Understanding Climate Change

CLIMATE CHANGE

A guide to causes, impacts, and current terminology.

KAHNAWÀ:KEENVIRONMENT PROTECTIONOFFICE

FIGHTING TO PROTECT & BETTER OUR ENVIRONMENT

December 2022

INTRODUCTION

In 2020, the Kahnawà:ke Environment Protection Office developed and implemented the Kahnawà:ke Climate Change Plan, which identifies anticipated climate hazards and recommends actions to mitigate Kahnawà:ke's contribution to climate change and enhance the community's adaptive capacity. In creating this plan, we recognized the need to further clarify the terminology surrounding the climate change movement.

The goal of this guide is to help provide a basic understanding of climate change and to define the key terms with the aim of simplifying the jargon and climate policies that will impact Kahnawà:ke.

2 - Climate change terms in Kanien’kéha

3 - Indigenous knowledge & the impact on language and culture

4 - Climate vs. weather

4 - Climate change, global warming, and the greenhouse effect

5 - Mitigation vs. adaptation

5 - Why is climate change a problem?

6 - Individual action

7 - Key ways we can stop climate change

8 - Climate change dictionary

Teiotenionhátie’ tsi niiorihò:ten’ nonhwéntsa’ -

Climate Change

Te-iot-ten-ion-há-tie’ tsi ni-io-ri-hò:-ten’ nonh-wén-tsa

Aontaka’seronnénhton’ - Mitigation

A-on-ta-ka’-se-ron-nénh-ton’

Entsitewarèn:ha’ - Adaptation

En-tsi-te-wa-rèn:-ha’

Ionkwa’nikonhratshá:ni - Resilience

Ion-kwa’-ni-konh-rat-shá:-ni

Ientewatahsónteren’ - Sustainability

Ien-te-wa-tah-són-te-ren’

Kà:ron’ nitio’shatstenhserá:ien - Vulnerability

Kà:-ron’ ni-tio’-shat-stenh-se-rá:-ien

Onhwentsakwé:kon enwa’taríha’te’ - Global Warming

Onh-wen-tsa-kwé:-kon en-wa ’-ta-rí-ha’-te’

80% OF THE WORLD’S BIODIVERSITY IS IN LANDS STEWARDED AND HELD BY INDIGENOUS PEOPLES, THEIR KNOWLEDGE OF THE LAND CONTRIBUTES TO MAINTAINING ECOLOGICAL INTEGRITY.

INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE

A vital factor in finding solutions to climate change is to recognize the role and contributions of Indigenous Peoples and the actions they have already made in tackling climate change. Since 80% of the world’s biodiversity is in lands stewarded and held by Indigenous Peoples, their knowledge of the land contributes to maintaining ecological integrity. Indigenous Peoples must be included in discussions and form part of the solution to climate change.

Indigenous knowledge systems are a valuable resource for adapting to climate change, as this knowledge has been gained through close observation and the interconnected relationship many Indigenous People have with the land over generations and could guide us in finding solutions to climate change and its impacts.

IMPACTS TO LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

Climate change is endangering Indigenous languages and ways of life across the globe. The languages of Indigenous Peoples are tied directly to the land, waters, animals, and weather patterns around them. When these parts of the natural world are altered due to climate change, those elements of the language or culture begin to lose meaning as well.

CLIMATE VS. WEATHER

The difference between weather and climate is essentially a measure of time. Weather consists of the short-term (measured in minutes to months) changes in the atmosphere, whereas climate is the average pattern of weather over the long term in a region. In other words, climate is how the atmosphere behaves over long periods of time.

CLIMATE CHANGE, GLOBAL WARMING AND THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT

Climate change refers to the longterm change in the average weather patterns that define Earth’s local, regional, and global climate. Climate change includes global warming but refers to the wider range of changes that are happening to our planet.

The greenhouse effect is caused by gases in Earth's atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide and water vapour, that trap the sun ' s heat, which then results in global warming.

Global warming is defined as the long-term warming of the planet as a result of the greenhouse effect.

MITIGATION

Mitigation focuses on resolving the causes of a problem. In the case of climate change, mitigation refers to tackling the cause, which is greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming through the greenhouse effect. To mitigate climate change means we need to reduce how much greenhouse gas emissions are produced and end up in the atmosphere, and how to capture and store these emissions

ADAPTATION

Adaptation focuses on managing the effects of a problem. When used in relation to climate change, it is the process of adjusting to current or expected impacts and effects. Climate change adaptation refers to how to adjust our behaviour, systems, and ways of life to protect the environment, our society, and economy from the impacts of climate change.

^ An example of both a mitigation and adaption activity is tree planting. In 2021, KEPO held the Háo Tewaiéntho (Lets Plant!) event where 475 trees and shrubs were planted at five sites around the community By planting trees, we mitigated climate change by taking carbon and other greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and storing them in the trees in a process called carbon sequestration Planting also helps regulate temperatures in urban areas and provide shade and cooler air in the summer months, it helps control soil erosion and improve water quality of water ways, increases biodiversity and habitat resilience to climate change and reducing the risk of wildfires and floods in communities, which are all adaptation measures to climate change

WHY IS CLIMATE CHANGE A PROBLEM?

Small changes in the planet’s average temperature can mean big changes in local and regional climate. This creates risks to public health and safety, water resources, agriculture, infrastructure, and ecosystems.

Climate change affects the weather mainly by intensifying the water cycle. Water evaporates into the atmosphere from both land and sea and returns to Earth’s surface in the form of rain and snow. However, as the world gets warmer, the rate of evaporation from the oceans increases, which powers stronger storms, resulting in flooding in some places and droughts in others.

INDIVIDUAL ACTION

At the individual level, one of our biggest impacts would be switching to more sustainable modes of transport and reducing car use, switching to electric vehicles, and minimizing plane travel. These actions will reduce our carbon footprints and improve air quality. Another way for individuals to help stop climate change is by reducing their meat and dairy consumption and adopting a vegan, vegetarian or even flexitarian lifestyle. Reducing how much we consume in our daily lives for fashion, food, transport, and other lifestyle choices is also an important step to tackle climate change.

Minimizing our use of plastics is an additional step we can take. Since plastic is made from oil, the process of extracting, refining and turning oil into plastic is carbon intensive. Plastics don’t break down quickly in nature, which means it accumulates in landfills and oceans. When plastic is incinerated as a waste management method, it further contributes to emissions.

Finally, one of the strongest messages that individuals can send to help stop climate change is to take collective action, which means voting and holding governments and corporations accountable to change their policies and business practices.

THE KEY WAYS WE CAN STOP CLIMATE CHANGE

Drastically reducing or stopping our consumption of fossil fuels and switching to renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, and geothermal will ensure that we significantly cut carbon emissions, which are the main drivers of climate change. Additionally, planting trees, conserving natural spaces, and stopping deforestation would also help us to keep carbon dioxide and other emissions stored rather than emitted into the atmosphere.

Protecting the oceans is also important as they absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. However, currently the oceans are overfished, exploited for oil and gas drilling, or are threatened by deep sea mining. For these actions to be implemented, all these solutions need strong international cooperation between governments and businesses.

CLIMATE CHANGE DICTIONARY

Understanding climate change terminology can get complicated Let's break it down

Absoluteemissions:

Absolute emissions are one of the ways to measure greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions It refers to the total quantity of GHG being emitted into the atmosphereovertime.

Adaptivecapacity:

In the context of climate change, our adaptive capacity relies on the ability of our social, economic, political, and institutional systems to adjust to change, potential disruptive events or damage, and how we cope with the effects and solveissues.

Albedo:

Albedo is a measure of the reflectivity of a surface. The albedo effect, when referring to the Earth, is a measure of how much of the sun ’ s energy is reflected into space and indicates how reflective surfaces are. If a surface has a low albedo, it means it tends to absorb the sun ’ s energy rather than reflecting it back into space, such as new asphalt or dark water surfaces. Surfaces with a higher albedo reflect rather than absorb more of the sun ’ s energy, such as snow and ice. Arctic regions in particular reflect more heat back into space than theyabsorb,whichcoolstheEarth.

This has been a concern as arctic ice and snow has been melting at higher rates due to higher temperatures, creating areas with darker surfaces in the arctic that reflect less heat back into space.

Anthropogenic:

Anthropogenic refers to processes, effects, events, or objects that are influenced or caused by human activity.

Anthropogenic causes of climate change refer to the way humans are causing and contributing to climate change, such as burningfossilfuels.

CarbonCaptureandSequestration:

Carbon capture and sequestration/storage (CCS) is the process of capturing carbon dioxide (CO₂) formed during industrial processes and power generation and storing it so that it is not released into the atmosphere. Typically, CO₂ is captured from large point sources, for example a coal-fired power plant, and then stored in an underground geological formation or through another carbon capturing technology. The goal of CCS is to prevent the release of CO₂ from heavy industry to mitigate the effects of climate change Some controversy regarding CCS exists, as some argue that instead of focusing on carbon removal, carbon capture and storage is justifying the continued production and useoffossilfuels.

^ In Kahnawà:ke, carbon is captured in the trees and soils of our wetlands and forests, which is why it is so important to maintain and protect these areas. By planting new trees in the community such as KEPO’s Háo Tewaiéntho (Lets Plant!) event, we replace trees in areas that were deforested, which results in sequestering carbon and avoids adding more to the atmosphere

Carbon footprint:

A carbon footprint is the total amount of GHG emissions caused by an individual, organization, service, place, event, or product, and is measured as carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e). Greenhouse gases can be emitted through the burning of fossil fuels, as well as land clearance and the production and consumption of food, manufactured goods, materials, roads, buildings, services, and transportation, among others.

Carbonleakage:

Carbon leakage refers to a situation where there is an increase in GHG emissionsinonecountryorcompanydue

to emissions reductions by another country or company with strict climate policiesortougheremissionsstandards.

This can occur when companies move their production overseas to countries with weaker climate measures, which can result in a rise in global GHG emissions.

Carbonoffset:

A carbon offset is defined as activities and strategies that are implemented to reduce or remove emissions of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases to compensate for emissions made by an organization or company. Carbon offsets are measured in tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e) where one ton of carbonoffsetrepresentsthereductionor removal of one ton of carbon dioxide, or its equivalent in other greenhouse gases, fromgoingintotheatmosphere.

Carbonoffsetcredits:

A carbon offset credit is a permit that allows a company or organization that possesses a permit to emit a certain amount of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases. The credit for emissions reductions given to one organization or company can be sold to another to compensate for its emissions and they are usually measured in tons of CO₂ equivalents. Offset credits are typically purchased and sold by international brokers and trading platforms.

Carbonsinks:

Carbon sinks are places that absorb more carbon than they release. Carbon sinks accumulate and store some carbon-containingcompoundsandlower the concentration of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Globally, the two most important carbon sinks are vegetation and the oceans. Forests continually take carbon out of the atmosphere through photosynthesis, and the ocean through plant growth such as algae, seagrasses, and the accumulation and burial of organic matter in the oceanfloor.

Carbontax:

A carbon tax puts a monetary value on GHG emissions like carbon dioxide and the pollution generated by burning fossil fuels in the production of goods and services. The goal of a carbon tax is to make visible the effects that burning fossil fuels has on our planet, the economy, and our communities. As burning fossil fuels creates GHG emissions, which are the leading cause of climate change, the resulting extreme weather events and the pollution that affect our communities have costs that need to be addressed. By placing a carbon tax on industries that continue to burn fossil fuels, we put a value on carbon emissions, which raises the costs of those products and services, making it moreexpensivetocontinueusing

carbon-intensive processes. This results in a decrease in the demand on those products and services and creates an incentive to invest in the research and development of cleaner technologies and processes, which enables industries to shift away from the use of fossil fuels andourdependenceonthem.

Carbon trading:

Carbon trading (also known as cap-andtrade) is a market-based system that aims to reduce GHG emissions that contribute to climate change. Carbon trading sets an overall limit or cap on the amount of emissions permitted by heavy polluting industries. In a carbon trading system, a country or an industry that has more emissions can purchase credits or permits that gives them the right to emit more and trade or sell permits with a country or industry that emits fewer emissions. If a company reduces its own carbon emissions, it can trade the excess permits on the carbon market for cash. If the company is not able to limit its emissions, it may have to buy extra permits.

Climate engineering:

Climate engineering, also known as geoengineering, is the intentional and large-scale intervention and manipulation of the Earth's climate system and is designed to partially offset some of the impacts of climate change. The most common technologies proposed in climate engineering involve the removal of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere so that there will be less heat trapped and reflect more sunlight away from the planet so less heat is absorbed in the first place. There are still many concerns over the effectiveness, the potential side effects, and unforeseen effects of geoengineering solutions and technologies. Actions such as GHG emissions reductions are still considered the most important and essential for combatting climate change, while geoengineering is viewed as a potential complement to these acts.

Climate forcing:

Climate forcing is the physical process of affecting the Earth’s climate through several forcing factors. A climate forcing factor is any influence on the climate that originates from outside the climate system. The Earth’s climate system includes the oceans, land surfaces, atmosphere, cryosphere, and biosphere. Some of the most important and common climate forcing factors include variations in volcanic eruptions, solar radiation levels, and changing levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Climate hazard:

Climatic hazards are physical processes or events that can harm human health, livelihoods, or the natural systems we rely on. They present risks that may cause disasters in terms of how they impact human settlements or the environment. These hazards can include tropical cyclones, thunderstorms, tornadoes, drought, rain, hail, snow, lightning, fog, wind, temperature extremes, air pollution, and climatic change.

Desertification:

Desertification is a form of land degradation in which biological productivity is lost due to natural processes or by human activities where an area that was fertile becomes increasingly arid. Factors such as overexploitation of soil, climate change, droughtsandotheractivitiescanresultin the spread of dry or arid areas. Desertification is a global problem and can have serious consequences for biodiversity, poverty eradication, socioeconomic and political stability, and sustainable development While land degradation has occurred throughout history, we are currently observing an accelerated rate of 30-35 times the historicalrate.

Eco-anxiety:

Eco-anxiety refers to a form of anxiety or fear related to environmental damage or ecological disaster. This sense of anxiety is largely based on the current and

predicted future state of the environment and human-induced climate change that is frequently communicated to the public through media coverage. his can feel overwhelming, as we are witness to the negative impact our society has on the environment. Ecoanxiety can manifest in several ways such as anxiety, depression, reduced feelings of control and feelings of helplessness, fatalism, and fear.

Eco-anxiety can be caused by the immediate effects of climate change, such as damage to communities and homes, the loss of jobs, livelihoods d financial security, and a loss of cultu significant places by extreme events through the gradual impacts of clim change, such as rising sea levels changes in weather patterns This lead to chronic mental health issues.

Ecosystem services:

Ecosystem services are the numer and diverse ways humans benefit f the natural environment and hea ecosystems. Ecosystem services include natural pollination of crops, purification, extreme weather mitigat and physical and mental well-be

Together, the benefits of ecosys services are often essential to e decomposition of wastes, the supply of clean drinking water, and the production of food.

In recent years, many ecosystem services have been given an economic value so

that they may be compared to an equivalent in human engineered infrastructure and services.

Ecosystem services can be categorized into four main services:

Provisioning, which can include the production of food and water. Regulating, such as the flood protection and the decomposition of wastes.

Supporting, such as nutrient cycles and oxygen production.

Cultural, such as spiritual and recreational benefits

against a relevant unit. For example, this can be emissions per person; or emissions per dollar generated, or grams of carbon dioxide released per megajoule of energy produced, among others.

Eutrophication:

Eutrophication is defined as excessive plant and algal growth in a body of water due to the increased availability of minerals and nutrients that are needed for photosynthesis, such as sunlight, carbon dioxide, and nutrient fertilizers. Eutrophication caused by human activities can accelerate the rate at which nutrients enter ecosystems. For example, runoff from agriculture, pollution from sewer systems, and other human-related activities can increase the amount of inorganic nutrients and organic substances that enter ecosystems. Nutrient pollution that enters a body of water is a primary cause of eutrophication, where excess nutrients, such as nitrogen or phosphorus, promote the growth of algal and aquatic plants. Eutrophication can result in ecological impacts such as decreased biodiversity, changes in species composition and dominance, and toxicity effects.

Fossilfuels:

Afossilfuelisasourceofnon-renewable energy formed over millions of years from the remains of dead plants and animals. The main fossil fuels are petroleum, coal, and natural gas, which are extracted by mining and drilling. Fossil fuels are generally used to provide heat for use directly, to power engines, or to generateelectricity.

Global Warming Potential:

The term Global Warming Potential (GWP)

was developed to allow comparisons of the global warming impacts of different gases. Each gas has a different rate at which it is removed from the atmosphere. GWP measures how much energy the emissions of one ton of a gas will absorb over a given period of time when compared to the emissions of one ton of carbon dioxide.

The higher the GWP, the more a gas warms the Earth compared to CO₂ over that time period. The purpose of GWPs is to provide a common unit of measurement, which allows analysts to calculate emissions estimates and allows policymakers to compare emissions reduction opportunities of different gases across sectors.

Greenhousegases:

Greenhouse gases are gases that, when in the atmosphere, have the effect of allowing the sun ’ s rays to pass through and warm the planet while preventing this warmth from escaping the atmosphere into space. These gases are carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and Sulphur hexafluoride. Human activities, such as burning fossil fuels, have added huge quantities of these gases to the atmosphere, creating a “greenhouse effect” that traps energy from the sun and causes Earth’s temperaturetorise.

Greenwashing:

A form of marketing spin in which marketing is used to convince the public that an organization's products, aims, and policies are environmentally-friendly Greenwashing, combined with ineffective regulation, contributes to consumer skepticism, and reduces the power of the consumer to drive companies toward effective green manufacturing processes and operations. Many corporations use greenwashing to improve the public’s perception of their brands and products

the impacts of extreme weather events as a result of climate change For nearly 30 years, developing countries have been asking for financial assistance for the loss and damage they experience from the effects of climate change that has been mostly caused by developed nations In COP 27, held in November 2022, countries finally reached an agreement on this fund, which must now be set up, and money made available to the affected developing countries who need it to rebuild. There is currently no agreement on how the finance should be providedandwhereitshouldcomefrom.

Nationally Determined Contribution:

LandBack:

Land Back is a movement representing the return of land, stewardship, rights, and food sovereignty to Indigenous Peoples. Land Back is inherently a form of climate action and environmental justice

Lossanddamagefund:

The loss and damage fund refers to a financial system that would assist developingcountrieswhohavesuffered

Nationally determined contributions (NDCs) are plans containing climate actions to cut emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change as set out by the Paris Agreement. Countries report the climate actions, climate-related targets for GHG emissions reductions, and policies and measures that they intend to implement. NDCs represent the efforts of each country to reduce their national emissions. As detailed the Paris Agreement, each signatory country must prepare, report, and maintain continuous NDCs that demonstrate how they intend to achieve the objectives of such contributions. Together, these climate actions determine whether the world accomplishes the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement and reduces GHG emissions as soon as possible.

Nature-based Climate Solutions (NbCS):

Refers to actions such as conservation, restoring and maintaining carbon-rich forests, wetlands and freshwater basins, peatlands, among others to capture carbon or maintain carbon that is already stored in these ecosystems. Nature-based climate solutions focus on how to help ecosystems by protecting and conserving them and ensure they form part of our solution to fighting climate change and biodiversity loss. It is important that nature-based climate solutions are implemented in addition to other mitigation measures that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, to effectively make an impact on climate change.

Ocean acidification:

Ocean acidification is one of the consequences of climate change, where the Earth’s oceans go through a decrease in pH value as they increase the amount of CO₂ they absorb, making them more acidic. As levels of CO₂ in the atmosphere increases from our activities, such as burning fossil fuels and deforestation, the amount of carbon dioxide that is absorbed by the world’s oceans increases. CO₂ that is absorbed by seawater goes through a sequence of chemical reactions that result in carbonic acid, a weak acid. This causes serious implications for the ocean environments and the aquatic creatures, especially animals with shells and corals as they are unable to build and maintain

their shells and skeletons. Ocean acidification and the subsequent changes in marine ecosystems will also have consequences for human societies, as we depend on the goods and services these ecosystems provide. The socioeconomic impacts associated with ocean acidification and the resulting degradation of ocean ecosystems have the potential to affect food security, reduce the coastal protection that we get from marine ecosystems such as coral reefs, reduced tourism, and a diminished capacity for carbon storage and climate regulation.

^ In Kahnawà:ke, the Bay Restoration Project on Tekakwitha Island implemented by KEPO has restored a wetland, naturalised the shoreline and improved the flow of water in the Bay This project is an example of a nature-based climate solution as the restored wetland will capture carbon in the growing vegetation and soils, ensuring it does not end up in the atmosphere.

Paris Agreement:

The Paris Agreement is a binding international treaty signed by 196 countries that entered into force in 2016 with the goal of limiting global warming by keeping the rise in mean global temperature to below 2 °C above preindustrial levels, and ideally limit the increase to 1.5 °C to reduce the effects of climate change. The Agreement states that to stay below 1.5 °C of global warming, emissions need to be cut by roughly 50% by 2030. This is a collective quantity of each country's nationally determined contributions. The Paris Agreement is significant because it brings all nations together to undertake efforts to combat climate change and adapt to its effects. Under the Agreement, each country must determine, plan, and regularly report on its contributions to reducing emissions.

Resilience:

Resilience can be defined as the capacity to respond and recover from a disturbance or event that causes damage

or stress. When it is used in relation to climate change, it refers to our capacity to adapt to climate change impacts, or how we can anticipate, prepare for, respond, and recover from these impacts.

Sustainability:

Sustainability is defined as how we can meet our current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own. To ensure we live in a sustainable way means we are not using more resources than the natural world can provide so that future generationscanthrive.

Tippingpoint:

Generally, a tipping point refers to a critical threshold that, when exceeded, leads to large and often irreversible changes, and can lead to cascading effects to the state of a system. The term tipping point when used in relation to climate change is used to identify vulnerable characteristics of the Earth’s climate system. A major concern is that if the tipping point in one system is reached, it could lead to a cascade of other tipping points. One tipping point identified is the loss or degradation of the Greenland Ice sheet, which if lost, contains enough water to raise global sea levels by over six meters, which would lead to major sea level rise, among many other cascading effects in Earth’secosystems.

In Kahnawà:ke, the Urban Heat Island Effect is felt mainly in areas with less tree canopy cover and more concrete, which absorbs heat and makes these areas hotter However, the importance of Kahnawà:ke’s vegetation and ecosystems is shown in the heat map, where we can see the areas surrounding Kahnawà:ke, which are more urbanised are warmer due to amount of concrete and reduced tree cover. By comparison, Kahnawà:ke’s abundant tree cover ensures it is cooler and will feel the effect of the Urban Heat Island Effect and heatwaves less in summer months

Urbanheatislandeffect:

The urban heat island effect happens when cities replace natural vegetation and land cover with closely packed buildings, paved surfaces, and other types of surfaces that absorb and trap heat, making them significantly warmer then surrounding natural environments and rural areas. Additionally, cities generate their own heat, which is released from sources such as furnaces, airconditioners,andvehicles.

Paved surfaces that are exposed to directsunlightcanbea27to50°C

hotter than the air. The temperature difference is usually more noticeable at night and large cities can be as much as 12°C warmer than their surrounding naturalenvironmentsintheevening.

Vulnerability:

When used in relation to climate change, vulnerability refers to the degree to which a system is susceptible and has the capacity to cope with the adverse effects of climate change, including climate variability and extreme weather events.