Imagine a glass of milk on a table. Tip the glass a little, and not much happens. Tip the glass a little further, and still not much happens — the milk just sloshes in the glass. But, tip the glass far enough, and the milk will suddenly pour out onto the table. This moment of suddenly changing from one state (milk in glass, dry table) to another state (milk on table) is called a tipping point. Tipping points are generally preceded by gradual and low-impact changes (the milk sloshing around, but staying in the glass), occur quickly (the milk spilled rapidly onto the table) and cannot be undone (there is no way to put the milk back into the glass).
Many climate change scientists believe tipping points will play a role with climate change, and may affect the timing and severity of climate change impacts. For example:
Learn more about climate change tipping points:
When the output of a system affects itself, this is known as a feedback loop. A well-known example that affects climate change is the ice-albedo feedback loop. Ice has a higher reflectivity — albedo — than land or water. This means that ice is better able to reflect heat back into the atmosphere than bare land or water. However, because temperatures are rising, Arctic sea ice is melting more rapidly in the summer months. This exposes more water, and allows the oceans to absorb and retain more heat. This, in turn, increases the likelihood that even more ice will melt during the following summer.
Additional feedback loops include:
Learn more about climate change feedback loops:
Although the process is complex, the greenhouse effect can be described fairly simply:
Sunlight passes through the atmosphere. Clouds, ice caps and other light-colored surfaces reflect some light back into space, but most of the incoming energy reaches the planet’s surface. The Earth radiates heat back toward space. Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere absorb that heat, bouncing some back to the Earth’s surface and releasing some into the atmosphere.
Greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and other gases that accumulate in the atmosphere and create the heat-reflective layer that keeps the Earth at a livable temperature. These gases form the insulation that keeps the planet warm enough to support life.
Some of the most common — and worrisome — greenhouse gases are:
Modern climate change is caused by an excess of greenhouse gases. This, in turn, over-insulates the planet. As a result, temperatures rise. Imagine wearing a winter parka in the tropics. The effect is similar — too much insulation causes the planet to overheat, which has already begun to change the climate.
Learn more about the impacts of climate change.
When the sun heats the Earth, some of that heat is naturally released back into space. When that excess heat is trapped by the atmosphere, that is known as the greenhouse effect. This is a natural process. By trapping some of the sun’s warmth, our atmosphere keeps the Earth at a livable temperature. Without the greenhouse effect, the Earth would not be able to support life.
Carbon dioxide, methane and other heat-trapping gases are known as greenhouse gases, because they contribute to the greenhouse effect. Learn more about carbon dioxide, methane and the greenhouse effect.
The impacts of climate change are extremely difficult to predict, partially because the global climate system includes a number of tipping points and feedback loops.
Tipping points — the point of no-return for a particular impact — may occur very quickly, for example. Imagine a glass of milk that is slowly tipped to the side. Each slight shift sideways has relatively little impact — the milk sloshes sideways in the glass, but does not spill — but the glass eventually reaches a tipping point, when the contents spill onto the table.
Feedback loops can either accelerate (positive feedback loops) or slow (negative feedback loops) climate change. For example, warmer temperatures have caused Arctic sea ice to melt earlier in the season. Without that bright, reflective surface, the Arctic Ocean absorbs more solar heat than it previously did. This solar heat warms the water even more, and melts additional ice. This would be considered a positive feedback loop. Further, the chemical equilibrium of the Earth’s carbon cycle will shift in response to anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The primary driver of this is the ocean, which absorbs anthropogenic CO2 via the so-called solubility pump. At present this accounts for only about one third of the current emissions, but ultimately most (~75%) of the CO2 emitted by human activities will dissolve in the ocean over a period of centuries. However, the rate at which the ocean will take it up in the future is less certain.
Learn more about tipping points and feedback loops, and how both may affect the speed and intensity of climate change.
The Earth’s climate is always changing. Natural cycles — occurring over very long time spans — have warmed and cooled the planet over eons. These cycles are driven by slight changes in the Earth’s orbit and/or the amount of solar energy. As a result of these cycles, the Earth has changed dramatically over the eons — the planet’s climate has been both much warmer and much cooler than it is today.
Natural or geologic climate change is driven primarily by shifts in the Earth’s axis around the sun. These changes — known as Milankovitch cycles — affect the angle of the Earth in relation to the sun, and thus affect the amount of solar energy that reaches the planet.
Learn more about natural climate change and how it differs from human-caused climate change. Visit NOAA’s Ocean Service Education website.
Natural or geologic climate change should not be confused with modern climate change. Today, when most people talk about climate change, they are really talking about modern climate change, also known as anthropogenic — human-caused — climate change. The climate change we are experiencing today differs dramatically from geologic climate change because:
The Earth’s climate is always changing. This is what causes ice ages, for example. In the past, climate change has been driven by geological factors, such as shifts in the Earth’s axis. Modern climate change, however, is caused by the emission of greenhouse gases.
Learn more about the causes of modern and geologic climate change.
The industrial revolution is commonly cited as the beginning of modern climate change, because this is when human societies began burning fossil fuels in large quantities. Those fossil fuel emissions contribute to climate change by essentially increasing the amount of insulation in the Earth’s atmosphere.
Learn more about the science of modern climate change.
Review our regularly-updated list of current facts and data about the science of climate change, including observed and predicted temperature changes, climate change impacts, and ongoing greenhouse gas emissions. View the list.
]]>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Ann Barrett
The Conservation Fund
703-908-5809 | abarrett@conservationfund.org
Stacy Shelton
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
404-679-7290
MARKSVILLE, LA -- The Conservation Fund, in partnership with U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (Service), announced today that its forest-based carbon sequestration project in central Louisiana received gold level validation, the highest level available, under Climate, Community and Biodiversity (CCB) Standards, Second Edition. The Conservation Fund has more gold level CCB Standards validations than any other group in the country.
Supported by donations from the Fund’s voluntary carbon offset program, Go Zero®, the group planted 245,000 oak, pecan and cypress trees across 814 acres at Grand Cote National Wildlife Refuge and Lake Ophelia National Wildlife Refuge, near Marksville. According to planting and carbon monitoring partner, TerraCarbon, LLC, as the forests mature, they are expected to trap an estimated 240,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
“For more than a decade, the Service and The Conservation Fund have set the highest standard for the restoration of bottomland forests in the Lower Mississippi Valley,” said the Service’s southeast regional director Cindy Dohner. “We are restoring these lands to support healthy fish and wildlife populations, while creatively addressing the transformational conservation challenge of our time: accelerating climate change. We are gratified that our combined efforts have again been recognized as the gold standard for biological carbon sequestration.”
The newly restored forests provide vital habitat for the federally threatened Louisiana black bear, as well as numerous bird species. Migratory waterfowl, songbirds and shorebirds all use forested, moist soil and open-water wetland habitats for nesting and foraging. New forests will also improve water quality for the globally endangered pallid sturgeon. Portions of the restored areas on both Refuges will be open to the public for wildlife-dependent recreational uses.
The Climate, Community and Biodiversity Alliance developed voluntary standards to help design and identify land management activities that simultaneously minimize climate change, support sustainable development and conserve biodiversity.
“The Conservation Fund and the Service are pioneering the development of high quality, multiple benefit forest carbon projects in the United States by restoring native forests that create vital habitats to safeguard endangered species,” said Joanna Durbin, director of the Climate, Community & Biodiversity Alliance. “We welcome the news that this project qualifies for the stringent Gold Level criteria of the Second Edition of the CCB Standards for exceptional biodiversity by conserving the habitat of the endangered pallid sturgeon, a freshwater giant found only in the Missouri and Mississippi river basins, as well as many other species like the Louisiana black bear.”
Go Zero works with companies and individuals to help reduce and then offset the carbon footprint of everyday activities, such as the CO2 emissions resulting from an in-town or cross-country move with U-Haul, a flight purchased from Travelocity, a package shipped from Gaiam or the electricity it takes to power a Dell notebook for three years. Companies from C&S Wholesale Grocers to The North Face use Go Zero to offset portions of their energy use and staff travel.
Customer donations help plant native trees in protected parks and wildlife refuges like Lake Ophelia and Grand Cote that will capture and store carbon over time, while also creating forest habitats that are critical to birds, fish, bears and other wildlife. To date, donations to Go Zero have resulted in the restoration of 3,800 acres and the planting of 1.2 million native seedlings that will trap an estimated one million tons of CO2 over the life of the forests. Much of this effort has been focused on restoring lands within the Lower Mississippi River Valley - an area that has lost more than 20 million acres of forestland over the last 100 years.
"Bottomland hardwood forests in the Lower Mississippi River Valley are some of the most productive forests in the U.S., capable of storing more than 300 metric tons of carbon dioxide per acre at maturity,” said David Shoch, vice president of forestry and technical services at TerraCarbon. “Growing forests like these lock up greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and at the same time restore an imperiled ecosystem.”
"It is wonderful that The Conservation Fund has earned this important recognition,” said Gina Goff, director of community involvement at C&S Wholesale Grocers, Inc. "The men and women of our company are proud to be part of The Conservation Fund's important work and to address environmental challenges through support to Go Zero.”
Thanks to donations from U-Haul and its customers, more than 208,000 seedlings have been planted on Service lands including more than 100 acres at Lake Ophelia and Grand Cote.
“U-Haul and our customers are working to make a real difference in protecting the environment and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions,” said John "J.T." Taylor, president of U-Haul International, Inc. "We congratulate the Fund on yet another CCB gold validation. During our visit to Grand Cote and Lake Ophelia this fall, our team witnessed first-hand the tremendous on-the-ground results this program has achieved with the Service. The Conservation Fund team should be proud of the work they are achieving in our communities."
Both wildlife refuges also benefit from customer donations to Go Zero via Travelocity’s Travel for Good program.
“We're very proud of our partnership with The Conservation Fund and all the outstanding work they're doing right here in the U.S.,” said Travelocity’s Travel for Good manager, Alison Presley. “The forests they've planted at Lake Ophelia and Grand Cote are vital to local wildlife and will be enjoyed by generations to come.”
Customer donations from Dell’s Plant a Tree program, a combined effort between The Conservation Fund and Carbonfund.org, have made an impact at Lake Ophelia and Grand Cote.
“Dell has helped our customers plant and sustainably manage more than 250,000 trees since the inception of the Plant a Tree Program and is well on its way to plant half a million trees in the next couple years,” said Mark Newton, Executive Director of sustainability at Dell. “Working closely with The Conservation Fund has helped us provide a meaningful way for people to account for the CO2 emissions related to powering their computers and together we plan to keep that momentum going.”
“Go Zero donors are providing critical, private capital that will help address two of the most extraordinary environmental challenges of our time, climate change and habitat loss,” said The Conservation Fund's Go Zero director, Jena Meredith. “The CCB gold level validation ensures these donations deliver real, measurable results to help address climate change and restore important wildlife habitat on behalf of the National Wildlife Refuge System and the American people.”
The Conservation Fund's Grand Cote and Lake Ophelia National Wildlife Refuge Restoration Initiative was recently validated by Scientific Certification Systems (SCS).
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Hundreds of thousands of dedicated individuals and support from Accenture Supply Chain Academy, Boss, Inc., C & S Wholesale Grocers, Carfax, Cbox, Conde Nast Publications, CSX Corporation, Dell, Emkay Incorporated, Ernest Maier, Freshwater Institute, Gaiam, Greif, Indianapolis Colts, International Association of Assembly Managers, Krypton Products, Kumon University, Land Rover Portland, Lee County Board of County Commissioners, L'Oreal USA, McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry, Michigan International Speedway, Momentum Group, Network For Good, New Jersey Natural Gas, Philadelphia Eagles, Premiere TV, SEAT Planners, Sustainable Forestry Initiative, The North Face, Travelocity, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U-Haul International, Vans, William McDonough & Partners. www.conservationfund.org/gozero
About the Climate, Community & Biodiversity Alliance The Climate, Community & Biodiversity Alliance (CCBA) is a global partnership of leading NGOs that created the Climate, Community & Biodiversity (CCB) Standards to enable identification of projects that adopt best practices to deliver robust and credible greenhouse gas reductions while also delivering net positive benefits to local communities and biodiversity. www.climate-standards.org
At The Conservation Fund, we combine a passion for conservation with an entrepreneurial spirit to protect your favorite places before they become just a memory. A hallmark of our work is our deep, unwavering understanding that for conservation solutions to last, they need to make economic sense. Top-ranked, we have protected nearly 7 million acres across America. www.conservationfund.org
The mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working with others to conserve, protect and enhance fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. We are both a leader and trusted partner in fish and wildlife conservation, known for our scientific excellence, stewardship of lands and natural resources, dedicated professionals and commitment to public service. For more information on our work and the people who make it happen, visit www.fws.gov.
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Contacts:
Vanessa Vaughan,
The Conservation Fund,
703-908-5809
Stacy Shelton,
US Fish & Wildlife Service,
404-679-7290 (o); 678-575-7796 (c)
NATIONAL FOREST CARBON PROGRAM BRINGS BIG BOOST TO LOUISIANA REFUGES
The Conservation Fund’s Go Zero® program donates restoration of 814 acres at Grand Cote National Wildlife Refuge and Lake Ophelia National Wildlife Refuge
Alexandria, LA—Two central Louisiana national wildlife refuges are getting a big boost toward their habitat restoration goals with the donation of more than 245,000 native trees this month. Private support for the initiative comes from a mix of donations from corporations, foundations and individual donors to The Conservation Fund’s voluntary carbon offset program, Go Zero.®
Together with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) and Environmental Synergy Inc. (ESI), the partners are restoring 814 acres of native oak and cypress trees at Grand Cote National Wildlife Refuge and Lake Ophelia National Wildlife Refuge near Marksville, Louisiana. As the forests mature, they are expected to trap an estimated 260,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent from the atmosphere.
Go Zero works with companies and individuals to help reduce and then offset the carbon footprint of everyday activities, such as the CO2 emissions resulting from an in-town or cross-country move with U-Haul, a flight purchased from Travelocity.com, a package shipped from Gaiam.com, or the electricity it takes to power a Dell notebook for three years. Customer donations help plant native trees in protected parks and wildlife refuges that will capture and store carbon over time, while also creating forest habitats that are critical to birds, fish, bears and other wildlife.
More than 287,000 U-Haul customers have elected to offset their emissions by donating over $1 million to Go Zero. “By leveraging our human, technical, financial and business resources, U-Haul and our customers have attempted to make a real difference in protecting the environment,” said John “J.T.” Taylor, president of Phoenix-based U-Haul International, Inc. “U-Haul customers should be applauded for their support of The Conservation Fund and these two Louisiana refuges, and for positively impacting the communities where we live.”
The refuges will also benefit from customer donations made via Dell's “Plant a Tree for Me” program. “Providing a great customer experience starts with delivering great value and continues with working to protect the environment throughout the life of our systems,” said Mark Newton, lead environmental strategist for Dell. “The 'Plant a Tree for Me' program lets us partner with our customers, The Conservation Fund and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to make a positive difference for our planet.”
Colorado-based Gaiam, a lifestyle company, has collaborated with the Fund’s Go Zero program since 2006 by offering its customers the opportunity to zero out the carbon footprint associated with shipping their purchase. Gaiam was the first company in the U.S. to offer such a program. “The Conservation Fund's Go Zero program is a great fit for Gaiam and its customers particularly because it focuses on planting a mix of native tree species to restore high-priority conservation lands,” said Gaiam's Chris Fisher, director of customer experience. “Once those lands are restored, they belong to everybody - even future generations.”
After decades of farming, much of the land within Grand Cote and Lake Ophelia refuges was too degraded to support a natural ecosystem. Although both areas were identified by the USFWS as high priorities for restoration when the refuges were established in 1989, public funding necessary to restore the forests has never been available.
“Loss of forest habitat is a huge challenge for ducks, songbirds and even the Louisiana black bear,” said Cindy Dohner, southeast regional director for USFWS. “The Go Zero program is providing tremendous benefits to wildlife and people. The Service relies on partnerships like these to restore ecosystems and enable wildlife to return and flourish once again.”
Each fall, hundreds of thousands of migrating birds descend upon Lake Ophelia and Grand Cote to escape the North’s freezing temperatures, plump up on quality grub and select their mates for spring breeding. Many find shelter within the parks and wildlife refuges of central Louisiana. However, over the past century, Louisiana’s once lush forests and waterways have been cleared, dammed, leveed and drastically altered, leaving fewer habitats for our partners in flight.
“Every day, we hear about the impacts of deforestation in the Amazon or Indonesia,” said The Conservation Fund’s Louisiana state director, Ray Herndon, “but it’s happening in the Gulf Coast area too. Migratory bird populations have lost more than 24 million acres of bottomland hardwood forest habitat over the last century along the Red River and lower Mississippi River valleys. Habitat destruction is more pronounced here than in any other area of the United States.”
Loss of native, forested habitat is especially hard on migratory birds. Waterfowl, songbirds and shorebirds all use forested, moist soil and open-water wetland habitats for nesting, foraging and taking cover from predators. To help keep the bird buffets stocked along the Mississippi Flyway, Go Zero partners with leading companies committed to making a difference for the global climate, America’s forests and their wildlife communities.
Environmental Synergy Inc. (ESI), an Atlanta-based developer of forest carbon projects, will manage the planting and carbon monitoring plans, using on-site measurements over time. USFWS will manage the land and the forests as they grow. The 814-acre project will be validated against the standards of the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Alliance.
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Heroes of Go Zero include: Hundreds of thousands of dedicated individuals, Accenture Supply Chain Academy, Americas Lodging Investment Summit, Bella Figura Letterpress Invitations, Carfax, Inc., City of Austin, Conde Nast Publications, Dell Computer Corporation, Delta Air Lines, Inc., e-Blue Horizons, LLC, Florida Center for Environmental Studies, Gaiam, Inc., Indianapolis Colts NFL, Land Rover Portland, Lee County Board of County Commissioners, L'Oreal USA, Inc., McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry, LLC, Michigan International Speedway, Molinaro Koger, NBC Universal, New Jersey Natural Gas, Organic, Inc., Philadelphia Eagles, Premiere TV, Inc., Reverb Inc., SEAT Planners Incorporated, Sesco Lighting, Sustainable Forestry Initiative, Inc., The North Face, Training Resources Group LLC, Travelocity, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U-Haul International, Inc., University of Delaware, Way Basics, William McDonough & Partners, P.L.C., World Class Charters, Inc.
About USFWS
The mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working with others to conserve, protect and enhance fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. In the past decade, the Service and its partners have added 32,000 acres to seven refuges and reforested or restored approximately 80,000 acres on more than 40 refuges in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. For more information on our work and the people who make it happen, visit http://www.fws.gov and http://www.fws.gov/southeast.
About The Conservation Fund
The Conservation Fund is dedicated to advancing America’s land and water legacy. With our partners, we conserve land, train leaders and invest in conservation at home. Since 1985, we have helped protect more than 6 million acres, sustaining wild havens, working lands and vibrant communities. We're a top-ranked conservation organization, effective and efficient. www.conservationfund.org
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