Week 13: Local Climate Change

Week 13: Local Climate Change

·       What did you do in lab?

During lab we did a group project about climate change. My group researched temperature and how it’s related to climate change. I learned that locally, regionally, and globally the temperature has been rising over the most recent years. Since Iowa and the Midwest are very prominent for agriculture, the temperature changes cause more soil erosion and change in crop diversity.

During the plant life presentation, I learned that this has a negative effect on Iowa because agriculture is a vital part of Iowa. There has been more precipitation and rainfall which negatively affects agriculture.

During the precipitation presentation I learned that snowfall in Iowa has been decreasing over the past years. There has been more rain instead of snow. There are typically a few big snowstorms throughout the winter compared to many small snowstorms.

A close-up of a computer screen AI-generated content may be incorrect.

·       What was the big question?

The big question we discussed was:  

·       What did you do in Thursdays discussion?

These are my notes from Thursday’s discussion:

  •  Famous people have a large influence on what the public thinks about climate change 

  • A dataset of 88,125 English-language climate papers published between 2012 and 2020 yielded 28 papers that were implicitly or explicitly skeptical, all published in minor journals. That equals 99.9997% of publications support the position that humans are the cause of climate change.

  • There is a gap between people who believe in climate change and climate scientists who believe in climate change 

  • Why do you think so many people don't think human are causing climate change? They don't want to be held accountable. 

  • Other Evidence of Climate Change

Glacier retreat 

  • How does climate change effect sea level? 
  • Sea levels have risen 3.4 millimeters per year from 1993 to present day 
  • Greenland has seen 7.3m of sea level rise alone
  • Paris Climate agreement 
  • An international treaty on climate change that was created to limit global warming to a change of 2 degrees Celsius 
  • Includes 195 nations that meet every 5 years 
  • Adopted on December 12th, 2015 
  • More action is required to meet Paris climate goal

·       Read the online textbook chapter 2. 

o   What did you learn?

One thing I learned from the textbook chapter is that Iowa is expected to experience more frequent and severe weather events. Climate is a long term measurment that is shown over 30 years. Weather is a short term measurment of the daily temperature and precipitation. Iowa is expected to have warmer temperatures that will impact the animals and agriculture. Additionally, there could be prolonged drought periods or periods with lots of rain. Farmers might need to make changed to their crops depending on the changing soil and climate. This leads to financial stress and loss of jobs. 

o   What was most helpful?

Something that was especially helpful to me was overall learning about the effects of climate change on a local level. It was helpful to see the graphs, calendars, and pictures of climate change in Iowa. I learned that climate change in Iowa has an influence on politics in the United States because of the Iowa caucus. There are often politicians that visit Iowa farms and towns to learn about the effects on a local level.  

o   What do you need more information on?

Something I need more information on is what climate change looks like in other states. Is it affecting the other Midwest states in the same way that it's effecting Iowa? Is there a state that has seen worse effects than others? 

·       What questions, concerns, and/or comments do you have?

I do not have any further questions or comments. 

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