Vocabulary for a Changing Climate

Vocabulary for a Changing Climate

• 1.5°C – a benchmark number given by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) in an attempt to make more meaningful the amount of warming our planet can absorb without even greater problems caused by climate change. The goal is to keep Earth’s average temperature from warming more than 1.5° Celsius above the average temperature prior to the Industrial Revolution (and the beginning of the increased burning of fossil fuels). 1.5°C = 2.7°F.
• adaptation – the process of adjusting the way we live in response to our changing climates; e.g., building better drainage and higher roadways in response to flooding from increased rainstorms.
• agrivoltaic farming – growing crops under solar panels; also known as agrivoltaics and agrisolar.
• agroforestry – agriculture (both farming and ranching) that incorporates the conservation of trees.
• Anthropocene – the proposed term for the current period of time during which human activities have had a significant environmental impact on the Earth due to climate change and altering ecosystems.
• atmosphere – the whole mass of air surrounding Earth.
• atmospheric river – long, narrow regions in the atmosphere that transport lots of water vapor (often resulting in sustained torrential rains in an area causing flooding).
• ARkStorm – a megastorm that would normally occur infrequently (maybe once in a thousand years). It is expected to occur more frequently with climate change. AR stands for atmospheric river. k stands for 1000.
• Big Oil – the largest gas and oil companies; often used to mean all gas and oil companies.
• biofuel – plants burned to generate electricity, such as corn, algae, agricultural waste, cooking oil, old food, manure, grass clippings, etc.
• biosphere – the part of the world in which life can exist; also known as the ecosphere.
• blue carbon – carbon dioxide captured by the ocean and ocean ecosystems such as algae, sea grass, and mangrove trees.
• bomb cyclone – high winds caused by a rapid drop in air pressure.
• carbon capture – using technology to capture carbon dioxide at power plants, factories, oil drilling sites, etc., and keep it from going into the air.
• carbon dioxide – a gas made of one carbon atom and two oxygen atoms; its chemical formula is CO2. It is made by burning anything that has carbon (all plants and animals; and fossil fuels, which were once plants and animals). It is also created by animals breathing out, and by decaying matter. Volcanoes, and movements of the earth release long buried carbon as carbon dioxide.
• carbon emissions – carbon dioxide gas going into the air.
• carbon farming – agricultural practices that work to keep the carbon in the soil, rather than releasing it as carbon dioxide into the air; e.g. burying left over plant matter in the ground rather than burning it or throwing it away.
• carbon footprint – the total greenhouse gas emissions caused by an individual (or family, or organization). To reduce your carbon footprint is to use less fossil fuel generated products (electricity, running a car, etc.), and reduce the number of products you buy.
• carbon-neutral – the amount of carbon dioxide put into the air does not exceed the amount of carbon dioxide taken out of the air.
• carbon offset – an action to make up for another action that causes carbon dioxide to be put into the air; e.g., if you must drive a car to school, you might use your bike or walk to your friend’s house on the weekend; e.g., an airline that donates money to biofuel research to offset the carbon dioxide being spewed into the air by its planes.
• carbon sequestration – the process of capturing carbon dioxide in the air, or at the source (e.g., at the stack of a power plant before it goes into the air), dissolving it in water so it’s now and liquid, and shooting it far underground where it is sequestered (held). Biological carbon sequestration refers to carbon dioxide being held in plants on land and in the ocean, as well as in soil and in ocean water.
• carbon storage – carbon sequestration; capturing carbon dioxide and storing it (usually underground).
• charger – a device that gives electrical energy to a battery; an adapter connected to electricity that can be plugged into an electric vehicle to transfer electricity to its battery.
• circular economy – recycling and reusing products as much as possible to reduce having to buy more. (When you outgrow your clothes, give them to someone else to wear.)
• circular manufacturing – making a new product from recycled or reused products (Making a new can from metal that is melted down and reshaped after it had been a can or some other product previously).
• clean energy – energy created without causing air pollution (example: making electricity for your house with solar panels on your roof, rather than buying your electricity from a power plant that makes the electricity by burning oil, gas or coal).
• cli-fi – a genre of fiction that deals with climate change (usually set in the future; often dystopian; like science fiction with the characters dealing with a drastically changed climate).
• climate – the average weather in an area over 10-30 years. Also used as a nickname for “climate change”.
• climate action – taking steps to reduce air pollution (by recycling, using a car less often, buying fewer goods, buying electric products that use solar panels, etc.), which is causing climates around the world to change and become unbalanced.
• climate activist – a person who actively campaigns to have issues of climate change recognized and addressed.
• climate breakdown – when weather patterns have become so disrupted by climate change that they are no longer predictable.
• climate change – a change in the average weather of an area, caused by people polluting the air over the last ~200 years (since the Industrial Revolution). Climate change is caused by global warming.
• climate champion – a person (or a company) that pushes for climate action to slow down climate change.
• climate denier – a person who rejects the science of climate change (usually out of fear, or guilt, or ignorance, or doesn’t want the inconvenience of having to adapt).
• climate friendly – activities that do not hurt the environment, especially by not causing air pollution.
• climate gentrification – when wealthy people move out of areas that are now more at risk (usually due to flooding caused by sea level rise or massive rain events) into nearby neighborhoods that were previously considered less desirable, driving up rents and pricing out poorer longtime residents.
• climate guilt – the feeling that you should be doing more to help the environment and save the planet.
• climate hero – a climate activist that is admired by many people for spreading the word about the dangers climate change and inspiring people to take actions to slow it down.
• climate justice – a concept that addresses the unfair distribution of the burdens of climate change. For example, some people think the countries causing the most air pollution (like the United States and China) should pay to help the countries that are being most impacted by climate change (like many poor countries that are islands and are suffering from sea level rise). Also, within a country, there are calls to address the injustices faced by poor people who live in areas with the most polluted air and the most flooding.
• climate refugees – people who have been forced to move away from the area in which they lived as a result of now unsafe conditions in the environment caused by climate change (drought, flooding, sea level rise, etc.)
• climate scientist – a climatologist; a scientist who researches the long-term patterns of Earth’s changing climates to discover how they have changed and why, and what are the future implications.
• climate skeptic – a person who does not agree with the vast majority of climatologists that our warming planet is caused by people polluting the air, which traps an excess amount of the sun’s heat near Earth, and that the changing climates we are experiencing are going to continue to have ever greater negative consequences for many people. Climate skeptics believe they are more knowledgeable than the scientists who have done the research, collected the data, and studied the evidence.
• climate smart agriculture or climate smart farming – using ranching/farming methods that reduce the amount of air pollution created and reduce the amount of water used.
• climate weirding – climate dysregulation; the disruption of normal weather patterns, often causing massive swings in temperature and/or precipitation, caused by global warming.
• climatic dysregulation – the inability for Earth’s natural systems to control the climate we’ve come to expect over the past several hundred years; when atmospheric weather events that drive climate become unstable and bring about severe weather events; caused by global warming.
• climatologist – a scientist who researches the long-term patterns of Earth’s changing climates to discover how they have changed and why, and what are the future implications.
• CO2 – carbon dioxide, a gas made of one carbon atom and two oxygen atoms; CO2 is made by burning anything that has carbon (all plants and animals; and fossil fuels, which were once plants and animals). It is also created by animals breathing out, and by decaying matter. Volcanoes, and movements of the earth release long buried carbon as carbon dioxide.
• comprehensive climate plan – a detailed and strategic plan for measuring, planning, and taking action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as well as draw down the greenhouse gases that are already in the air, while also planning to make a city/country more resilient to the effects of climate change that are inevitable.
• conservation – prevention of the wasteful use of natural resources; protection of the natural environment.
• credible source of information – a well-respected institution or organization, such as NOAA and NASA, and major universities such as Columbia University and Harvard. It’s important to use credible sources of information for your science research so you can believe the information they publish is accurate.
• cryosphere – frozen water on Earth’s surface; including ice on land and on water, snow cover.
• de-carbonize – create less carbon dioxide gas by switching to cleaner fuels, e.g., use solar power or wind power instead of burning fossil fuels for electricity.
• deforestation – cutting down a large number of trees in a forest to use the wood for lumber, or to clear the land for farming or building.
• desalination plant – a factory that removes the salt from water to make fresh water for drinking, watering plants, etc.
• direct air capture – using technology to capture carbon dioxide and remove it from the air.
• drought – an extended period of time with abnormally low rainfall leading to a shortage of water.
• eco-anxiety – worry about what may happen to our environment in the future.
• eco-fiction – fictional writing where concerns for the environment play a strong part in the plot.
• eco-friendly – not harmful to the environment (picking weeds out of your garden rather than spraying poison into the soil to kill the weeds).
• ecolodge – a tourist accommodation designed to have the least possible impact on the natural environment in which it is situated.
• ecology – the study of organisms and their relationship to one another and their physical surroundings.
• ecotourism – tourism directed toward natural environments, intended to support conservation efforts and observe wildlife.
• eco-warrior – a person who actively works to prevent damage to the environment.
• electrifying – moving toward using electricity (rather than gas, oil, coal, or wood); e.g., replacing your gas-powered stove, oven, and heater with those that are electric.
• emissions – the production and release of something, such as the carbon dioxide, methane, sulfur, etc., released into the air when burning gas, coal, or oil.
• energy – power from another source (e.g., wind, sun, ocean waves, decomposing plant matter) to provide light, heat, or to work machines.
• energy access – households having reliable and affordable electricity, as well electricity or gas to cook food.
• environment – the natural world (not built by people).
• environmental justice – a social movement to help those who have been exposed to extra environmental pollutants (such as air pollution coming from living near factories, or methane gas coming from oil drilling wells); as well as those who live in poor countries that are being hit harder by climate change impacts (such as flooding or drought) than wealthier countries.
• environmentally literate – a person who makes informed decisions concerning the environment to help protect it.
• E-STEM – science, technology, engineering, and math that focuses on environmental education and solving real world problems related to the environment.
• EV – electric vehicle; a vehicle that gets its power to run from electricity rather than gasoline or diesel.
• feedback loop – something that speeds up or slows down global warming and climate change. A positive feedback loop is not good – it means an action has increased a reaction to global warming or climate change; e.g., there is a positive feedback between melting ice at the Poles and global warming – the more ice melts, the more Earth absorbs the sun’s heat, increasing global warming.
• firenado – a whirl of fire (that looks like a tornado funnel) created by the updraft of hot air created by an intense fire. The vortex pulls in air, ash, dust, and debris from the surrounding area.
• flash flooding – rapid flooding of an area due to heavy rainfall or snow melt (rather than sea level rise).
• fossil fuels – coal, oil, and natural gas. Fossil fuels are decomposed algae, plants, and bacteria that lived over 300 million years ago. Over millions of years they turned into coal, oil and natural gas.
• frontline communities – communities that experience environmental injustice and the climate crisis first and worst; e.g., those who live near industry that is causing high levels of air pollution; or those living in low lying areas that flood easily.
• generator – a machine that turns mechanical energy into, or that burns gas to create electricity.
• geosphere – solid earth; including the rocks, metals, gems, sand and dirt.
• geothermal plant – a factory that drills down to the heated water underground, and uses the steam created by the hot water to generate electricity and send it along electric lines to houses and businesses.
• geothermal power – electricity made by steam turning a rotor. The steam is made by water and heat underground. The heat is created by friction as the earth moves.
• glacial retreat – when a glacier is melting faster than it is generating new ice, so it is getting smaller (probably due to global warming).
• glacier calving – the sudden release and breaking away of ice chunks off the edge of a glacier.
• global warming – the gradual warming of Earth’s atmosphere overall due to the excessive build up of gases in the atmosphere caused by human-created air pollution. Global warming is causing climate change.
• glocal – focusing on global considerations, and at the same time local concerns
• green – good for the environment.
• green carbon – the carbon that is stored in the biosphere; the carbon dioxide taken out of the air by plants and used for photosynthesis.
• green energy – energy (such as electricity) that is generated from natural resources, such as solar panels, wind turbines, or water power.
• greenhouse effect – the trapping of an excess amount of the sun’s heat near Earth, due to a build up of gases such as carbon dioxide and methane.
• greenhouse gas – any gas that contributes to the greenhouse effect by absorbing infrared radiation (the sun’s energy re-emitted from Earth), such as carbon dioxide and methane
• greening – taking care of the environment.greening – taking care of the environment.
• greenwashing – when a company pretends it is doing good things for the environment, but it is really doing more harm than good.
• Greta Thunberg – an environmental activist who has been raising awareness of the dangers of climate change in attempt to get adults to take more actions to slow it down. She grew up in Sweden. She began protesting when she was 14 years old. She has won many awards for protesting and giving lectures about climate change (and living sustainably).
• hybrid – made from a combination of two or more; often used to describe a car that runs on both gas (petrol) and electricity. The electricity can be generated from braking and burning the gas. In other cases, the car is plugged into an electric charger for most of the electricity.
• hydroelectric power – electricity generated by water (rather than fossil fuels). It usually refers to rivers as the source of water. As the river water flows, it turns the turbines that are connected to generators, which generate electricity.
• hydrogen – a gas that does not create air pollution when burned. It can be used to generate electricity and power vehicles.
• hydrosphere – all of the water found on, above, and under the surface of a planet. It includes liquid and frozen water.
• Industrial Revolution – the period of time, generally 1750-1850, when many countries began building the first factories and cars. The first power plant was built in 1882.
• infrastructure – the basic physical and organizational structures needed to operate a society, along with needed facilities such as buildings, roads, and power supplies.
• investment – money and/or time devoted to a project or idea in order to gain something from it.
• IPCC – Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; the part of the United Nations that’s responsible for advancing knowledge on human-induced climate change.
• IPCC Reports – reports created by hundreds of scientists from different countries as part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; a compilation of what is known to date from peer-reviewed published scientific articles about climate change; reports published every 6-7 years.
• just transition – a move toward a clean energy future that benefits poorer people and countries as well as those with more resources.
• landscape restoration – returning an area to nature that includes healthy biodiversity (plants and animals that can sustain themselves in this area).
• legacy pollutants – contaminants left in the environment by sources no longer creating them. (Carbon dioxide from a factory stays in the air long after the factory shuts down and goes out of business.)
• Marine Protected Area (MPA) – areas of the seas, oceans, estuaries, and The Great Lakes, protected to preserve their ecosystems. Human activities, such as fishing, are restricted.
• megadrought – a prolonged drought lasting 20 years or longer.
• methane – a powerful greenhouse gas, stronger but shorter lived in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide; made from one carbon atom and 4 hydrogen atom. Released into the atmosphere at gas drilling sites, when burning gas, when living things decompose (including food waste). When animals burp and release gas.
• mitigate – reduce, make less severe (slowing down climate change)
• natural environment – all living and non-living things occurring naturally (not created by people).
• natural gas – liquid gas that comes out of the ground that produces less carbon dioxide but more methane when burned. It is not the same as the gas that’s put into a car.
• natural resources – resources from the natural environment that are valuable to people, such as from the land or water, including plants.
• nature positive – an area where the ecosystem is being restored, and steps are being taken to help plants and animals thrive.
• nature positive tourism – tourism which provides vacationers the opportunity to assist in protecting habitats and wildlife, often helping re-wild an area.
• net zero – a target of negating the amount of greenhouse gases produced by people so the amount produced is equal to the amount absorbed by the Earth (and captured through technology).
• NOAA – National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; a scientific and regulatory agency within the U.S. federal government; a reliable source of information about climate change.
• organism – any living thing: plant, animal (including person), or single-celled life form.
• Paris Agreement – led by the United Nations in 2015, the Paris Agreement, or Paris Accord, is a legally binding international treaty on climate change signed by 196 countries. Its goal is to keep Earth from warming less that 2 degrees Celsius above per-industrial levels.
• petroleum – a fossil fuel found in the ground, under the ocean, that was created by decomposing marine organisms, such as plants, algae, and bacteria, that lived millions of years ago. Petroleum (also known as crude oil) is refined in a factory and turned into gasoline, oil, and diesel.
• phantom load – the electricity drawn by an electronic device when it is turned off or in standby mode. It is the reason people are encouraged to unplug their chargers and devices when not in use.
• Pineapple Express – heavy rains along the west coasts of the United States and Canada caused by huge amounts of moisture in the air, gathered as it moved from the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii. An atmospheric river originating from the area around Hawaii.
• polar vortex – a large area of low pressure and cold air that is always blowing around the north pole and south pole.
• pollution – the introduction of harmful materials into the environment (into the air, land, or water). This includes putting things you can’t see, such as carbon dioxide gas, into the air.
• ppm – parts per million. It is used to tell how many parts of carbon dioxide there are in one million parts of air. If there are 420 ppm carbon dioxide, that means there are 420 carbon dioxide particles in one million particles of air.
• pre-industrial – the time before industry; the years before factories were created; generally meaning the time before 1750.
• prototype – a first model of something new (e.g., electric plane), from which other forms are developed.
• race to zero – the move to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide into the air, and to create systems to draw carbon dioxide out of the air and sequester it, so that the amount of carbon dioxide in the air does not keep increasing.
• rain bomb – massive wind and rain event usually causing flooding
• recycle – convert waste materials into new materials; e.g., when you recycle a plastic bottle the recycling plant melts the plastic and makes a new bottle, or shreds the plastic and makes other plastic objects.
• reduce – use less; when you use less or buy less you are using fewer products, reducing your carbon footprint.
• reforestation – planting new trees where a forest of trees has been cut down.
• reliable source of information – a well-respected institution or organization, such as NOAA and NASA, and major universities such as Columbia University and Harvard. It’s important to use reliable sources of information for your science research so you can depend on the accuracy of the information.
• renewable energy – energy that can be “renewed;” it doesn’t run out. Harnessing the sun’s heat with solar panels, or wind with wind turbines, are examples of renewable sources of energy. Using fossil fuels is not because when they are used up they are gone; it takes millions of years for fossils to decompose into fossil fuel.
• retrofit – adding a component to something that did not have it when it was manufactured (e.g., a gas-powered lawn mower needs to be retrofitted with a new motor to become an electric mower).
• reuse – to use again; a reusable water bottle is made of metal, or thick plastic, so the bottle can be used many times rather than thrown away after just one use.
• rewilding – restoring an area to its natural state, often by protecting land, planting native plants, and/or returning wild animals, that had previously been driven out, to the area.
• scaling up – increasing in size, amount, or production, to have a greater effect. If a student recycles, that’s great. If a student scales up this recycling initiative to get the class recycling, that’s better. If the class scales up this recycling initiative to get the whole school recycling that’s even better.
• SDG – Sustainable Development Goals created by the United Nations. Also known as Global Goals. 17 goals for all countries to work towards: protecting the planet, ending poverty, and ensuring world peace and the opportunity to work toward having a successful nation.
• SDG 13 – United Nations Sustainable Development Goal that calls for climate action to ensure a livable planet for the next generation.
• sea level rise – an increase in the level of the world’s ocean due to the effects of global warming (more land ice melting into the ocean and the expansion of water as it warms).
• single-use – designed to be used just once and then thrown out; e.g., a water bottle or a bag that you use just one time.
• sleeping dragons – fires that appear to go out with the arrival of rain or snow, but actually slowly burn close to the ground through winter and flare up again in spring (zombie fires).
• solar farm – many solar panels (often thousands) set up in an area to convert the sun’s energy into electricity.
• solar panel – crystalline silicone panel that converts the sun’s light (photo) into electricity (voltaic); a photovoltaic panel. The brighter the light, the longer the day, the more electricity it makes.
• solar power – the capture of the sun’s radiation with photovoltaic panels (solar panels) and turning it into electricity.
• solastalgia – mental distress caused by seeing the negative changes to our environment.
• stewardship – the taking care of Earth’s natural resources.
• stranded assets – resources that can’t be used or sold; coal, oil, and gas in the ground that can’t be used (because of government regulation, and/or because the cost of removing them from the ground and processing them is more expensive than using alternative energy such as wind and sun).
• subsidies – money given by the government to companies to keep the price of production low, keeping them more competitive. (e.g., To encourage people to buy electric vehicles, the government can subsidize the electric car manufacturers so the price of the cars will be low enough for many people to be able to afford to buy them.)
• sunny day flooding – flooding in low-lying areas (such as in Florida) when there is high tide (and no rain).
• sustainable – using Earth’s resources (such as trees) at a rate that won’t use them all up before there are replacements (new trees planted and have a chance to grow).
• sustainable agriculture – plant and animal production (farming and ranching) that is productive without harming the environment for future farmers and ranchers.
• sustainable development – the building of roads, power stations, factories, and other buildings using only resources (such as trees for wood, and minerals for cement, and metals for steel) that do not use them up and compromise the needs of the next generation.
• Sustainable Development Goals – 17 goals for all countries to work towards: protecting the planet, ending poverty, and ensuring world peace and the opportunity to work toward having a successful nation.
• techno-optimist – person who believes that technological advances (such as carbon capture) can solve the climate crisis.
• tidal energy – electricity created by the rise and fall of ocean tides. The moving water turns a turbine connected to a generator that creates electricity.
• tipping point – the point at which a series of small changes creates a much larger change without the ability to reverse course; e.g., If too much ice melts from the Poles, it will create a tipping point for rapidly increasing global warming and climate change.
• transition – move from one way of doing things to another way; e.g., many cities are transitioning from diesel powered buses to electric buses.
• turbine – a rotor with vanes which spins around a post, pushed by wind, water, or steam (kinetic energy -> electrical energy).
• upcycling – create a new product from old no longer needed product; e.g., use the material from old clothes to make a carry bag.
• urban forest – forested area within a city.
• urban heat island – an effect caused by cities that are warmer than the surrounding countryside due to the buildings, roads, and sidewalks holding heat longer than areas of natural vegetation.
• waste-to-energy plant – a facility that burns trash to produce steam in a boiler. The steam is used to power an electric generator turbine creating electricity. The burning of the trash creates harmful air pollution.
• waste products – items no longer needed or wanted.
• wave energy – electricity created by the push and pull of waves in the ocean. The moving water turns a turbine connected to a generator that creates electricity.
• weather – temperature, wind, and precipitation in a particular area at a particular time.
• wind farm – many wind turbines in an area, spaced to maximize the amount of wind that can be used to turn their blades.
• wind turbine – turning blades that change the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. The moving blades are connected to a generator that creates electricity.
• zombie fires – fires that appear to go out with the arrival of rain or snow, but actually slowly burn close to the ground through winter and flare up again in spring (sleeping dragons).