PATTERNS+IN+ENVIRONMENTAL+QUALITY+AND+SUSTAINABILITY

This is the third core subject and concerns issues about Global Warming. Please use these links below to look at articles and interactive websites in regards to Global Warming. Describe the functioning of the atmospheric system in terms of the energy balance between solar and longwave radiation. Explain the changes in this balance due to external forcings (changes in solar radiation, changes in the albedo of the atmosphere and changes in the longwave radiation returned to space). Discuss the causes and environmental consequences of global climate change. [|Doctors warn on climate failure] [|Interactive Climate Map]- shows the effects of a rise of 4 degree C [|Earth's Energy]- an interactive website [|Carbon emissions per person by country] The consequences of Global Warming - [|The National Resources Defense Council] [|Longwave and Shortwave Radiation] The website describes the [|Earth Radiation Budget] [|Illustration of long wave and short range radiation] [|Global Climate Animation] A [|website]that looks at the atmosphere, climate change and global warming [|Global Warming] Simulation Climate change - [|Copenhagen] [|Cap and Trade], also known as carbon trading or emissions trading, is one of the leading proposed solutions to the global climate crisis. The climate legislation currently under consideration in the United States, for instance, proposes a national cap and trade system for greenhouse gas emissions. Under cap and trade schemes, individual governments or intergovernmental bodies, like the United Nations, set a limit on greenhouse gas emissions allowed within a given time period — that’s the cap.
 * __ ATOMSPHERE AND CHANGE __**

In order to keep carbon emissions below the set cap, companies are allotted “carbon permits” or “emissions allowances” that allow them to release limited amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. If a company plans to pollute more than their allotted limit, they can buy permits from companies that haven’t used all of theirs — that’s the trade.

Proponents of cap and trade argue that innovative companies will invest in technologies that lower their pollution levels below their cap, giving them a surplus of permits they can sell to companies that need them because they are exceeding their own pollution limits. The logic is that as long as we stay under the cap, it doesn’t matter who pollutes and who innovates

__**SOIL DEGRADATION**__ Explain the causes of soil degradation. Discuss the environmental and socio-economic consequences of this process, together with management strategies. [|Food and Soil] a web site that looks at why crop land has become and is becoming unusable. [|A Boost for Africa's depleted soils] [|The Dirt of Soil Erosion] [|Front line of famine in Ethopia] [|Soil map of sub-Sahara] Soil erosion and conservation - [|Youtube] Management strategies for soil degradation - [|North China]

__**WATER USAGE AND CHANGE**__ Identify the ways in which water is utilized at the regional scale. Examine the environmental and human factors affecting patterns and trends in physical water scarcity and economic water scarcity. Examine the factors affecting access to safe drinking water. [|Climate map] which shows the world after a 4C rise [|The water vendors of Nigeria] [|Yellow River, unfit for drinking] [|Yellow River] [|UK water usage] Case study for water usage at a regional scale - [|Indus River] Read **Plant Geography** for Aral Sea case study

Explain the concept and importance of biodiversity in tropical rainforests. Examine the causes and consequences of reduced biodiversity in this dome. **Planet Geography** Second Edition - High Energy Biomes Equatorial and Tropical Rainforests p. 311-314 **Geography - An Intergrated Approach** - pages 518-521. Case studies pages 520/215 Characteristics of a [|rain forest]
 * __BIODIVERSITY AND CHANGE__**

Define the concept of environmental sustainability. Evaluate a management strategy at a local or national scale designed to achieve environmental sustainability. Concepts of sustainability development - **Planet Geography** pages 122, 123 and 647 Management strategy of Hewlett Packard -[|Eco Systems]
 * __SUSTAINABILITY AND THE ENVIRONMENT__**