Ecological responses to recent climate change

Coping with Climate Change

What we have learned so far about how climate changes is affecting our global environment. Studies show that it adversely affects human and natural systems by reducing biodiversity, impairing biological and chemical cycles and making it more difficult to restore degraded ecosystems.

Climate is not the only factor in the deterioration of natural systems. We are making big changes to the landscape, altering land use and land cover in major ways. These changes combined present a challenge to environmental management. Adaptive management is a scientific approach to managing the adverse impacts of climate and landscape change.

Nature and Impacts of Climate Change

Every week it seems there is an article about global warming in the news media. It may be difficult for some to grasp the big picture of the issue, but in general, climate change has already or is expected to

?increase temperatures, particularly in the interior of continents, toward the poles and in winter

?boost precipitation (降水量) in wetter areas and suppress precipitation in drier areas

?increase rain and decrease snow

?lessen peak spring runoff and cause more even year-round flows of water, thereby reducing water availability during summer irrigation and navigation seasons

?increase evaporation of water during the summer

?enhance the likelihood of lower mean lake levels, drier wetlands, and water shortages, particularly in mountain regions

?raise the frequency and magnitude of extreme weather events, such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods

?raise global sea levels, causing some populated coastal areas to become inundated (被淹没的)

?reduce the extent and duration of Arctic sea ice with adverse consequences for marine mammals

?increase the loss of glaciers in middle and equatorial latitudes, including premier mountain ecosystems such as Glacier National Park in Montana

Global average temperature has increased by about 0.6℃ over the past 100 years, with a major warming upswing in the 1970s. Warming is the result, in part, of rapid increases in emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG), particularly carbon dioxide (CO2), which is a byproduct of the combustion of fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and natural gas, used for power generation and transportation.

When global temperatures rise and precipitation patterns change, it is expected there will be consequences on ecosystems, such as an increase in the spread of exotic species; redistribution of plants, animals, energy, water, and nutrients; alteration of natural processes and the structure and function of ecosystems.

Northerly latitudes are particularly vulnerable to climate change. The Arctic Council, an intergovernmental forum for Arctic nations and indigenous people, reported that the northern ice cap is warming at twice the global rate and the Arctic region is expected to warm at two to three times the rate for the rest of the world. Arctic warming will have serious consequences on human and ecology.

Nature and Impacts of Landscape Change

Landscape change results from natural disturbances and human activities. Natural disturbances include fire, windstorms, avalanches, landslides, tree fall, floods, and insect epidemics. Human activities causing landscape change include conversion of forestland to agriculture, drainage of wetlands, and forest fragmentation from road construction and timber harvesting.

Human activities often have a more significant effect on landscapes than natural disturbances because they alter the availability of energy, water, and nutrients to ecosystems; increase the spread of exotic species; accelerate natural processes of ecosystem change; and adversely affect the structure and functioning of ecosystems.

A．Y

B．N

C．NG

Remember global warming? (记得全球变暖吗?) Back in December, the threat of climate change was thundering and the rich countries agreed to cut their carbon-dioxide and other green-house-related emissions. Since then, interest has cooled markedly, and many European countries are already running away from the promises they made so loudly a few months ago. But there has been much talk, and a bit of action, to encourage renewable energies such as wind, hydro, solar and all living organisms. These emit no greenhouse gases, but tend to cost more than coal, oil or gas.

The better, simpler idea is to remember that the easiest way to reduce something is to tax it - in this case, by taxing the carbon content power. The dirtier the power, the more tax it would pay. So dirty coal would be more expensive than clean coal, which would see its price rise in relation to oil, which would be more expensive compared with gas, which would lose some of its price advantage over renewables.

Unless a carbon tax was so huge as to be economically crippling, it would not remove the price differential between all renewables and fossil fuels. But it would narrow that gap, by fixing the differing environmental costs into the price - a useful principle in itself. It would also give renewable producers a strong incentive to cut costs, and fossil-fuel suppliers the motivation to clean their products.

Precedents suggest strongly that a carbon tax would be effective. But the disadvantage to carbon tax is political. After almost a decade of trying, the European Union gave up an attempt at a European carbon tax last year. Germany’s ruling coalition is fighting against a proposed energy tax. In America, politicians believe that even mentioning the notion is certain death. But many of the political objections could be met if a carbon tax were made up for the loss elsewhere, for example by lowering payroll or sales taxes. There is always suspicion when governments come up with clever new ways to tax, and rightly so. The response to that suspicion should be to win the argument, not to abandon it.

1.According to the passage, the easiest way to remove global warming is ___________.

A.to encourage people to use renewable energies

B.to cut down the cost of wind, hydro, solar and all living organisms

C.to force people to pay more tax for the carbon content of power

D.to talk less but act more

2.The standard of paying tax was _________.

A.that the more carbon content of power it contained, the higher tax one would pay

B.that oil would be more expensive than clean coal

C.that renewables would be most expensive of all

D.in the order that renewables are the most expensive while clean coal the cheapest

3.We can infer from the passage that carbon tax ___________.

A.may not be as effective as people expect

B.has encouraged renewable producers to cut costs

C.has reduced consumption of the carbon content energy successfully

D.couldn’t be that effective if fossil fuels would not be forbidden

4.The word “crippling”(Para. 3) most probably means _________.

A.greatly increasing

B.seriously weakening

C.sharply declining

D.abruptly halting

5.The reason why many countries stopped introducing carbon tax eventually was mainly that ___________.

A.governments had tried to put it into effect for many years but with no obvious result

B.if one country made up the loss by paying the carbon tax, other countries would follow it

C.governments were afraid of being suspected if they adopted the new tax

D.governments had been discussing what to do with carbon tax for a long time, but they hadn’t come to an agreement

Initially, many young designers have to ______.

A．work for department stores

B．change their personal taste in fashion

C．repress(压抑) their creativity

D．conform. to a certain image

What will the woman probably do next?

A．Return to the store

B．Call customer service

C．Change the ink cartridge

D．Reconnect the printer to her computer