Global Change: Understanding the Causes, Consequences, and Implications

Question 1: Causes and Consequences of Global Climate Change

Please follow the directions Use the resources provided in the Canvas page (and any other reputable sources you may find to support your arguments -- i.e., from NASA, NOAA or other government agencies, from published scientific journal articles, or from published articles in reputable news sources) to completely answer the following four questions regarding global change. Each essay should be at least 500 words in total (but no more than 700), for a grand total of at least 2000-2800 words total. Get ready to think like both a physical and a cultural geographer! In your final assignment that you turn in on Canvas, BE SURE TO CITE YOUR REFERENCES, both IN the body of your paper and in a reference list at the end, and use APA style of citation. Your essay should include a minimum of four academic and/or official sources in addition to the course text. No more than 10% of direct quotations in the essay. Please note: Wikipedia,"some person"(s) websites, and magazine and newspaper articles are not academic sources. You should be using journal articles, books, and websites from .edu and .gov sites, written by academics who are well recognized within their fields. Feel free to complete the assignment in one document, answering each essay question individually. 1) Consider the various examples of evidence that show the global climate is changing, and that humans (including their greenhouse emissions) are (at least partly) responsible for this change. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issue reports detailing how climate change will affect people globally. What causes climate change? What are the consequences of climate change on the physical environment (i.e. weather, landscape) and humans from a global perspective in the long term especially with increased globalization? 2) Climate change, and the resulting rise in sea level, is likely to flood many parts of the world while generating weather extremes like extended droughts and heat waves in other places. You've been randomly assigned a location on the planet - how will climate change affect the physical environment (i.e. weather, landscape) and humans in this region, and how is it already affecting that region? How should the government prepare for these changes, and what kinds of climate change preparedness plans are already in place? 3) How do global trade and climate change affect each other? What are the socio-economic, political, environmental and demographic implications of industrialization, globalization and climate change, choose one of the following sectors to discuss (agriculture, transportation, energy and manufacturing)? How do these implications influence human activities? 4) Many of the world's poorest nations contribute the least to the fossil fuel emissions deemed responsible for climate change, yet these places will bear most of the consequences due to their physical and societal vulnerabilities. Do nations whose emissions contribute the most to climate change have a moral responsibility to pay for the effects of those emissions? And if so, how would they pay, and who would determine the kinds of damages those nations should be responsible for? Explain and discuss your personal and societal ethical concerns, especially in its global, intergenerational and ecological dimensions.