Lesson 6 Discussion

Activity

Directions

Please participate in an online discussion of the material presented in Lesson 6: Carbon Emission Scenarios.

This discussion will take place in a threaded discussion forum in Canvas (see the Canvas Guides for the specific information on how to use this tool) over approximately a week-long period of time. Since the class participants will be posting to the discussion forum at various points in time during the week, you will need to check the forum frequently in order to fully participate. You can also subscribe to the discussion and receive e-mail alerts each time there is a new post.

Please realize that a discussion is a group effort, and make sure to participate early in order to give your classmates enough time to respond to your posts.

Post your comments addressing some aspect of the material that is of interest to you and respond to other postings by asking for clarification, asking a follow-up question, expanding on what has already been said, etc. For each new topic you are posting, please try to start a new discussion thread with a descriptive title, in order to make the conversation easier to follow.

Suggested Topics

• Discuss the concept of SRES scenarios and RCP pathways. How are these scenarios used for projecting future climate change? Given what we know about the current greenhouse emissions, which scenarios and/or pathways appear to best represent the real world?
• Discuss potential reasons for the switch from SRES scenarios to RCP pathways in the latest IPCC report.  How useful do you think the change was?
• What is the difference between ${\text{CO}}_{\text{2}}$ emissions and ${\text{CO}}_{\text{2}}$ equivalent emissions?
• Atmospheric ${\text{CO}}_{\text{2}}$ increases observed so far should have given rise to 1.3°C warming, but we have only seen about 0.8°C warming. Why?
• What are stabilization scenarios?
• Do you find the Wedges Concept a useful tool for characterizing greenhouse gas emissions reductions?

Submitting your work

1. Go to Canvas.
2. Go to the Home tab.
3. Click on the Lesson 6 discussion: Carbon Emission Scenarios.
4. Post your comments and responses.

Grading criteria

You will be graded on the quality of your participation. See the online discussion grading rubric for the specifics on how this assignment will be graded. Please note that you will not receive a passing grade on this assignment if you wait until the last day of the discussion to make your first post.