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Professor Hector R RodriguezSchool of BusinessMount Ida College

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Course Map – Topics Covered in Course• Society

– The Corporation and Its Stakeholders– People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals– Corporate Citizenship– The Social Responsibility of Business– The Shareholder Primacy Norm– CSR, Citizenship and Sustainability

Reporting– Responsible Investing– The Community and the Corporation– Taxation and Corporate Citizenship– Corporate Philanthropy Programs– Employees and the Corporation– Managing a Diverse Workforce

• Environment– A Balanced Look at Climate Change– Non-anthropogenic Causes of Climate

Change– Sulfates, Urban Warming and Permafrost– Conventional Energy– The Kyoto Protocol– Green Building– Green Information Technology– Transportation, Electric Vehicles and the

Environment– Geo-Engineering– Carbon Capture and Storage– Renewable Energy– Solid, Toxic and Hazardous Waste– Forests, Paper and Carbon Sinks– Life Cycle Analysis– Water Use and Management– Water Pollution

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• Weather: daily temperature and moisture conditions in a place

• Climate: a description of the long-term weather pattern in a particular area

• Global warming: the increase in Earth’s average surface temperature due to rising levels of greenhouse gases.

• Climate change: a long-term change in the Earth’s climate, or of a region on Earth. Climate change includes:– Changes in temperature (Global Warming)– Changes to precipitation patterns and sea levels– Humidity, wind, and severe weather events.

First, Some Terms to Understand

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Climate Change Over the Years

There is a significant amount of historical evidence pointing to episodes of climate change in both distant and recent past.

How do we know? Let’s review some geology first.

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Glaciation

Advancing GlaciersOriginal State

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Glaciation in Our Backyard – White Mountains, NH

• Glacial features in the White Mountains - Cirques • Cirques are one of the most

common and most distinct glacial landforms in glaciated mountains.

• Cirques are large bowl-like shaped valleys with a large steep headwall on one side.

• Cirques are commonly found on the eastern slopes of the White Mountains where the snow would have been blown off of the summits and collected.

Winter

Spring

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Glaciation in Our Backyard – White Mountains, NH

• Glacial features in the White Mountains - Glacial throughs– The notches in the White Mountains were carved by the valley

glaciers. These glaciers followed V-shaped river valleys and as the glacier passed through it widened and deepened the valley leaving behind a U-shaped valley after the glaciers retreated.

Crawford Notch

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More Evidence of Glaciation

Cirques Glacial Through

Hanging Valley Horn

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• The Medieval Warm Period in the 11th century raised the mean temperature in AK to 3-5o F warmer than it is today; the snow line in the Rocky Mountains was about 300 yards higher than today

Recent Changes in Climate

• Likewise in the middle of the last millennium saw a marked cooling, named the Little Ice Age. The Artic pack ice extended so far south that there are six records of Eskimos landing their kayaks in Scotland.

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• Glaciers have been advancing and receding since the last ice age; most glaciers in the Northern Hemisphere were small or absent from 9,000 to 6,000 years ago.

Conclusion: Glaciers are Cyclical

• They reached a recent maximum at the end of the Little Ice Age. So it should not be surprising to see them dwindling as we leave the Little Ice Age; we are comparing them with their absolute maximum over the last 10,000 years

What causes this cyclicality?

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Some Causes of Climate Change

• Variations in the Earth's Orbit and Inclination to the Sun (see Milankovitch Cycles on next slide)

• Changes in the Atmosphere (which can be caused by volcanoes and sunspots)

These are not related to human activity…

• Changes in Circulation of Sea Water

• Sliding of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet over the Ocean June 1991 Mt Pinatubo eruption cooled temperatures

in some regions by as much as 0.5 degrees C*

*http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Glossary/VolcWeather/description_volcanoes_and_weather.html

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Milankovitch Cycles Click Here

• Inclination (variation of tilt)– The changes in the axial tilt (22o to 24.5o) of the

Earth– The greater the tilt the greater the contrast between

summer and winter temperatures– Cycle is about 41,000 years

• Precession– The wobble of the Earth as it spins on its axis– Cycle is about 26,000 years

• Earth’s orbital changes controls its climate • Eccentricity

– Measure of the non-circularity of Earth's orbit

– Cycle is about 100,000 years

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Please Note!

• What I said…– Climate change has happened in the past– There is evidence that proves so– These effects were not driven by human activity

• What I will also say…– Pace of climate change seems to be increasing– Human activity is influencing GHG concentrations in the

atmosphere– This is causing anthropogenic global warming and may cause

future catastrophic climate change

As future business leaders we cannot afford to be influenced by unbalanced arguments, laced with hyperbole… our

stakeholders expect more of us… our credibility depends on it.

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• A comprehensive strategy to mitigate the risk associated with GHG emissions must be implemented. It should include the following steps:– Developing renewable sources of energy

– Implementing comprehensive International Protocols

– Establishing emission trading markets (Cap & Trade)

– Increasing efficiency (in buildings, IT, transportation)

– Implementing engineering controls (geo-engineering, CCS)

A Balanced Conclusion (cont.)

We’ll discuss each one of these potential steps in future sessions…