This presentation is the first in a 3 part series prepared for trainers working with rural small farmers in the developing world. It offers a simple but accurate explanation of the causes of global warming and the likely consequences for small rural farmers. To the extent that it is localized, it makes occasional reference to Thailand. Part 2 discusses how small farmers can reduce risk from climate change; part 3 discusses what they can do to help slow climate change.

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WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE FOR US?
CLIMATE CHANGE PRIMER FOR
SMALL FARMERS

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This series of PowerPoints is intended for use by trainers
working in small, rural villages.
It is meant to be simple but accurate and informative.
Climate Change Primer is part of Warm Heart’s larger
Educational Program for Small Farmers, a program that
begins from the assumption that rural people are not only
interested in the big issues affecting their lives, but want to
understand them.
CLIMATE CHANGE PRIMER
FOR SMALL FARMERS

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 They made the problem but today we help
 Today we are the first to suffer the worst!
CLIMATE CHANGE IS NOT
JUST FOR RICH COUNTRIES

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And this was the start of all the problems…
 The sun shines on the earth
but most of the heat from the sun just reflects off
WE USED TO CALL IT “GLOBAL WARMING”

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 If it were not, we would all be dead because the
atmosphere contains the oxygen we need to breathe
LUCKILY THE EARTH IS SURROUNDED
BY THE ATMOSPHERE

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 Without the atmosphere we would die of cold
because too much of the sun’s heat would reflect off
into space
 The atmosphere is like a greenhouse, capturing
some of the sun’s warmth to keep us just the right
temperature
THE ATMOSPHERE ALSO KEEPS US WARM IN
GREENHOUSE EARTH

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 If it is cold in the spring where you live you
may have a greenhouse or use a piece of
plastic to keep your seedlings warm.
GREENHOUSE EARTH IS
JUST LIKE YOUR GREENHOUSE

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What happens if you leave your
plants in the greenhouse when it is
really sunny?
 The greenhouse gets very, very hot
and the plants die.
What is our problem?
 Too much of the sun’s heat is being
trapped inside our greenhouse
making greenhouse earth too hot.
 The earth is dying.
BUT TOO MUCH OF A
GOOD THING CAN BE BAD

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 Sun heat in, some heat kept inside and
some reflected back?
REMEMBER OUR HAPPY BALANCE?

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 This is the picture today.
NO MORE…

11. WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?
 “Greenhouse gases” and smoke (they call it
“carbon black”)
 “Greenhouse gases” like carbon dioxide and
methane and NO2 and SO2 go high up into the
atmosphere and act like the glass or plastic in a
greenhouse – they keep the heat of the sun in.
That’s why we call them “greenhouse gases.”
 Smoke does not go far up into the atmosphere,
but because it is black, it soaks up a lot of heat
and makes the earth hotter. (Have you ever
picked up a piece of black iron that has been
sitting in the sun and burned your hand?)

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AND SMOKE UPSET THE BALANCE
SMOKE
GREENHOUSE
GASES

13. WHERE DO GREENHOUSE
GASES COME FROM?
People make the ones we worry about.
Greenhouse gases come largely from
burning coal, gas and oil
 Cars, trucks, tractors, airplanes, power
plants, steel mills
They also come from all of the things
made with oil
 Fertilizer, plastics, paints
You use these and contribute to
greenhouse gas production even if your
production is only a very small part of
the world total.

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People, again, are causing the problem.
 Every process that makes greenhouse gases also
produces smoke.
 …And then of course there are fires.
 You contribute a lot to fires
WHAT ABOUT SMOKE (CARBON BLACK)?

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“This is not our problem! We are not to blame! It’s their fault!”
 We do not have lots of cars and trucks.
 We do not use lots of electricity.
 We do not have big factories.
 We cannot afford any of the things that produce most
greenhouse gases and smoke in the world.
“Let them worry about it in New York.”
Why should we care?
BUT DOES CLIMATE CHANGE
MATTER TO US?

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Because of global warming, the climate of the entire world is
changing
 Around the world temperatures are changing, rain and storm
patterns are changing, animal, fish and plant species are
moving or dying.
 But things are worse for us and we do not have the same
money and knowledge to respond that the rich countries do.
GOOD LUCK! THEY MADE IT. WE SUFFER IT
HIGHEST
TEMPERATURES
EVER RECORDED
WARMER AND WARMER, 1979-20122014 WAS THE HOTTEST YEAR ON RECORD
– UNTIL 2015! WHAT WILL 2016 BRING?

17. CLICK TO EDIT MASTER TITLE STYLESO MANY PEOPLE AFFECTED THAT THAILAND’S
FLOODS WERE NOT BIG ENOUGH TO GET COUNTED!

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Climate change will affect us the three big ways in then
next 25 years:
 It will affect our ability to produce food;
 It will increase our exposure to disease; and
 It will cause the ocean to flood many heavily populated and
very productive coastal areas
WHAT CAN WE EXPECT
FROM CLIMATE CHANGE?

19. CLIMATE CHANGE AND FOOD SECURITY
Climate change is all bad for food security
 Rising temperatures lower yields
 Less certain rainfall less certain crops
 More storms less certain crops
 Lower yields and higher uncertainty higher prices
FOOD PRICES UP OVER
NEXT 20 YEARS
THAILAND:
5-25% LOSS OF TOTAL
RICE PRODUCTION
PRICE INCREASES:
PROCESSED RICE,
PADDY RICE, CORN

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 There are more and more people to feed in the world –
most of them in the poor world.
 In countries like ours, we must double production of basic
crops like corn and rice by 2050 – that’s only 35 years –
just to continue to eat as much as we are eating now.
 Can you double your production?
LET’S NOT FORGET POPULATION GROWTH

21. CLIMATE CHANGE AND DISEASE
 We are already experiencing the health impact of climate change as
Thailand’s growing warmth has dramatically spread mosquito
infestations and lengthened the mosquito season
 Dengue fever has spread into areas that were once safe because
they were cool
 Malaria is becoming more common and is now a problem all year
around in areas where it was once only a rainy season disease
 Japanese encephalitis, once controlled, is now expanding again
DENGUE RASH AND DENGUE’S GROWING REACH

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23. CLIMATE CHANGE AND FLOODING
BLUE = UNDER
WATER BY 2050
What are we going to lose?
 Bangkok and all of the port facilities
 Songkla and all of the shrimp farms
 Phuket, Krabi and all of the hotels and resorts

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 More than 150 developed and developing countries
met in Paris in December 2015 to agree on global
plans to reduce the production of greenhouse gases
 The agreement they signed promises to stop global
warming by 2050 before it reaches a disaster point.
 It requires tremendous faith in the “it-has-never-
happened-before-but-somehow-it-will-happen-this-
time” to believe that this agreement will save us – as
opposed to the developed world – from these
problems
CLIMATE CHANGE IS ALREADY HERE

27. CLICK TO EDIT MASTER TITLE STYLESHOULD WE GIVE UP?

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You can do a lot to help yourself and to help
others.
 Next time: How we can reduce climate
change risk?
 After that: What we can do to slow climate
change?
WE ARE NOT HELPLESS OBSERVERS

30. CLIMATE CHANGE PRIMER
FOR SMALL FARMERS
This PowerPoint is brought to you by Warm Heart Publications.
Warm Heart is a grassroots community development organization serving the
world’s 2.5 billion poorest people – rural small farmers.
In addition to publications such as this one for developed world audiences,
Warm Heart Publications’ Educational Program publishes a wide range of
simple but accurate materials for small, rural farmers. This program begins from
the assumption that rural people are interested in the big issues affecting their
lives and want to understand them.
Publications in the Warm Heart Educational Program for Small Farmers cover
issues as diverse as the basics of soil health and plant nutrition to mitigating the
consequences of climate change and how biochar works.
All Warm Heart Publications are in the public domain. If you use our material,
please source it to www.warmheartworldwide.org.
WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE FOR US?

31. info@warmheartonline.org
www.warmheartfoundation.org
Warm Heart Foundation (CM 273)
61 M.8 T.Maepang A.Phrao 50190
Chiang Mai, Thailand
CONTACT INFORMATION
WARM HEART FOUNDATION