Creation Care Mom

People who have been in the church long enough understand that our faith has its own lingo. Words like sin, grace, mercy, sanctification, and holiness have special use and understanding with people of faith. When introducing someone new to Jesus we have to “translate” those words into words they understand. Only with translation can they grasp this new world we have introduced to them.

It is similar in the climate science world. Mitigation, adaptation, tipping points, fossil fuels, net zero, carbon capture, greenhouse effect and many many more words need to be understood to fully grasp and understand the global climate change we are facing. It needs to be “translated” for many to understand. General media can be helpful or harmful here. Sometimes they really know what they’re saying, but oftentimes they misuse terms. Let’s take a look at a few of these terms today.

The Greenhouse Effect is something we all probably heard of in high school science class, but depending on how long it has been, it is worth refreshing. A greenhouse is used to warm the interior air by trapping the sun’s heat. The greenhouse effect on Earth refers to how certain gases in the atmosphere create a blanket effect and trap the sun’s heat in our atmosphere, resulting in higher temperatures. The greenhouse effect is caused by greenhouse gases, the most famous of which is carbon dioxide.

Burning fossil fuels for electricity, manufacturing, and transportation results in greenhouse gas emissions. Fossil fuels, otherwise known as coal, oil and gas are fuels derived from ancient plants and animals. These carbon based fuels have been buried for millions of years and are now being burned at an alarming rate.

To say that we are aiming for net zero carbon dioxide emissions is to aim for the point in time where the same amount of carbon dioxide enters the atmosphere as is removed from the atmosphere. This does not eliminate carbon dioxide emissions. It simply means the equation balances at zero.

Mitigation is the process of slowing greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the worst case scenarios and stabilize our climate. Deployment of solar and wind power to replace coal plants is one example of mitigation another is the replacement of internal combustion engines with electric ones. There is a lot of research being devoted to potential mitigation technologies, including carbon capture and sequestration.

Carbon capture and sequestration is a novel and currently expensive technology that allows us to capture carbon dioxide emissions from the air and bury it back underground in some way. Carbon capture in all its experimental forms is still too expensive to be the sole answer to our problems, but will possibly be part of a suite of mitigation solutions.

Why mitigate? As we continue to add greenhouse gases to the atmosphere and the temperature continues to rise, we risk hitting a tipping point, an irreversible change to the climate system. Some potential tipping points are the melting/loss of the Greenland or Antarctic ice sheet, weakening of the Gulf Stream, and melting of permafrost. Any and all tipping points have the ability to change worldwide weather, sea level, and temperatures. Crossing a tipping point, opens up more worst case scenarios.

Because we have been adding carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution, the planet is already seeing a rise in temperatures based on the greenhouse effect. In other words, we have already locked in some amount of climate change. As a result, we need to focus our efforts on adapting to the climate change that already exists. Depending on where you live, adaptation might look different. Generally building codes and approved building sites will be affected both in flood prone and fire prone areas. City infrastructure needs to be adapted to better handle intense rainfall or higher storm surge while also preserving and increasing costal ecosystems that can provide protection. Altering water usage and increasing storage, in preparation for more extreme droughts is necessary. Adaptation essentially makes our communities more resilient in the face of changing climate. Every city should be creating and adaptation plan based on the climate hazards most likely to effect them.

Like I said, these are just a few of the terms and topics included in climate change discussions. There are so many more.

Did this help you interpret some of what you are hearing in the media these days? What words or concepts are confusing for you? Let me know in the comments! I’d love to know which ones to tackle next!