Unit 6 Study Guide: Climate Change and You

This study guide provides an opportunity to test your understanding of some of the concepts you have learned, as well as new vocabulary. For each of the questions associated with new vocabulary, provide yourself with an opportunity to try to answer the question before uncovering the clues or the answer. The conceptual questions are designed to prompt discussion and thought on these topics.

New Vocabulary and Terminology

• Describe what "climate change mitigation" means.
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  Climate change mitigation refers to any type of activities that reduce the long-term impact of climate change.
• What is "climate change adaptation"?
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  Climate change adaptation refers to any activities that would assist human society in adapting to changes associated with long-term climate change.
• What is the HARITA program?
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  HARITA (Horn of Africa Risk Transfer for Adaptation) is a weather insurance program started in 2008 in Ethiopia. It requires farmers to take risk-reducing measures such as growing heat-tolerant crops, scheduling planting dates based on past precipitation data, and making compost to use in their fields to increase soil productivity.
• Describe what a "cool roof" is and how it is related to climate change adaptation.
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  Cool roofs are designed to reflect more sunlight than traditional roofs and can be made of a variety of materials including reflective tiles, reflective shingles called cool asphalt shingles, and spray polyurethane foam. The idea is that the increase in reflected radiation from these cool roofs will reduce urban heating.
• What is an "urban hot spot?"
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  Because urban areas tend to have less vegetation (which can cool the air through evapotranspiration), more concrete (which heats up more easily than vegetated areas), and more heat emissions associated with industry (and air conditioners!), they tend to be warmer than rural areas. So, they are called hot spots.
• What is a "polder," where are they found, and how are polders related to climate change?
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  A polder is a low-lying area that has been drained and is now used for farmland. Polders are protected by dikes, which hold back the sea. These are commonly found in the Netherlands. In a Dutch effort to adapt to rising sea level associated with climate change, some polders are now allowed to flood.
• Describe the concept of "selective relocation" and how this strategy is being used as a climate change adaptation strategy.
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  Selective relocation involves relocating farmers who live in the polders that are being flooded. In the Netherlands, these farmers are compensated for the loss of their farm.

Conceptual questions

1. How does installing a "cool roof" help mitigate (or adapt to) climate change? Do you think that this can be effective on a large scale?
2. Is planting trees primarily a climate change mitigation or adaptation strategy? How does planting trees aid in climate change mitigation/adaptation?
   
3. Describe the spectrum of responses of the insurance industry to climate change.
4. How might low-lying coastal areas adapt to rising sea level associated with climate change?
5. What are some factors that increase a community's vulnerability to flooding?