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Climate Change: Aristotelian Virtue Theory, The Aidōs Response And Proper Primility, John W. Voelpel

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Climate change is the first anthropogenic alteration of a global Earth system. It is globally catastrophic in terms of food production, sea level rise, fresh water availability, temperature elevation, ocean acidification, species disturbance and destruction to name just a few crisis concerns. In addition, while those changes are occurring now, they are amplifying over decadal periods and will last for centuries and possibly millennia. While there are a number of pollutants involved, carbon dioxide (CO2) which results from the combustion of any fossil fuel is the primary pollutant. It has not been considered a pollutant until recently because of its …

Influence Of Black Mangrove Expansion On Salt Marsh Faunal Communities Of Eastern Coastal Louisiana, Christina Powell

LSU Master's Theses

The salt marshes along the Gulf of Mexico provide a critical habitat for many species, but their spatial distribution is changing, because Avicennia germinans (black mangroves) are expanding due to warmer winters. Currently, little is known about how A. germinans are used as habitat providing food and refuge for aquatic fauna. Therefore, the overall goal of this study was to determine how A.germinans expansion into the Spartina alterniflora (smooth cordgrass) marshes of Louisiana’s Mississippi River delta plain affects salt marsh-dependent organisms. This study analyzed three habitat types: Spartina-dominated, Avicennia-dominated, and a mix of the two, focusing on habitat use and …

Rain Rituals As A Barometer Of Vulnerability In An Uncertain Climate, L. Jen Shaffer

Journal of Ecological Anthropology

Researchers and aid agencies, seeking to improve their understanding of local climate change responses, adaptation, and vulnerability, frequently interact with communities around the world who strongly emphasize their religious beliefs and practices. Dismissal and misunderstandings of these local perspectives can slow assessments of local climate vulnerability and development of adaptive capacity. In this paper, I show how analysis of rain ritual failure exposes the multiple stressors Ronga communities in southern Mozambique face, and as such, serves as a proxy measure for climate vulnerability at the local level. Oral histories and targeted interviews with participating elders, local chiefs, and community members …

Ecosystem Functional Response Across Precipitation Extremes In A Sagebrush Steppe, Andrew T. Tredennick, Andrew R. Kleinhesselink, J. Bret Taylor, Peter B. Adler

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Background

Precipitation is predicted to become more variable in the western United States, meaning years of above and below average precipitation will become more common. Periods of extreme precipitation are major drivers of interannual variability in ecosystem functioning in water limited communities, but how ecosystems respond to these extremes over the long-term may shift with precipitation means and variances. Long-term changes in ecosystem functional response could reflect compensatory changes in species composition or species reaching physiological thresholds at extreme precipitation levels.

Methods

We conducted a five year precipitation manipulation experiment in a sagebrush steppe ecosystem in Idaho, United States. We …

Precipitation Extremes In Dynamically Downscaled Climate Scenarios Over The Greater Horn Of Africa, Andualem Shiferaw, Tsegaye Tadesse, Clinton M. Rowe, Robert Oglesby

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

This study first assesses the performance of regional climate models in the Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX) in reproducing observed extreme precipitation indices over the Greater Horn of Africa (GHA) region during 1989–2005. The study then assesses projected changes in these extremes during 2069–2098 compared to 1976–2005. The Regional Climate Model (RCM) simulations are made using two RCMs, with large-scale forcing from four CMIP5 Global limate Models(GCMs) under two Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5). We found that RCM simulations have reasonably captured observed patterns of moderate precipitation extreme indices (MPEI). Pattern correlation coefficients between simulated and observed MPEI …

Irrigated Agriculture And Future Climate Change Effects On Groundwater Recharge, Northern High Plains Aquifer, Usa, Zachary H. Lauffenburger, Jason J. Gurdak, Chris Hobza, Duane Woodward

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Understanding the controls of agriculture and climate change on recharge rates is critically important to develop appropriate sustainable management plans for groundwater resources and coupled irrigated agricultural systems. In this study, several physical (total potential (ψT) time series) and chemical tracer and dating (3H, Cl−, Br−, CFCs, SF6, and 3H/3He) methods were used to quantify diffuse recharge rates beneath two rangeland sites and irrigation recharge rates beneath two irrigated corn sites along an east-west (wet-dry) transect of the northern High Plains aquifer, Platte River Basin, central Nebraska. The field-based recharge estimates and historical climate were used to calibrate site-specific Hydrus-1D …

Changing Rainfall Frequency Rather Than Drought Rapidly Alters Annual Soil Respiration In A Tropical Forest, Qi Deng, Deqiang Zhang, Xi Han, Guowei Chu, Quanfa Zhang, Dafeng Hui

Biology Faculty Research

Tropical forests play an important role in global carbon (C) cycling due to high primary productivity and rapid litter and soil organic C decomposition. However, it is still unclear how changing rainfall will influence soil CO2 losses (i.e. via soil respiration) in tropical forests. Here, using a rainfall and litter manipulation experiment in a tropical forest, we show that enhanced litter-leached dissolved organic carbon (DOC) production with increased rainfall frequency drives substantial CO2 loss via soil respiration. A 50% increase in rainfall frequency (no change in total rainfall amount) enhanced inputs of DOC by 28%, total dissolved nitrogen (TDN) by …

Indiana’S Past & Future Climate: A Report From The Indiana Climate Change Impacts Assessment, Melissa Widhalm, Alan Hamlet, Kyuhyun Byun, Scott Robeson, Mike Baldwin, Paul Staten, Chun-Mei Chiu, Jill Coleman, E. Hall, Kim Hoogewind, Matthew Huber, Chanh Kieu, Jinwoong Yoo, Jeffrey Dukes

Climate Change Reports

Indiana’s climate is changing. Temperatures are rising, more precipitation is falling and the last spring frost of the year has been getting steadily earlier. This report from the Indiana Climate Change Impacts Assessment (IN CCIA) describes historical climate trends from more than a century of data, and future projections that detail the ways in which our climate will continue to change.

Economic Contributions Of Winter Sports In A Changing Climate, Hagenstad Consulting, Inc., Elizabeth Burakowski, Rebecca Hill

All Materials

In mountain towns across the United States that rely on winter tourism, snow is

currency. For snow lovers and the winter sports industry, predictions of a future with

warmer winters, reduced snowfall, and shorter snow seasons is inspiring them to

innovate, increase their own efforts to address emissions, and speak publicly on the

urgent need for action.

This report examines the economic contribution of winter snow sports tourism to

U.S. national and state-level economies. In a 2012 analysis, Protect Our Winters and

the Natural Resources Defense Council found that the winter sports tourism industry

generates $12.2 billion and 23 million …

See You In Court: Around The World In Eight Climate Change Lawsuits, Myanna Dellinger

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Policy Insights From The Emf 32 Study On U.S. Carbon Tax Scenarios, Alexander R. Barron, Allen A. Fawcett, Marc A.C. Hafstead, James R. Mcfarland, Adele C. Morris

Environmental Science and Policy: Faculty Publications

The Stanford Energy Modeling Forum exercise 32 (EMF 32) used 11 different models to assess emissions, energy, and economic outcomes from a plausible range of economy-wide carbon price policies to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the United States. Here we discuss the most policy-relevant results of the study, mindful of the strengths and weaknesses of current models. Across all models, carbon prices lead to significant reductions in CO2 emissions and conventional pollutants, with the vast majority of the reductions occurring in the electricity sector. Importantly, emissions reductions do not significantly depend on the rebate or tax cut used to …

Scientific And Technical Advisory Committee Review Of The Chesapeake Bay Program Partnership’S Climate Change Assessment Framework And Programmatic Integration And Response Efforts, Maria Hermann, Scott Doney, Tal Ezer, Keryn Gedan, Philip Morefield, Barbara Muhling, Douglas Pirhalla, Stephen Shaw

CCPO Publications

[From the Executive Summary] The following report presents a synthesis of reviewer responses from the Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee’s (STAC) panel on the Chesapeake Bay Program Partnership’s Climate Change Assessment Framework (CCAF) and Programmatic Integration and Response Efforts. The enclosed findings and recommendations are in response to the 16 questions delivered to the panel (Appendix A).

In summary, given the current state of knowledge, the combination of using climate model projections and downscaling provides an acceptable baseline for estimating changing climate conditions for the Chesapeake Bay, and the panel finds the CCAF approach to be fundamentally sound. However, the …

Integrating System Dynamics And Remote Sensing To Estimate Future Water Usage And Average Surface Runoff In Lagos, Nigeria, Gilles A. Kandissounon, Ajay Karla, Sajjad Ahmad

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

The goal of this study was twofold; first analyze the patterns of water consumption in Lagos, Nigeria and use them in a System Dynamics (SD) model to make projections about future demand. The second part used remote sensing to quantify the contribution of extensive land use/cover change to urban flooding. Land use/cover dynamics over the past decade was analyzed using satellite imagery provided by Landsat Thematic Mapping (TM). Unsupervised classification was performed with false color composite using the Iterative Self-Organizing Data Analysis (ISODATA) technique in a Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The study area was divided into four different land use …

Juvenile Rockfish Show Resilience To Co2-Acidification And Hypoxia Across Multiple Biological Scales, Brittany E. Davis, Lisa M. Komoroske, Matthew J. Hansen, Jamilynn B. Poletto, Emily N. Perry, Nathan A. Miller, Sean M. Ehlman, Sarah G. Wheeler, Andrew Sih, Anne E. Todgham, Nann A. Fangue

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

California’s coastal ecosystems are forecasted to undergo shifting ocean conditions due to climate change, some of which may negatively impact recreational and commercial fish populations. To understand if fish populations have the capacity to respond to multiple stressors, it is critical to examine interactive effects across multiple biological scales, from cellular metabolism to species interactions. This study examined the effects of CO₂-acidification and hypoxia on two naturally cooccurring species, juvenile rockfish (genus Sebastes) and a known predator, cabezon (Scorpaenichthys marmoratus). Fishes were exposed to two PCO₂ levels at two dissolved oxygen (DO) levels: ~600 …

The Perpetual State Of Emergency That Sacrifices Protected Areas In A Changing Climate, Dirac Twidwell, Carissa L. Wonkka, Christine H. Bielski, Craig R. Allen, David G. Angeler, Jacob Drozda, Ahjond S. Garmestani, Julia Johnson, Larkin A. Powell, Caleb P. Roberts

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

A modern challenge for conservation biology is to assess the consequences of policies that adhere to assumptions of stationarity (e.g., historic norms) in an era of global environmental change. Such policies may result in unexpected and surprising levels of mitigation given future climate-change trajectories, especially as agriculture looks to protected areas to buffer against production losses during periods of environmental extremes. We assessed the potential impact of climate-change scenarios on the rates at which grasslands enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) are authorized for emergency harvesting (i.e., biomass removal) for agricultural use, which can occur when precipitation for the …

The News You Choose: News Media Preferences Amplify Views On Climate Change, Jessica L. Bolin, Lawrence C. Hamilton

Sociology

How do choices among information sources reinforce political differences on topics such as climate change? Environmental sociologists have observed large-scale and long-term impacts from news media and think-tank reports, while experimental science-communication studies detect more immediate effects from variations in supplied information. Applying generalized structural equation modeling to recent survey data, previous work is extended to show that political ideology, education and their interaction predict news media information choices in much the same way they predict opinions about climate change itself. Consequently, media information sources serve as intervening variables that can reinforce and, through their own independent effects, amplify existing …

In Anthropocene Air: Deleuze's Encounter With Shakespeare, Steven Swarbrick

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Climate Change, Cattle, And The Challenge Of Sustainability In A Telecoupled System In Africa, Tara S. Easter, Alexander K. Killion, Neil H. Carter

Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior

Information, energy, and materials are flowing over greater distances than in the past, changing the structure and feedbacks within and across coupled human and natural systems worldwide. The telecoupling framework was recently developed to understand the feedbacks and multidirectional flows characterizing social and environmental interactions between distant systems. We extend the application of the telecoupling framework to illustrate how flows in beef affect and are affected by social-ecological processes occurring between distant systems in Africa, and how those dynamics will likely change over the next few decades because of climate-induced shifts in a major bovine disease, trypanosomosis. The disease is …

Extreme Smoke Events: Climate Change And Human Health In Western Montana, Sarah Luth

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Abstract not available.

Urban Areas In Coastal Zones, Richard C. Dawson, M. Shah Alam Khan, Vivien Gornitz, Maria Fernanda Lemos, Larry Atkinson, Julie Pullen, Juan Camilo Osorio, Lindsay Usher, Cynthia Rosenzweig (Ed.), William Solecki (Ed.), Patricia Romero-Lankao (Ed.), Shagun Mehrotra (Ed.), Shobhakar Dhakal (Ed.), Somayya Ali Ibrahim (Ed.)

CCPO Publications

[First Paragraph] Coastal cities have been subjected to extreme weather events since the onset of urbanization. Climatic change, in particular sea level rise, coupled with rapid urban development are amplifying the challenge of managing risks to coastal cities. Moreover, urban expansion and changes and intensification in land use further pressure sensitive coastal environments through pollution and habitat loss.

Climate-Change-Driven Accelerated Sea-Level Rise Detected In The Altimeter Era, R. S. Nerem, B. D. Beckley, J. T. Fasullo, B. D. Hamlington, D. Masters, G. T. Mitchum

CCPO Publications

Using a 25-y time series of precision satellite altimeter data from TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1, Jason-2, and Jason-3, we estimate the climate-change-driven acceleration of global mean sea level over the last 25 y to be 0.084 ± 0.025 mm/y². Coupled with the average climate-change-driven rate of sea level rise over these same 25 y of 2.9 mm/y, simple extrapolation of the quadratic implies global mean sea level could rise 65 ± 12 cm by 2100 compared with 2005, roughly in agreement with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 5th Assessment Report (AR5) model projections.

Institutionalizing Resilience In Us Universities: Prospects, Opportunities, And Models, Morris Foster, James O'Donnell, Mark Luckenbach, Elizabeth Andrews, Emily Steinhilber, John Wells, Mark Davis

ODU Articles

[From Introduction]

The United States is taking a largely region-specific approach to addressing challenges posed by climate change, in contrast with national and international approaches in most of the rest of the world. In locations such as Hampton Roads, New Orleans, and coastal Connecticut, the impacts of climate change tend to be addressed as they become locally evident rather than as part of a larger anticipatory national plan. Given that regional focus, universities can play a unique role in how the United States responds to the challenges of a changing climate. Universities can be knowledge brokers positioned outside or across …

The Societal Impacts Of Climate Anomalies During The Past 50,000 Years And Their Implications For Solastalgia And Adaptation To Future Climate Change, Edward P. Richards

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Long-Term Changes In Extreme Air Pollution Meteorology And Implications For Air Quality, Pei Hou

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Extreme air pollution meteorology, such as heat waves, temperature inversions, and atmospheric stagnation episodes, can significantly affect air quality. In this study, we analyze their long-term trends and the potential impacts on air quality. The significant increasing trends for the occurrences of extreme meteorological events in 1951-2010 are identified with the reanalysis data, especially over the continental regions. A statistical analysis combining air quality data and meteorological data indicates strong sensitivities of air quality, including both average air pollutant concentrations and high pollution episodes, to extreme meteorological events. Results also show significant seasonal and spatial variations in the sensitivity of …

Spectral Signatures Of Submicron Scale Light-Absorbing Impurities In Snow And Ice Using Hyperspectral Microscopy, Farra Dal Anna, Susan Kaspari, James Beach, Thomas D. Bucheli, Michael Schaepman, Margit Schwikowski

Geological Sciences Faculty Scholarship

Light-absorbing impurities (LAI) can darken snow and ice surfaces, reduce snow/ice albedo and accelerate melt. Efforts to allocate the relative contribution of different LAI to snow/ice albedo reductions have been limited by uncertainties in the optical properties of LAI. We developed a new method to measure LAI spectral reflectance at the submicron scale by modifying a Hyperspectral Imaging Microscope Spectrometer (HIMS). We present the instrument’s internal calibration, and the overall small influence of a particle’s orientation on its measured reflectance spectrum. We validated this new method through the comparison with a field spectroradiometer by measuring different standard materials. Measurements with …

Global Sea-Level Budget 1993-Present, Wcrp Global Sea Level Budget Group, Benjamin Hamlington

CCPO Publications

Global mean sea level is an integral of changes occurring in the climate system in response to unforced climate variability as well as natural and anthropogenic forcing factors. Its temporal evolution allows changes (e.g.,acceleration) to be detected in one or more components. Study of the sea-level budget provides constraints on missing or poorly known contributions, such as the unsurveyed deep ocean or the still uncertain land water component. In the context of the World Climate Research Programme Grand Challenge entitled "Regional Sea Level and Coastal Impacts", an international effort involving the sea-level community worldwide has been recently initiated with the …

Just Open A Window: Understanding The Vulnerability To Summer Heat Of A Mountain Community In The Western United States, Missoula, Mt, Julie J. Tompkins

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

How do we conceptualize vulnerability or resiliency to a natural hazard when it has not historically been understood as such? This study focuses on Missoula, located in mountains of western Montana, which has steadily grown by 1-2% per year to almost 75,000 residents. The formerly temperate quality of its winters and summers has also been changing. Projections from the 2017 Montana Climate Assessment estimate the state will experience a 2-5°F increase in mean annual air temperature over the next two decades, prompting city and county officials to plan for scenarios not formerly in their consideration. Of further concern is the …

Social Science Perspectives On Drivers Of And Responses To Global, Andrew K. Jorgenson, Shirley Fiske, Klaus Hubacek, Jia Li, Tom Mcgovern, Torben Rick, Juliet B. Schor, William Solecki, Richard York, Ariela Zycherman

Publications and Research

This article provides a review of recent anthropological, archeological, geographical, and sociological research on anthropogenic drivers of climate change, with a particular focus on drivers of carbon emissions, mitigation and adaptation. The four disciplines emphasize cultural, economic, geographic, historical, political, and social‐structural factors to be important drivers of and responses to climate change. Each of these disciplines has unique perspectives and makes noteworthy contributions to our shared understanding of anthropogenic drivers, but they also complement one another and contribute to integrated, multidisciplinary frameworks. The article begins with discussions of research on temporal dimensions of human drivers of carbon emissions, highlighting …

Microgrids And Resilience To Climate-Driven Impacts On Public Health, Justin Gundlach

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

“Resilience” has burst into the lexicons of several policy areas in recent years, owing in no small part to climate change’s amplification of extreme events that severely disrupt the operation of natural, social, and engineered systems. Fostering resilience means anticipating severe disruptions and planning, investing, and designing so that such disruptions, which are certain to occur, are made shallower in depth and shorter in duration. Thus a resilient system or community can continue functioning despite disruptive events, return more swiftly to routine function following disruption, and incorporate new information so as to improve operations in extremis and speed future restorations. …

Global Climate Change In U.S. High School Curricula: Portrayals Of The Causes, Consequences, And Potential Responses, Casey R. Meehan, Brett L.M. Levy, Lauren Collet-Gildard

Educational Theory and Practice Faculty Scholarship

Broad misconceptions about global climate change (GCC) could hinder efforts to address this large-scale problem, and curricular materials can play a substantial role in what students learn about GCC. This study examines how U.S. high school textbooks and supplemental curricular materials published between 2007 and 2012 portray the causes, consequences, and potential responses to GCC. Our data included text segments related to these topics in five science textbooks, four social studies textbooks, and eight sets of GCC supplemental materials. To analyze these text segments, we conducted several rounds of coding, first categorizing curricula by their acceptance of the human causes …