reduced Al Gore: Our Choice17

Next: Ch 2 Where Our Energy Comes From and Where it Goes