Homework 3: Climate Change
1. Read the following articles, published during October 2018: https://grist.org/article/how-brazils-presidential-election-could-eff-up-the-planet-for-everyone/
And this article published in 2021:
In the 1960s and 1970s, while Brazil was under a military dictatorship, Brazilian land policy opened up vast swaths of the Amazonian rainforest for farming, pasture-grazing, and logging. These policies accelerated the deforestation of the Amazonian rainforest.
A. What “good news” do the articles describe as happening to Amazonian rainforest deforestation in more recent decades?
B. List and describe three environmental policies that new Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has proposed that would gravely endanger the Amazon rainforest and jeopardize our likelihood of keeping global warming below 1.5C.
C. According to the articles, why is the Amazon so important for keeping global warming in check?
D. After three years of Bolsonaro’s presidency, why are activists now saying the Amazon will entirely collapse if his policies are not immediately reversed? In your estimation––and according to the 2021 article––were the grave warnings from 2018 accurate or were they not grave enough?
E. Based on the three articles, and our discussions in class, would you classify Jair Bolsonaro as a climate denier? If so, which “denier tactics” (that we discussed in class) does Bolsonaro employ?
2. Using the spreadsheet titled “climatechange_chitemps_spreadsheet, answer the following questions (similar to what we did in class):
A. In class we compared 1984 temperatures to 2017 temperatures, here you are comparing 1950 temperatures to 1980 and 2017 temperatures. Using the spreadsheet data, show and then discuss whether 1950 was warmer or cooler than 1980.
B. Now show and discuss whether 1980 was warmer or cooler than 2017.
C. Do your observations from Part A and B lead you to conclude that Chicago has been warming since 1950? How? Be sure to describe your logic using as numbers and graphs.
D. Sketch your results or attach the graphs you made that clearly show your results to Parts A-C
E. Now, look at the columns showing precipitation data. Using a similar method that you used in Parts A-B, show whether has precipitation changed between 1960, 1980 and 2017. Based only on these data, how would you describe the response of precipitation in Chicago to climate change?
3. Choose one of the following economic scenarios for the year 2100. (These are real economic scenarios developed by economics and climate scientists in collaboration for the IPCC assessment report). Based on our discussions of global change in class and your increased understanding of how the climate has changed, create a world that has resulted from the scenario you chose. Make sure to include details like: how is energy being generated? What do the economy and global politics look like? Etc. Once you’ve created your world, create a character living in this world. Describe what their daily life looks like and be sure to include any relevant details like: what holidays are observed? Where do people live? How is food obtained? What does your character’s job look like, etc. Your result may be a cartoon, an infographic, an essay, etc. but should include enough information that I don’t need to ask you any questions about your world.
Kathryn’s proposed homework questions
1) Using the spreadsheet climatechange_chitemps_spreadsheet, we will replicate the exercise we did in class comparing temperatures in Chicago from a couple of different years. Open the file in “Google Sheets,” and then note that you can graph any column in the data by highlighting that column and clicking the ‘chart’ icon in the menu bar. By changing the ‘chart type’ you can pick a histogram, which may be the best type of graph to use for this question.
a) Use the data to answer the question: was 1950 generally colder or warmer than 1980, in Chicago? Sketch or paste in whatever graph you used to answer this question.
b) Use the data to answer the question: was 1980 generally warmer or colder than 2017? Again, sketch or paste in whatever graph you used to answer the question.
c) Are your results consistent with the general claim of “global warming”? Explain why or why not.
d) Could you use these results to make a compelling argument that global warming is real? Explain why or why not.
e) (Bonus points – if you do this question your answer will count towards extra bonus points) Use the data to see if there has been a change in precipitation in Chicago over time. Noting that precipitation is one of many aspects of the weather that might be affected by changes in climate, are you able to develop any tentative conclusions?
2) In class in Week 11, we discussed common techniques used in “science denial” campaigns, such as deliberate corporate and political attempts to undermine public acceptance of global warming in the U.S.. This was summarized with the acronym FLICC.
For this question, please watch this video reviewing the FLICC characteristics in detail:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=62&v=wXA777yUndQ
For the following three scenarios, briefly review the article(s) linked, and then identify one or more FLICC tactic that is in use in each case.
a) In 2015, Senator James Inhofe brought a snowball to the Senate floor to argue that global warming was not happening. Read about this (and view a video clip) here: https://www.cnn.com/2015/02/26/politics/james-inhofe-snowball-climate-change/index.html
b) The Amazon rain forest is widely understood by scientists to be of critical importance to global climate stability. Brazil just elected a new president, Jair Bolsonaro, who is a climate denier who, as president, intends to open up more of the Amazon for deforestation and development. Here is a brief article about his views, prior to the recent election (the article is part of an environmentalist blog site, just for context): https://www.desmog.co.uk/2018/08/15/meet-political-dynasty-climate-science-deniers-threatening-withdraw-brazil-paris-agreement
c) Some U.S. based climate science skeptics have argued that many of the weather stations used to track temperature across the country are “poorly sited,” meaning that the temperature sensors are installed near a lot of asphalt, or the exhaust from buildings. Here are two places you can look to find out about this: first, a climate denier website: https://globalwarmingsolved.com/2013/11/summary-has-poor-station-quality-biased-u-s-temperature-trend-estimates/ and second, a response discussing a scientific review of this concern: https://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/poorly-sited-us-temperature-instruments-not-responsible-for–artific.html
Now, two more followup questions:
d) identify one of the FLICC tactics that you did not discuss in parts a, b, and c. Discuss a specific example (either real or fictional) of how that tactic might be used in climate science denial.
e) the video discussing FLICC discusses “confirmation bias,” which is a concept we have discussed a few times this semester. Discuss how “confimation bias” comes into play in climate science denial: which FLICC tactic does it likely contribute to the most? Or are there several?
3) Read the set of “economic scenarios for 2100” included in the attached document (attach the doc). These are real possible economic scenarios developed by economists and climate scientists in collaboration with the IPCC. Pick one of the scenarios and answer the following:
a) Create in your mind a version of the world according to the scenario you picked. Speculate on what the world would be like, discussing: how is energy being generated? What do the economy and global politics look like?
b) Create and describe a character living in that world. What is their daily life like? Include details about where they live, how they obtain food, what kind of job they have, and anything else that you think would express something relevant about the major differences in their lifestyle compared to yours.
For both of these, I am looking for one to two paragraph(s).
