Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
people who want to match their carbon footprint with a carbon
saving made as part of the tree planting scheme.
SUMMARY
• The Earth's climate has changed signiicantly through its
history.
• Climatechangesoverthepast2.4millionyearshavebeendom-
inated by cycles of cold and warm during which major ice sheets
expanded and contracted again.
• ThedriverofhistoricclimatechangesovertheQuaternaryhas
been orbital forcing, although this is not sufficient in itself to
explain the magnitude of changes that have been experienced.
• Internalfeedbackprocessesareimportantforreinforcingor
dampening climate change; of particular importance are the
ocean circulation systems.
• Climatechangeoverthepastcenturyhasbeenmorerapidthan
at any time over the past half million years.
• Humanshaveemittedlargequantitiesofgreenhousegasesinto
the atmosphere over the last 200 years and continue to do so at
a growing rate.
• ItisexpectedthattheEarth'sclimatewillwarmbybetween2°
and 4°C by 2100.
• Theimpactsofclimatechangeonthephysicalgeographyofthe
Earth will be enormous.
• Theimpactsonhumansocietywillbeequallylarge.
• Moreurgentandinternationallyco-ordinatedclimatechange
mitigation measures are needed if we are to avoid extremely
serious climate change.
• Adaptationmeasuresneedinvestmentanddevelopmentnowto
deal with the impacts of climate change that will happen as a
result of emissions we are already committed to.
FURTHER READING
Good texts on the climate changes of the past 2.4 million years include:
Anderson, D.E., Goudie, A.S. and Parker, A.G. (2007)
Global Environments
Through the Quaternary: Exploring Environmental Change
, Oxford: Oxford
University Press. A clearly written and well illustrated textbook.
