Environmental Awareness and Climate Change MODULE

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Starting Accurately (Introduction)

Learning outcomes:
At the end of this module the students must be able to:
a. explain environmental awareness and climate change;
b. create an advocacy to address local environmental problems;
c. identify the causes of climate change;
d. assess the various impacts of climate change including economic,
geopolitical, biological, meteorological, etc.; and
e. present a case on environmental problem or issue in the community.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a

Introduction United Nations body that evaluates climate change science,
released its report on global climate change. The report’s
important conclusions were the following: world’s climate has changed
significantly over past century; the significant change has human influence; using climate
models and if the trend continues, the global mean surface temperature will increase between
1°C and 3.5°C by 2100.

Climate Change-is the change in global or regional

patterns, in particular, a change apparent from the
mid to late 20th century onwards and attributed
largely to the increased level of atmospheric carbon
dioxide by the use of fossil fuels.

Causes of Climate Change

The causes of climate change could be natural or by human activities.

1. Volcanic eruptions-are one of the natural causes of climate change. When volcanoes
erupt, it emits different natural aerosols like carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, salt crystals,
volcanic ashes or dust, and even microorganisms like bacteria and viruses. The volcanic
eruption can cause a cooling effect to the lithosphere because its emitted aerosols can block
a certain percentage of solar radiation. This cooling effect can last for one to two years.

2. Orbital Changes-Earth’s orbit can also cause climate change. This was proposed by the
Milankovitch theory. The Milankovitch theory states that “as the Earth travels through space
around the Sun, cyclical variations in three elements of Earth-Sun geometry combine to

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produce variations in the amount of solar energy that reaches Earth. The three elements
that have cyclic variations are eccentricity, obliquity, and precession.
Eccentricity-is a term used to describe the shape of Earth’s orbit around the sun. The
impact of the variation is a change in the amount of solar energy from perihelion
(around January 3) to aphelion (around July 4). Academic Emporia (2017) states,
“The eccentricity influences seasonal differences: when Earth is closest to the
Sun, it gets more solar radiation. If the perihelion occurs during winter, the winter
is less severe. If a hemisphere has its summer while closest to the Sun,
summers are relatively warm.”
Obliquity-is the variation of the tilt of Earth’s axis away from the orbital plane. As this tilt
changes, the seasons become more exaggerated. Academic Emporia states,
“The more tilt means more severe seasons-warmer summers and colder winters;
less tilt means less severe seasons-cooler summers and milder winters.”
Precession-is the change in orientation of Earth’s rotational axis. Precession is caused
by two factors: a wobble of Earth’s axis and a turning around of the elliptical orbit
of Earth itself. Obliquity affected the tilt of Earth’s axis; precession affects the
direction of Earth’s axis. The change in the axis location changes the dates of
perihelion (closest distance from the Sun) and aphelion (farthest distance from
the Sun), and this increases the seasonal contrast in one hemisphere while
decreasing it in the other hemisphere. Currently, Earth is closest to the Sun in the
Northern Hemisphere winter, which makes the winters there less severe
(Academic Emporia, 2017).

3. Humans Influence Climate Change-since the start of the Industrial Revolution, humans
have been influencing the climate. Since then, the average world temperature has risen
approximately 0.8 degrees Celsius. According to the latest IPCC report, it is more than likely
(more than 90 percent probability) that most of the global warming in recent decades is
attributable to the observed increased in greenhouse gases.

4. Concentration of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) in the Atmosphere-the most well-known and

most important greenhouse gas is CO2. The carbon cycle causes an exchange CO2 between
biosphere and the ocean on the one hand and the atmosphere on the other. All living
organisms contains carbon, as do gases (such as carbon dioxide) and minerals (such as
diamond, peat, and coal). The movement of carbon between large natural reservoirs in
rocks, the ocean, the atmosphere, plants, soil, and fossil fuels, is known as the carbon
cycle.
Vast amount of CO2 is also released by the burning of fossil fuels. Since the start of
industrial revolution in about 1750, human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels,
including coal and oil, have dramatically increased the concentration of greenhouse gases in
our atmosphere.

5. Aerosols and Greenhouse Gases-Aerosols are less well-known than greenhouse gases.
Aerosols are dust particle which, in addition to CO2, are released into the atmosphere in
large quantities when wood and fossil fuels are burned. Some aerosols have a cooling effect
on the climate and some have a warming effect that are present in refrigerators, air-

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condition units, and heaters. On the balance, they have a cooling rather than a warming
effect.
Natural phenomena, greenhouse gases, and aerosols create an imbalance in the
incoming and outgoing radiation in the atmosphere. This process is known as radiative
forcing. When the Earth heats up, the short-wave radiation from the sun that enters the
atmosphere is greater than the long-wave radiation that exits the atmosphere. The
temperature changes on Earth will not stop until the radiation balance is restored. Given the
immense capacity of the ocean to absorb 85% of the additional heat, it will take a long time
to strike a new balance.

6. Greenhouse Effect: Natural and Enhanced-the greenhouse effect describes how certain
gases in our atmosphere increase the temperature on Earth’s surface by preventing some of
the energy radiating.
The ‘natural’ greenhouse effect makes life on Earth possible. Without this effect, the
average temperature would be about 18°C. Earth’s surface temperature is determined by
the radiative balance, the net difference between the energy gained from incoming sunlight
and the amount lost into space as infrared radiation.
The Earth’s atmosphere acts like a transparent blanket, letting in light but trapping some
of the heat it generates. Without an atmosphere, all of this energy would be lost to space.
This natural effect relies on ‘greenhouse’ gases in our atmosphere.

Climate Change Effects

1. Potential effects of world production and consumption patterns to climate change.

2. Forest destruction caused by wildfires and human needs.
3. Water problems such as more flooding and droughts.
4. Melting of ice in Polar region that cause to rise the sea level.
5. Wildlife extinction due to deforestation and changes in climate.

Top 10 ways that college students can do to stop climate change by David Suzuki

1. Get involved 6. Let polluters pay

2. Be energy efficient 7. Fly less
3. Choose renewable power 8. Be informed
4. Eat wisely 9. Green your commute
5. Trim your waste 10. Support and donate

Steps to address the problem on climate change

1. Forego fossil fuels 6. Eat smart, go vegetarian
2. Infrastructure upgrade 7. Stop cutting down trees
3. Move closer to work 8. Unplug
4. Consume less 9. One child
5. Be efficient 10. Future fuels

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Some government project that help to address climate change

1. 2.

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5. 6.

7. 8.

Using/Applying Knowledge (Application/Integration)

Learning Activity time!

Activity 12

Using short size bond paper, make a poster campaigning about how the community can
help lessen the causes of climate change. The poster must be drawn and colored using any
coloring material. In a separate short size bond paper, describe or explain your poster in 50-150
words. Use the Sample File Format for this activity.

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Evaluating Understanding (Assessment)

Let’s check what you got!

I. Essay

1. When we say Climate Change what does it appears to you a positive or negative? Why?
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2. Is climate change preventable?

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3. You as a college student what significant contribution can you make in response to climate
change?
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4. What should the government must do to mitigate climate change?

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II. Enumeration

1-5. What do you think are the causes of climate change?

6-10. What do you think are the effects of climate change?

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