Band 117: Miriam Kiesler (2008): Global Warming and the Position of the US Government – a terminology work on the causes and consequences of climate change
Lighthouse 117 / WVT 2008
ISBN 978-3-86821-025-5 • € 29,50
Global warming presents the most serious environmental problem nowadays because it impacts the Earth’s climate on a global scale. In 2007, the IPCC published its fourth assessment report, revealing the enormous temperature increase during the past decade and predicting the impacts of global warming for the 21st century. Immediate international action is, without any doubt, needed to reduce further greenhouse gas emissions and to mitigate the consequences of global warming.
This thesis offers an overview of past climates, the impacts of and the difficulty to respond to climate changes, the political debate on global warming and especially the position of the United States’ government within this debate.
The main section of this thesis focuses on the environmental and political development of global warming and gives an overview of the causes and consequences of climate changes and the measures taken so far to mitigate the impacts. The most important treaties are presented and the corresponding mechanisms are outlined.
The bilingual terminology database in English and German (including 89 entries) was designed to enable the reader to easily access the most significant terms related to global warming.
269 pp., 20 fig.
0 Subject and purpose of this thesis 1
1 Underlying principles of translation-oriented terminology work 4
1.1 The necessity of translation-oriented terminology work 4
1.2 The use of electronic tools after the paradigm shift 5
1.2.1 The range of digital translation tools 5
1.2.1.1 Internet research 5
1.2.1.2 Online communication and discussion forums 7
1.2.1.3 Electronic dictionaries, lexicons and encyclopaedias 8
1.2.1.4 Text analysis and concordance programs 8
1.2.1.5 Translation memory systems and terminology management systems 9
2 Introduction to global warming as a source for terminological examination 11
2.1 Palaeoclimatology 11
2.1.1 Methods to determine past climates 12
2.2 Climates of the past 14
2.2.1 The Eemian interglacial 15
2.2.1.1 The Dansgaard-Oeschger events 16
2.2.1.2 The Heinrich events 17
2.2.1.3 The Younger Dryas 17
2.2.2 The Holocene interglacial 18
2.2.2.1 The Medieval Warm Epoch 19
2.2.2.2 The Little Ice Age 20
2.3 Lessons from the past 21
3 Global warming factors 22
3.1 Environmental factors driving global warming 23
3.1.1 Solar variation and climate change 23
3.1.1.1 The sunspot cycle 23
3.1.2 The effect of orbital variations on climate 25
3.1.2.1 The Milankovich cycle 25
3.1.3 Plate tectonic movement 28
3.1.3.1 Continental drift and climate change 29
3.1.4 The effect of volcanic activity on temperature 30
3.1.4.1 Volcanic emissions 31
3.2 Human activities 32
3.2.1 The impact of fossil fuels 33
3.2.1.1 Coal 34
3.2.1.2 Fossil oil and natural gas 35
3.2.2 The effect of land use change on climate 36
3.2.2.1 Deforestation 37
3.2.3 The greenhouse effect 38
3.2.3.1 The greenhouse gases 39
3.2.3.2 The carbon cycle 43
3.3 Interplay of factors 44
4 The consequences of global warming 46
4.1 Climate change predictions 46
4.2 The impact on ecosystems 47
4.2.1 Forests 48
4.2.1.1 Forest decline 49
4.2.2 The effect on biodiversity 50
4.2.2.1 Animal population 52
4.2.3 The impact on agriculture 53
4.2.3.1 Food supply 55
4.3 The impact on the ocean 56
4.3.1 Sea level rise 57
4.3.1.1 The impacts of sea level rise 59
4.3.2 Changes in the ocean thermohaline circulation 61
4.3.3 Marine biogeochemistry and ocean acidification 63
4.3.4 The effect on ocean ecosystems 65
4.3.4.1 Coral reefs 66
4.4 Extreme weather events 68
4.4.1 El Niņo Southern Oscillation 69
4.4.2 Hurricanes 70
4.5 The impacts on human life 71
4.5.1 Human health 72
4.5.2 The effect of heatwaves on human health 73
4.5.2.1 The 2003 heatwave in Europe 74
4.5.3 The impact of ozone and ultraviolet radiation on human health 75
4.5.4 The spread of infectious diseases 76
4.5.3 The impact on air quality 78
4.5.3.1 The formation of acid rain 79
4.6 The overall impacts of global warming 80
5 Global warming in politics 81
5.1 Background on global warming policy 82
5.2 The climate conferences 84
5.2.1 The first World Climate Conference 85
5.2.2 The first Villach Conference 86
5.2.3 The second Villach Conference 87
5.2.4 The second World Climate Conference 88
5.2.5 The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development 90
5.3 Treaties and measures against global warming 91
5.3.1 The Montreal Protocol 91
5.3.2 The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 92
5.3.3 The Kyoto Protocol 93
5.3.3.1 Joint Implementation 94
5.3.3.2 Clean Development Mechanism 95
5.3.3.3 Emissions Trading 95
5.4 The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 96
6 The position of the US government 98
6.1 The United States’ climate change strategy 99
6.1.1 US climate policies 1980 to 2000: a brief summary 99
6.1.2 Recent initiatives and developments 100
6.2 The energy use in the United States 101
6.3 The Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate 103
6.4 The United States Environmental Protection Agency 104
6.5 The influence of interest and lobby groups 105
6.5.1 The Global Climate Coalition 105
6.6 Local governments 106
6.6.1 The Climate Change Action Plan 107
6.6.2 The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative 107
6.6.3 The California Global Warming Solutions Act 108
7 The present position of climate change politics 109
8 Evaluation of the literature used to create the two-way terminology database 111
8.1 Evaluation of the incorporated lexicons, technical dictionaries and
encyclopaedias 111
9 The two-way terminology database 113
9.1 Description of the terminology entry fields 113
9.2 The database index 115
9.3 The terminology database 119
10 Conclusion 221
11 Appendixes 223
11.1 Some relevant aspects of the Montreal Protocol 223
11.2 Summary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 228
11.3 Some relevant aspects of the Kyoto Protocol 230
11.4 Useful websites on global warming 233
12 Bibliography 237
12.1 Linguistic literature 237
12.2 Dictionaries and lexicons 237
12.2.1 Dictionaries and lexicons online 238
12.3 Literature of global warming and climate change 238
12.3.1 English literature 238
12.3.2 German literature 239
12.4 Newspapers and magazines 240
12.5 Reader 240
12.6 Internet resources 240
13 List of Figures 253