How Can a Cow's Diet Affect the Climate?

Multiple Choice

What is climate?

• What's happening in space at a time and place.

• What's happening in our atmosphere at a time and place

• The average weather over many years

• The average temperature over many years.

What is Climate?

When we talk about climate, the first thing that usually comes to mind is the temperature in an area. Africa typically has a high temperature and therefore, we think of it as having a hot climate. Antarctica is usually cold so it has a cold climate. Climate is an area’s average weather, including temperature, precipitation (rain, snow, etc.), humidity, wind, and even seasons. The problem we face now is human-made climate change. What we are doing is changing our climate much faster than Nature intended and that's what’s causing the problems.

Climate change

• Some of the gases in our atmosphere act like a big greenhouse. irst, they let in the sun’s rays.

• When the Sun's rays get to the ground, some are absorbed as heat. More heat bounces off the land and water and heads back toward outer space.

• If it runs into a greenhouse gas on the way, the heat is trapped. It can’t escape into space, so it stays in the atmosphere and warms up the planet.

Global warming

• Global warming is happening because carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are building up in the lower part of the atmosphere.

• The ozone layer is in the upper atmosphere. When gases called chlorofluorocarbons reach this layer, they attack the ozone and destroy it.

Global warming is the increase in the Earth’s average temperature caused by extra greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Climate change includes rising temperature due to global warming, and other long-term changes in our climate that may come with it.

Impacts

• Warmer air means warmer oceans. Warmer oceans make stronger hurricanes.

• Less rain is predicted for some areas. That could lead to droughts, which would mean less water for people to drink and to grow food.

• Drier conditions can also lead to more forest fires.

• Melting glaciers and warmer water could raise sea level, flooding coasts. Wildlife that is adapted to a certain habitat may not be able to survive as the habitat changes.

Multiple Choice

The main human activity that releases greenhouse gases is

• using public transportation and there by reduce the affects of greenhouse gases.

• texting on cellphones

• burning fossil fuels

• eating meat

Multiple Choice

What is the greenhouse effect?

• The warming of a planet due to trapped radiation.

• The heating of a solid, such as a rock.

• The cooling of Earth due to air pollution.

Multiple Choice

What gas from the list below is a cause for global warming?

• Urethane

• Oxygen

• Carbon Dioxide

Multiple Choice

What do scientists think the effect will be of having more greenhouse gases in our atmosphere?

• More warming of the atmosphere

• More air in the atmosphere

• More cooling of the atmosphere

• Less air in the atmosphere

Multiple Choice

T/F: Water vapor is a greenhouse gas

• true

• false

Multiple Choice

T/F: Some greenhouse gases are naturally present in the Earth's atmosphere

• true

• false

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is an example of a greenhouse gas?

• Carbon Dioxide

• Oxygen

• Nitrogen

• Neon

Multiple Choice

Increased carbon dioxide may cause global warming by trapping more ____________ in the atmosphere.

• heat

• water

• argon

Multiple Choice

What are greenhouse gases?

• gases that cause climate change

• gases that emit green smoke

• gases that are used to make green colored glass

Multiple Choice

Which of the following have been linked to climate change?

• droughts

• melting of polar ice caps

• flooding

• all of the above

Multiple Choice

How does the combustion of fossil fuels affect the carbon cycle?

• adds more CO2

• removes CO2

• does not affect CO2

Multiple Choice

Which of the following removes carbon from the atmosphere?

• Combustion
• Respiration
• Photosynthesis
• Death

Multiple Choice

What evidence do we have that the climate is changing?

• Increased global temperatures

• Glaciers and arctic ice are melting

• Sea level is rising

• All of these are evidence the climate is changing

Multiple Choice

All of these graphs reveal scientific evidence for climate change. Which graph has the most significant increase of change in a short period of time?

Multiple Select

What kind of information do ice cores contain?

• Concentration of CO₂ in the Atmosphere in past years

• Concentration of Methane in the Atmosphere in past years

• The temperature of the Earth in past years

• Evidence of volcanic eruptions in past years

Hotspot

Which parts on the diagram below represent greenhouse gases in the atmosphere

Drag and Drop

Reforestation or replanting trees helps to reduce

Placeholder

in the atmosphere.

Drag these tiles and drop them in the correct blank above

carbon dioxide

methane

sulfur dioxide

oxygen

Multiple Choice

The greenhouse gas having the greatest role in human-caused global warming is

• methane
• carbon dioxide
• CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons)
• ozone

How Can a Cow's Diet Affect the Climate?

By Cheryl Graves

​I read an interesting article today

“An unusual snack for cows, a powerful fix for climate—Feeding them seaweed slashed the amount of methane they burp into the atmosphere,”

Subject | Subject

Some text here about the topic of discussion

Cows have been around for a long time

• Humans depend on cows for food (meat, milk, cheese, etc)

• For leather

• And as work animals​

Subject | Subject

Some text here about the topic of discussion

There are more people on Earth

​More people means more cows

And more cow burps!​

​

Let us now investigate what a burp is..... ​

​

Some text here about the topic of discussion

​A burp is an air bubble that comes from your stomach

You burp out gases that are in the foods that you eat

You burp when you drink or eat too fast or swallow lots of air​

You burp when your body needs to get rid of excess gas​

​

On the next slide, read the article "Why do I burp?"​

​

Subject | Subject

Some text here about the topic of discussion

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Draw

What do you think happens inside your body to produce a burp?

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Multiple Select

What is methane gas and how does it affect the climate?

• methane gas is produced when a cow digests food

• methane gas is released when the cow burps

• methane gas is a greenhouse gas and is found in the atmosphere

• Because there are so many cows, more methane is being released into the air than in the past, and this is causing a problem.

• Scientists think that adding seaweed to a cow’s diet helps reduce the amount of methane gas they burp.

Look what happens when cows are fed seaweed

Multiple Choice

Why do we care about reducing the amount of methane in the atmosphere?

• it could help decrease the rate of climate change

• it could increase the rate of climate change

• it does nothing for climate change

• I don't know

Multiple Choice

The seaweed ________ the amount of gas the stomach produces

• reduces

• increases

• stays the same

Open Ended

Besides feeding cows seaweed, what other actions can we take to help reduce the amount of methane in the Earth’s atmosphere?

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Dropdown

Human activity affects the climate by releasing ​

Select answer

and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, which ​

Select answer

the Earth's temperature.

Match

Match the gases with how they are produced.

• Combustion engines

• Livestock

• Population

Carbon Dioxide

Methane

Carbon Dioxide and Methane

• Carbon Dioxide

• Methane

• Carbon Dioxide and Methane

Multiple Choice

Agriculture of this food source contributes greatly to climate change.

• Chicken

• Vegetables

• Beef

• Pork

Multiple Choice

What is NOT a potential negative effect of climate change on agriculture?

• increased range of pests

• increased risk of droughts

• increased damage from severe weather events

• increased rates of photosynthesis

• decreased growing season in western Europe