Energy Resources

US energy mix:

Petroleum

Natural Gas: new technologies are giving more access, so getting bigger. Ex. fracking, more cheap, more efficient access.

Coal: Slightly declining, due to policy measures, but still big. Not as economically beneficial as other resources.

Renewable energy: ~10% (so small), though rapidly increasing. Mainly based on incentives and technology getting better, so cheaper to use solar.

Still a huge issue,

Energy

Duck Curve

Know what the individual lines are. Just do a quick Google.

Solutions: Battery storage. Load shifting (shift load to earlier in the day).

Top 2 Energy Policies

Cap and trade

Carbon tax

Agriculture

Green Revolution

1. New seeds

2. More inputs

HUGE YEILD INCREASES.

- neg environment consequences. I.e. utrification.

- pos: don't need as much land, since yeild higher.

Climate

Higher CO2 -> increases photosynthesis. Better for props.

- but there are only some gains in higher lattiudes, loses everywhere else.

1) non-CO2 greenhouse gases. I.e. ruminants (like burps)

2) Land use change (losing carbon sequestration properties).

Natural Hazards

Earthquakes (especially happen around Ring of Fire. Convergent = most energetic.)

Effect on humans = dependent on intensity. I.e. more intense are worse, than one of higher magnitude.

Natural Hazards

Volcanoes

Majority happen at divergent. Dramatic ones happen at convergent. Effect on humans: climate. Famine, mass population have resulted. Lahores, sharp peices of glass that will wipe out nearby areas..

Tsunamis

Happen in subduction zones.

Landslide

Disconnect of upper soil. Effect on humans: death and property damage. Deforestation/shurbbery increase likelihood of landslide.

Increased landslide due to climate change, melting peramfrost destabilizes soil and leads to more landslides.

Water in the West

Water is used for diverse purposes (public safety, consumption, in-channel uses, aesthetic uses, etc).

- Supply isn't the issue. It's availability. Because less melting snow pack. It's shifting to rainfall, and our system isn't as adapted to hold that rain.

- In CA. Disconnect between most of water need (south) and where we have supply (north and west)

Water policy: big impact has been on environment. Most fish species are in critical condition. Prior appropriation (first come first serve). Riparian rights (prpotionate usage). See hw for full description on this.

Solutions

- Water usage cuts. Growing different crops (require less water).

- Groundwater storage

- Wastewater recycling.

Land Use/Cover

Land cover

Attributes the Earth's land surface and immediate subsurface. Includes biotat, soilk, topography, surface, and groundwater as well as human structures.

Land Use

Purposes for which humans exploit the land cover.

- ex. using LOTS of fertilizers.

Example

Albedo (land cover change) (like urban heat island, concrete buildings absorb heat).

Emissions (land use change)

Evapotranspiration (land cover change), like elimination of forests that cause warming of area.

Environmental Justice

Flint Water Crisis

April 2014 city switched to Flint River system from Detroit River system. Corrosion control was not in place. So clean until water main, but going from there to faucets got corrupted.

Coloration (iron). Lead is colorless, but deadly. Three types:

- Distributive justice

- Procedural justice

- Retributive justice

Water Quality, not Water Availability.

Bangladesh. Arsenic poisoning due to groundwater. Floods bring bacteria and eat on arsenic and caused issue with water.

Brazil

Rondonia. Brazilian government wanted ppl to go and live near borders. LOTS Of people went there, deforested landscapes, moving from rotational form of ag to slash and burn form of ag. Had a bad net effect on environemnt in terms of ruining productivity. But also caused malaria.

ALSO indigenous people lived there.

==> TOTAL DISASTER

Sustainability Frameworks

GOAL

Inclusive social well-being.

Case study: Yaqui Valley, Mexico

Lots of capital moving into the area during Green revolution. All types of capital (human, social, knowledge, manufactured), but neglected natural capital.

- result: utrification.

- solution: innovated new ways to use fertilizer to take into account natural capital. Farmers didn't really implement new strategy. Credit unions were risk averse, and thought more careful use of fertilizer was a risk. Thus, they introduced new sensing technologies and worked with credit unions as well to ensure uptake of this technology.

Science Communication

Challenges

- complexity.

- problems seem vague and uncertain

- relevance seem unclear to non-specialist audience.

Solution

- pulling at the heart strings. Use story to do this.

- repetition (like repeating of spider song...)

- analogies and comparisons, stories

- clear language, message, relevance

- free of jargon (easy to understand)

Explicit vs implicit Pricing

Explicit = carbon price on everything fully like explicitly.

Implicit =

TODO

Atmospheric Circulation

- And how that relates to climate conditions..

- Salinity

- Biomes

Leif’s lecture (Lecture 10), slides 42-59 on deepwater formation sequestering CO2

Connections in HW7 Are GOLD.