Some sustainability for you

1. The Risk of
Global Climate Change,
Development Goals,
and Strategies
Presented by:
Tatiana Ivanova
Ashley Jerome
Thien Do

2. Climate Change Context
• Climate change is a result of global
warming
• Includes:
o Temperature
o Humidity
o Rainfall
o Wind
o Storms
• Climate Change is seldom listed among
the stressors that might influence
sustainability.

3. Climate Change:
How Did We
Get Here?
• Humans are largely
responsible for releasing
greenhouse gases into
the atmosphere
o Burning fossil fuel for
energy
o Deforestation
o Industrial processes
o Some agricultural
practices

4. Climate Change Example:
Asian Air Pollution
• Using models and data from the past 30 years, researchers found
that air pollution over Asia (mainly China) is impacting global air
circulations
• Booming economies and industrialization produces huge amounts of
air pollutants
o Pollutants are strengthening storms above the Pacific Ocean which
feeds into weather systems in other parts of the world

5. Climate Change Issues Today:
2014 Sochi Olympics
• Conscious efforts were made to make the 2014
Sochi Olympics as sustainable as possible
o Efficient technology for heating and lighting
o Solar panels
• According to official estimates: carbon dioxide
emissions directly and indirectly (travel for judges
and spectators) resulting from the games amount to
the equivalent of providing electricity from a coal
plant to 2 million people
o These estimates do not include:
 Emissions from construction
 Carbon dioxide released from cutting down
trees and disturbing soil

6. Climate Change
Adaptation Failure:
Chernobyl Nuclear Explosion
• 4/26/1986 in Chernobyl, Ukraine
o Operating crews deliberately
turned off the safety systems
to perform turbine tests
o Power surge resulted and
reactor’s fuel elements
ruptures
o Fuel rods melted
o Graphite covering of the
reactor ignited and burned
for 9 days
 Released radiation into
the environment

7. Climate Change
Adaptation Failure:
Chernobyl Nuclear Explosion
• 800,000 people were exposed to the
radiation
o Most will die from cancer
• Flora and fauna have indeed been
affected
• Final notes:
o Some climate change scientists
currently say that nuclear energy is
the best alternative to burning fossil
fuels
o There are risks (i.e. the Chernobyl
explosion) so it’s not an “end-all
solution”
• Level 7 on the International Nuclear
Event Scale

8. Climate Change Adaptation Failure:
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster
• 3/11/2014 in Okuma,
Fukushima, Japan
o Nuclear Power Plant was hit
by tsunami triggered by the
Tohoku earthquake
o Three of the plant’s six nuclear
reactors melted
o The plant began releasing
substantial amounts of
radioactive materials

9. Climate Change Adaptation Failure:
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster
• Continued spills of
contaminated water into
the sea
• 1,600 deaths were
related to the evacuation
conditions
• Disaster produced the
largest discharge of
radioactive material into
the ocean in history.
• Level 7 on the
International Nuclear
Event Scale

10. Other Nuclear Accidents
• Kyshtym disaster at Mayak Chemikal Combine (MCC).
Soviet Union, 1957 (6)
• Windscale fire. Unated Kingdom, 1957 (5)
• First Chalk River accident. Canada, 1952 (5)
• Goiania accident. Brazil, 1987 (5)

11. Nuclear Impact on Climate Change
• Fires from explosions lift dark smoke aerosol particles
into the upper parts of the atmosphere
• Absorption of sunlight heat the smoke and lift it into the
stratosphere
• Smoke can persist for years and block out the Sun’s light
• Causing surface temperatures to drop drastically
Nuclear Winter:
• Disastrous implications for
agriculture
• Threatened food supply for
most of the planet
• Up to one billion people can die
from starvation

12. Climate Change:
Major Forcing
Mechanisms
• Human influence
o Greenhouse gases
o Particulates and soot
• Orbital variations
• Plate tectonics
• Solar activity
• Volcanism

13. Recent Developments:
Governments
• GCF opens in Korea, 12/2013
• COP-19 in Warsaw. 11/2013
• IPCCC publishes carbon
budget, 9/2013
• Human causes of climate
change, 5/2013
• China to cut HCFCs, 4/2013
• California-Canadian initiative,
4/2013

14. Recent Developments: Businesses
• Climate Counts rated 136 companies in 16
industries based on their "corporate climate
responsibility.“
• Their 22-criteria assessment divides into four sub-
sections, which they define as follows:
o Review: Is the company taking inventory of their greenhouse gas
(GHG) emissions using an industry accepted accounting protocol?
(22 possible points)
o Reduce: Has the company articulated a strategy for reducing GHG
emissions and have they succeeded in achieving actual reductions?
(56 possible points)
o Policy Stance: Does the company explicitly support the need
for comprehensive energy and climate policy or is there evidence
they oppose such measures? (10 possible points)
o Report: Is the company publicly disclosing information about
their sustainability efforts and their progress toward carbon
neutrality? (12 possible points)

15. Recent Developments:
Big Data
• Emissions Savings
o Moving business applications to the cloud could cut the
associated per-user carbon footprint by 30 percent for
large, already-efficient companies
o As much as 90 percent for the smallest and least
efficient businesses
o Customers of fast-growing cloud computing giant
Salesforce’s services produced 95 percent less carbon,
on average
o The Salesforce community saved an estimated 170,900
tones of carbon in 2010
• Energy Efficiency
o Greenpeace estimate that cloud computing worldwide
demanded 662 TWh of electricity in 2007, more than the power
consumed by India or Germany.
o The cloud has certain advantages over on-site servers as these
must be equipped for peak data usage
• Environmentally Friendly?

16. Greenest U.S. Companies
Ranked By Newsweek
1. IBM
2. Hewlett-Packard
3. Sprint Nextel
4. Baxter
5. Dell
6. Johnson & Johnson
7. Accenture
8. Office Depot
9. CA Technologies
10. NVIDIA
11. Agilent Technologies
12. Hartford Financials
13. EMC Corporation
14. Adobe
15. Intel Corporation

17. How Companies have Become so Green
• Energy Savings Contracts
• Behavior Change Energy
Conservation
– Strive for Five
– Reduce the Juice
– Slash the Trash
– Be Bold Go Cold
Working with:
•Healthcare
•Corrections
•Commercial
•Industrial
•Utilities
•State, local, & Municipal
Government
•Federal Government
•K-12 Education
•Higher Education (UMASSD!)

18. Climate Change:
The Future Outlook

19. Environmental Effects of Climate Change

20. Climate Change:
Regional Impacts
North America
o decreasing snowpack in western
mountains
o 5-20% increase in rain-fed agriculture
o heat waves
Latin America
o Tropical forest Savannah in eastern
Amazonia
o species extinction
o changes in water availability
Europe
o flash floods
o coastal flooding and erosion
o glacial retreat
o reduced snow cover
o extensive species loss
o crop productivity reduced

21. Climate Change:
Regional Impacts
Africa
o year 2020: 75-250 million
people exposed to increased
water stress
o year 2020: up to 50% decrease
in rain-fed agriculture
o severely compromised
agricultural production and
access to food
Asia
o 2050s decrease in freshwater
availability in Central, South,
East, Southeast Asia
o increased flooding put coastal
areas at risk
o rise in death rate from flood
and drought-associated
disease

23. Increasing Effect on Natural Resources

24. Climate Change:
Goals & Strategies
The Goal:
Stabilize Greenhouse Gases at about 450-550 ppm
How hot will it get in our Lifetime?
● Increase energy efficiency
● Green transportation
● Use more Renewable sources (Solar, Wind,
Geothermal, Bioenergy,)
● Avoid fossil fuels
● Biofuels from crops
● Natural gas
● Storing CO2 emitted from fossil fuels
underground
● Maintain and increase forestlands to naturally
absorb CO2
National Geographic’s Great Energy Challenge

25. Real World Strategies
● Green Roofs
● Green Buildings
● Green Transportation

26. Works Cited
http://www.climatehotmap.org/global-warming-solutions/
http://www.environmentabout.com/1502/difference-between-climate-change-global-warming
http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/interactive/2013/sep/27/climate-change-how-hot-lifetime-interactive
http://climate.nasa.gov/index
http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/basics/
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-27027876
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/524391/the-sochi-olympics-arent-as-green-as-advertised/
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/nuclear/nomorechernobyls/what-happened-in-chernobyl/
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/20/business/economy/unavoidable-answer-to-problem-of-climate-change.html
http://www.ipcc-wg2.gov/AR4/website/20.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Bry-Flk2S2c
http://www.noresco.com/index.html

27. Thank You!
Any Questions?