Student Handout

Graphic Organizer: Climate Change Timeline

1. Summarize the first timeline entry of 1890 and its importance.
2. Review the next five dates and list by date and short description in the corresponding boxes below which events support, undermine, or have no effect on the discoveries of 1890.
   

   Supports

   Undermines

   Has no effect

3. What conclusions can you draw about people's understanding of greenhouse gases by 1977?
4. Summarize the reports regarding greenhouse gases and human activity from the following agencies:
   

   NASA climate scientist James Hansen (1988)

   IPCC report (1990)

   The EPA (1983)

   What conclusions can you draw from these reports?
5. In 1992, at the Climate Change Convention in Rio de Janeiro, 154 nations signed an agreement to reduce warming from greenhouse gases and reduce emissions. Why did President George H.W. Bush only agree to voluntary and not mandatory emission reductions?
6. In 1997, in Kyoto, Japan, 84 nations, including the United States, signed the Kyoto Protocol setting emissions cuts for industrialized nations. Explain the political reasons why this treaty was never ratified by the United States.
7. Document President George W. Bush's political actions on the environment between 2000 and 2001.
   1.  
   2.  
   3.  
   Clarify below President Bush's reasons for this apparent reversal in policy and explain why you agree or disagree with his decision.
   
   • President Bush's Reasons for changing policy:
     
     
     
     
   • Your Comments:
     
     
     
     
8. List the conflicting announcements regarding the consequences of global warming made in 2003 and 2005.
   

   Announcements in 2003

   Announcements in 2005

9. What effect do you think these conflicting statements had on policy-making during this time? What do you think were the reasons for the government's conflicting statements?
10. Comment on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on global warming and what actions, if any, you think the United States government should take to address the concerns of this report.