CLIMATE BOX

Module 1. Basic course on climate change.

Topic 1.2.1. The problem of climate change.

United Nations Development Program

2020
Instead of a preface

Climate leaders
Around the world, youth are leading the climate
movement.
‘Children and youth are bringing new energy and creative thinking to
the fight against climate change. Our role is to engage them more
actively and give them more opportunities and knowledge with
innovative approaches to education and training on climate change.’
Armen Grigoryan, UNDP Regional Team Leader for Climate
Change and Disaster Risk Reduction in Europe and Central Asia.

'Climate Box' helps teachers communicate the most relevant knowledge about
climate change to schoolchildren and inspire them to take concrete action on
climate change.
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Module 1. Basic course on climate change

Objectives of the module

Module 1 is a basic course on the topic of 'climate change' for teachers and educational experts (“methodologists”)
based on the materials of the interactive learning toolkit 'Climate Box'.

The objective of the module is to provide basic and at the same time comprehensive knowledge on issues related to
climate change. The module will help to better understand this problem, the causes and consequences of climate
change, as well as what can be done on a country, city, school, family and individual scale to reduce impact on the
climate and adapt to the inevitable consequences.

Module structure
The module consists of three thematic parts, corresponding to the three parts of the textbook ‘Climate box’:
• Part 1. The problem of climate change.
• Part 2. How climate change affects the natural world and human beings. Can we adapt to the inevitable consequences of climate
change?
• Part 3. How to mitigate climate change.
Each part provides both general information about the world and examples from different countries, which can be replaced with
examples specific to your country or region.
Module duration - 8 hours. 3
Module 1. Basic course on climate change

Module content

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Part 1. The problem of climate change

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 Climate and weather.
Types of climate and climate zones

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Climate and weather

‘Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get’

Mark Twain

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Climate and weather

The word ‘climate’ comes from the Greek language in which it refers to the
angle of inclination of the sun.

Differences in the climate on our planet are primarily due to the fact that the sun’s
heat is distributed unevenly over the Earth's surface, but not only…

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The Earth’s climates (by B. Alisov).

The main features of climate are:

• air temperature and its change depending on the

season;
• the amount and the time of precipitation (rain and
snow) during the year;
• how air masses move;
• prevailing and other winds.

Some climate zones contain specific climate regions with a

Arctic and Antarctic Sub-tropical Sub-equatorial
continental, maritime, monsoon climate or the climate
Sub-arctic and sub- Tropical Equatorial
antarctic
of the western coasts.
Temperate

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 Climate system

'Climate' - is the characteristics of the ocean-atmosphere-lithosphere-cryosphere-biosphere system

averaged over a time interval of 30 years.

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Climate change is not a theory, but a fact

This is evidenced by direct observations:

Since 1850, the average temperature on
Earth has increased by 1 oC.

Even such a seemingly small increase in

temperature on a planetary scale is dangerous
for its inhabitants: plants, animals and for you
and me.

Therefore, the world community

recognizes 1.5-2 oC as a 'relatively safe'
maximum temperature rise.

We are already halfway there!

11 Source:WMO
Changes are taking place in all regions of the planet

Map of observed changes in surface temperature from 1901 to 2018.

A temperature rise of 1 degree is the world’s

average.
But in some regions, especially in the Arctic,
warming is happening much faster.

Change in temperature (oC from 1901 to 2018)

Areas for which there is insufficient data are marked in gray

Source: WMO
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Temperature breaks records

• 17 of the 19 years of the new millennium are among the

warmest in the history of meteorological observations
• 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 were the hottest years on
record (WMO, 2020)
• In the Northern Hemisphere, there has not been such a warm
period as from 1983 to 2020 in the last 1400 years

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… and forecasts, alas, are disappointing if nothing is done

Change of average surface air temperature in 2081–2100 compared with the average in 1986–2005
the worst case scenario the best case scenario

14 Source: IPCC, 2014

Global Warming or Climate Change?

‘Climate change’ is a more accurate term than ‘global warming’ because higher
temperatures are only a part of what climate change means for Earth. As the temperature
rises, we observe other related processes:
• the precipitation regime is changing,
• the level of the oceans rises,
• glaciers and permafrost melt,
• extreme weather events become more frequent and dangerous

These and other manifestations of climate change are dangerous for plants and animals,
threaten the economy, health and even human life.

It is important to understand that this is not only a matter of 'warming', but of the general imbalance
of the entire system atmosphere-ocean-lithosphere-cryosphere-biosphere.

We will talk more about the consequences of climate change for nature and humans in Part 2 of the module.

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Impacts and risks for nature and economy

Possible risks for ecosystems and humans with a temperature rise of 1,5-2 oC and more

level of additional risk caused by climate change

undetectable average high very high

16 Source: IPCC, 2018

What are the reasons for the ongoing climate
change?

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Climate change has happened on Earth before

Over hundreds of millions of years of Earth's history, temperatures have changed

very much – by about 10 oC!
А) North America during the glacial period 125,000 years ago;
B) at present.

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Changes in temperature on Earth over the past 500 million years

The temperature on Earth over the past 500 million years

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Climate change has happened on Earth before

Factors

F1 Continental drift

Glacier caps appearing

F2 in Antarctica,
Greenland and the
North Pole

F3 Earth orbit

Ocean fluctuations,
F4 Sun, volcanoes

Anthropogenic
F5 influence

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Causes of climate change: millions of years

F1 Continental drift

Glaciation of
F2 Antarctica, Greenland
and the North Pole

Movement (drift) of
continents 100 million years ago, it was much warmer on
Earth than today.
30–40 million years ago Antarctica became
covered with ice and 10 million years ago the
same happened to Greenland, causing
temperatures to drop to their current level.

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Causes of climate change: tens and hundreds of thousands

F3 Earth orbit

Changes in the Earth’s orbit and its rotation around its own
axis, which determine the onset of glacial periods.
The Earth's orbit around the Sun changes about every T — the tilt of the Earth's axis;
400,000 and 100,000 years. When the Earth's orbit is close E — changes in the Earth's orbit
(deviation of the orbit from a circle);
to circular, seasonal changes in the flow of heat from the
P — change in direction of
Sun are less than when the orbit has an elliptic shape. the Earth’s axis of rotation.

Every 41,000 years the tilt of the Earth's axis alters in a

range between 22 degrees and 24.5 degrees (it is currently
at 23.5 degrees). This variation makes the duration of polar
nights in polar regions longer in some periods and shorter
in others.

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Causes of climate change: centuries

F4 Ocean fluctuations, Sun, volcanoes

Ocean currents
Fluctuations in solar Currents are getting warmer and
activity for 11, 40-45, 60- colder. This is enough to trigger
70, 100 and 200 years warmer and colder climate periods.
Volcanic eruptions

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Climate change has occurred on Earth before, but …

The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere has never been so high

Source, NOAA 2013 24

Climate Change Today

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The greenhouse effect

Scientists explain the modern warming of the planet by the intensification of the greenhouse effect.
The greenhouse effect is the process by which gases, dust, water vapor in the atmosphere absorb the earth's heat and prevent
it from reflecting from the earth's surface - the effect is similar to a greenhouse for growing vegetables.
Therefore, the gases responsible for this effect are called 'greenhouse gases'.

Without the greenhouse effect, the average

air temperature on the Earth's surface would not be
+14 °C, as now, but -19 °C.

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Basic greenhouse gases associated with human activities

Extraction and use of energy from non-renewable

hydrocarbon resources (oil, coal and natural gas) emit
up to 75% of all greenhouse gases associated with
human activities.
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Source: IPCC, 2014
How do scientists know about the concentration of greenhouse gases
800 thousand years ago?

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 How did scientists come to the conclusion about the leading role of
humans in the ongoing climate change?

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

• United Nations organization responsible for assessing and compiling

scientific evidence on climate change
• 195 participating countries
• 2,500 scientists and experts and 130 countries
• 30 years of active work
• Periodic detailed reports on the basis of which UN countries make
policy decisions
• Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for its contribution to the
formation and dissemination of knowledge about the problem of
climate change and ways to solve it

http://www.ipcc.ch/ 29
 How did scientists come to the conclusion about the leading role of
humans in the ongoing climate change?
Models versus direct observation (1900-2007):
a) taking into account human contribution and b) without human intervention

Black line - meteorological data

Orange line - simulation results taking into account human influence
Blue line - simulation results without human influence (natural causes only)
Conclusion: without human influence, the rise in temperature
would not be so significant
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Source: IPCC, 2007
Human: 'warming' and 'cooling'.
Average - warming

Aerosol particles that Soot (black

cool the atmosphere carbon) СН4 СО2

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Basic sources of greenhouse gases (our carbon footprint)

Waste and wastewater

2.8%
Forestry Power supply
17.4% 25.9%

Agriculture
13.5%
Transport About 75% of these emissions are
13.1% directly or indirectly related to the
production or consumption of energy
from hydrocarbon sources.
Industry Residential
19.4% and commercial premises
Source: IPCC 2014 7.9% 32
Greenhouse gases are not pollutants!

Greenhouse gases ≠ pollutants

Unlike pollutants, CO2 and other greenhouse gases do not
have direct negative impact on human health and the
ecosystem at the place of release.
Accumulating in the atmosphere, they enhance the
greenhouse effect, affecting the rise in temperature. Then the
increasing temperature impacts other processes in the climate
system, which, in turn, impact humans and ecosystems.
Thus, we are affected by climate change caused by
greenhouse gases, but not by the gases themselves.

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Discussion

Why is the problem of climate change not so much of an environmental issue as an

energy, economic, social, political issue and one of the fundamental goals of the UN in
the field of sustainable development?

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Questions to reinforce

1. The weather is :
А. The state of the atmosphere at a given point at a given moment or for a limited period
of time;
В. Average air temperature typical for a given area;
С. The relationship between precipitation and air temperature in a particular climatic zone.

2. The climate is :
А. Weather characteristic indicating the frequency of precipitation;
В. Long-term weather regime in this area;
С. A characteristic of the weather indicating the average seasonal (spring, summer, autumn,
winter) temperature in a particular climatic zone.

3. Which of these parameters is not used to characterize the climate of a given

area?
А. Precipitation mode;
В. Prevailing winds;
С. Longitude.
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Questions to reinforce

4. What method do scientists use to find out what the climate was like on earth
hundreds of thousands of years ago:
А. Studying the tree rings;
В. Study of air bubbles in Antarctic ice;
С. Study of data of meteorological observations.

5. Volcanoes heat or cool the Earth's atmosphere?

А. Heated because a large amount of thermal energy is emitted from hot lava;
В. Cool;
С. Have no effect.

6. How much has the temperature on Earth increased over the past 150 years?
А. By 1 0 С;
В. By 5 0 С;
С. By 10 0 С.

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Questions to reinforce

7. Which of the following gases is a greenhouse?

А. Nitrogen(N);
B. Methane(СH4);
C. Carbon monoxide(CO).

8.The main source of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions?

А. Transport;
B. Deforestation;
C. Power supply.

9. Does CO2 affect the ecosystems condition and public health?

А. Doesn't affect;
В. Affects directly within a radius of 100 km from the source of emission;
С. Affects indirectly, since its concentration in the atmosphere leads to an increase in the
temperature on the planet, which, in turn, affects nature and humans.

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The photos and illustrations used in the module, where sources are not specified, are either taken from the Climate Box toolkit (see the List
of illustrations at the end of the textbook) or provided by the program participants.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION