Visualizing Environmental Science

42 CHAPTER 2 Sustainability and Human Values

PROCESS DIAGRAM

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✓✓THE PLANNER

Where do human activities fit into this

diagram?

Think Critically

a simple cause-and-effect relationship but instead a

cascade of interacting responses that ripple through

the environment (ˆ}ÕÀiÊÓ°£{). We cannot begin to

predict how these changes will affect humans or other

organisms.

Stabilizing the climate requires a comprehensive

energy plan to include phasing out fossil fuels in favor

of renewable energy (such as solar and wind power),

increasing energy conservation, and improving energy

efficiency. In addition, stopping and reversing the de-

struction of rain forests is critical to storing carbon in

trees. Many national and local governments as well

as corporations, colleges and universities, and envi-

ronmentally aware individuals are setting goals to cut

patterns have shifted in many places. Climate scientists

generally agree that Earth’s climate will continue to

change rapidly during the 21st century.

These changes will likely have serious effects because

Earth’s organisms, as well as modern society, have evolved

and successfully adapted to conditions as they are. Keep-

ing in mind that the change from the last ice age to the

present was accompanied by an increase in global tem-

perature of 5° Celsius puts the consequences of the pres-

ent change, the most rapid of the past 10,000 years, into

perspective.

We often say that an increase in atmospheric CO 2

leads to climate warming, and this is true. However,

the increase in CO 2 , like other human impacts, is not

Melting of

arctic tundra

Release of

methane (CH 4 )

Changes in

plant growth

Changes in plant

community composition

Changes in animal

community composition

Changes in terrestrial

food web dynamics

Increase in dissolved

CO 2 in ocean

Changes in ocean

chemistry (more acidic)

Harm to corals and

animals with shells

Changes in ocean

food web dynamics

Increased

extinctions

Increased

extinctions

Climate

warming

Changes in

precipitation

patterns

(^1) Most people know that an increase in
atmospheric CO 2 leads to global warming,
but this phenomenon is far from a simple
cause-and-effect relationship.Increasing
CO 2 may cause a cascade of interacting
responses throughout the Earth system.
(^3) Effects of
increased
atmospheric
CO 2 on land
plants and
animals.
(^4) Positive feedbacks,
such as release of
methane from
melting tundra,
accelerates climate
change
(^22) Effects of increased
atmospheric CO 2 on
the ocean.
Increase in atmospheric CO 2
Peter
Scoones
/Science
Sour
ce
Coral bleaching