Human Health and Agriculture

A good part of the world and its countries rely on agriculture as their main source of income and of food In a first scenario precipitation is expected to increase due to global warming, meaning that many crops will receive too much water and will be drowned as fields flood due to a projected rise of 40 centimeters in sea level In a second scenario the amount of evaporation is expected to increase due to global warming, meaning that even more crops will die due to a lack of water For many countries this change could mean death, in fact that projected number of starving people worldwide is expected to be 40-300 million people in addition to the 600 million already projected to be starving in 2060

Human Health and Water Supply

Due to global warming the amount of annual precipitation and the amount of ice converted to freshwater from the polar ice caps is projected to increase A rise in sea level is projected for 2100 of as much as 40 centimeters This rise in sea level could not only destroy human dwellings and human places of agricultural production but could also destroy many sea-side aquifers which would deplete the general water supply for humankind

Human Health and Air Conditions

Due to global warming, the amount of smog that is created by nitrous oxide, or ozone that is near the ground, will increase An increase in the amount of smog near the ground level could potentially result in fatally warm summer days for those humans sensitive to such gases As gases such as smog enter human lungs, they can increase the potential of lung infection which can lead to death

What else is affected by global warming?

Coral reefs- As the sea level rises the more and more coral reefs are being killed as they are subjected to cooler, darker waters Greenland- The country of Greenland, a good percentage of which is made up of ice, is likely to melt significantly should global warming continue, causing sea levels to rise significantly and drowning many coastal communities The polar ice caps- As global warming continues the polar ice caps are melting with speed and are diminishing all over the globe, causing many animals who inhabit the same areas as these polar ice caps to loose part of their habitats Weather patterns- Weather patterns will greatly be affected by global warming as the weather must take into account a warmer climate Wetlands- As sea levels rise due to global warming the number of wetlands diminishes as they are drowned by the rising waters

Predictions for the future:

The Hadley Center for Research on Climate Control has made a number of predictions about the future of climate change and its results by the 21st century, such as the following; The surface temperature globally will have risen at an average of 3.2 at a minimum of .3 worldwide The mean daily precipitation will have increased by .2 millimeters globally The mean soil moisture will have decreased by a mean of 2 millimeters of moisture globally The sea level will have decreased by a mean of .42 meters globally The volume and area of artic sea ice will have dramatically decreased

How can we help to stop/what is being done to stop global warming?

One way people can help to stop global warming is by using alternate forms of energy that are not using up fossil fuels, products that create greenhouse gases when they are used Some of the forms of renewable energy that have been suggested as alternatives are wind energy and solar energy Another way we can stop global warming is by attempting to take greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere such as carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, through techniques such as carbon sequestration There are four main ideas for carbon sequestration; to store carbon dioxide in the ground, to store carbon dioxide in the ocean floor, to increase the abilities of certain plants and animals to take in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and to look at the genome sequences of certain plants and animals who produce methane, hydrogen, or help to store carbon dioxide Already a number of different projects are being done such as by Eric A. Davidson and Neil Scott of the Woods Hole Research Center who are attempting to increase the carbon sequestration capacity of certain trees The company Statoil, the State Oil company of Norway, is also already setting limits on how much carbon dioxide they can produce and are keeping their emissions at that level by injecting any extra carbon dioxide their company produces into the sea floor off the coast of Norway

How much do you know? (A short quiz)

What causes global warming? Why does it cause global warming? (Slides 2-4)

How much do you know? (A short quiz)

What are two of the infectious diseases that have a potential for becoming more prominent as a result of global warming? (Slides 9-10)

How much do you know? (A short quiz)

What is one natural disaster that could become potentially more harmful to humans due to global warming? How would it be harmful physically? Financially? Economically? (Slide 12)

How much do you know? (A short quiz)

How is it that global warming could cause the sea level to become lower while it could also cause the sea level to rise in certain areas of the world?

How much do you know? (A short quiz)

What are some other ways that anyone at home could help to reduce carbon emissions?

The End
(But not of global warming) (See http://www.classroomencounters.org/ for more details)

Bibliography
1. Author not listed (done by the Hadley Center) Climate Change Predictions. The Hadley Centre Website on Met Office. January 2, 2006. <http://www.metoffice.com/research/hadleycentre/models/modeldata.html> Organization; The Hadley Centre on Climate Research. Last update not listed. 2. Author not listed. Global Warming. OzEstuaries. Downloaded January 2, 2005. <http://www.ozestuaries.org/indicators/Def_global_warming.html> Organization; National Land and Water Resources Audit and the Coastal Cooperate Research Centre for Coastal Zone, Estuary and Waterway Management. Last update not listed. 3. Author not listed. (Based on the Summary for Policymakers of the Third Assessment Report written by Working Group I of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.) Scientific Facts on Climate Change and Global Warming. GreenFacts.org. Downloaded on January 2, 2006. <http://www.greenfacts.org/studies/climate_change/sources.htm> Organization; Green Facts. Last updated July 3, 2005. 4. Author not listed. Medical Encyclopedia for Malaria, Toxins, Dengue Fever, Encephalitis, Leishmaniasis, Schistomalaisis, Heat Stroke and Cryptosporidiosis. Medline Plus. Downloaded January 2, 2006. http://medlineplus.gov/ Organization; U.S. National Library of Medicine and The National Institutes of Health. Last updated; December, 2005. 5. Author not listed. The Effects of Global Warming. The Effects of Global Warming. Downloaded June 4. 2006. <www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1848/global.html>. Organization and update not listed.

Bibliography
6. Author Unlisted. Carbon Sequestration. Enhancing the Natural Terrestrial Cycle. Current Projects. Carbon Sequestration in the Oceans. Sequencing Genomes of Micro-organisms for Carbon Management. Office of Science. April 4, 2006. <http://cdiac2.esd.ornl.gov/index.html> Organization: U.S. Department of Energy. Last Updated; April 2004. 7. Epstein, Paul R., Andrew Haines, and Anthony J. McMichael. Environment and Health: 2. Global climate change and health. Canadian Medical Association Journal. Originally Published September 19, 2000; pages 729-734. Downloaded on January 2, 2006. <http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/163/6/729> Organization; Canadian Medical Association Journal. 8. Gardiner, Lisa. Effects of Climate Change Today. Windows to the Universe. Downloaded on January 2, 2006. <http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/earth/climate/cli_effects.html&edu=high> Organization; University Cooperation for Atmospheric Research. Last updated June 23, 2004. 9. Haines Andrew, and McMichael, Anthony J. Global Climate Change: The Potential Effects on Health. Printed in British Medical Journal on September 27, 1997; pages 805-809. Reproduced on British Medical Journal Website. Downloaded on January 2, 2006. <http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/315/7111/805> Organization; British Medical Journal. 10. Hopwood, Nick and Jordan Cohen. Greenhouse Gases and Society. University of Michigan Website. Downloaded on January 2, 2006. <http://www.umich.edu/~gs265/society/greenhouse.htm> Organization; University of Michigan. Last update not listed.

Bibliography

11. Perkins, Sid. Dead Heat. Science News. Published July 2004. Reproduced in ProQuest. July 3, 2004. <http://proquest.umi.com> 12. Walter, Katie. A Solution for Carbon Dioxide Overload. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. April 4, 2006. <http://www.llnl.gov/str/Johnson.html> Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory-University of California. Last Updated; around December 2000. 13. Watson, Robert T., et al. Climate Change 2001: Synthesis Report Summary for Policymakers (an assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Downloaded on January 2, 2006. <http://www.ipcc.ch/pub/un/syreng/spm.pdf> Organization; The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Last updated 2001. 14. Image not from sites above on Slide 3; drawn by Carolyn Vasko, taken from <http://www.classroomencounters.org >