Educational Resources

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate and its effects to moderate harm or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate and its effects. Human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate and its effects.

The ability of systems, institutions, humans, and other organisms to adjust to potential damage, to take advantage of opportunities, or to respond to consequences.

Any chemical used in agriculture, including chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and insecticides.

A layer of gas and suspended solids extending from the Earth’s surface up many thousands of miles, becoming increasingly thinner with distance but always held by the Earth’s gravitational pull.

Storage of carbon through natural or technological processes in biomass or in deep geological formations.

Chronic toxicity is broadly defined as the ability of a substance to cause deleterious effects to living organisms during a long-term exposure.

Climate is the long-term average of temperature, precipitation, and other weather variables at a given location. Every 30 years, climate scientists calculate new averages. The normal high and low temperatures reported on your local weather forecast come from these 30-year averages.

Changes in average weather conditions that persist over multiple decades or longer. Climate change encompasses both increases and decreases in temperature, as well as shifts in precipitation, changes in frequency and location of severe weather events, and changes to other features of the climate system.

An observation or calculation that allows scientists, analysts, decision makers, and others to track environmental trends, understand key factors that influence the environment, and identify effects on ecosystems and society. In the US Caribbean context, these represent the trends and future scenarios of atmospheric temperature, precipitation, sea level change, sea surface temperature, ocean acidification and tropical cyclones for Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands through time.

Is associated with atmospheric processes averaged over timescales of weeks to millennia. Because atmospheric behavior is strongly coupled to the oceans and land surface, physical oceanography and land surface physics are also considered part of the science of climate dynamics.

The capacity of interconnected social, economic, and ecological systems to cope with a climate change event, trend, or disturbance, responding or reorganizing in ways that maintain their essential function, identity, and structure. Climate resilience is a subset of resilience against climate-induced or climate-related impacts.

Understanding our influence on climate and climate’s influence on us and the society. Climate literacy seeks that people: understand the essential principles of Earth’s climate systems; know how to assess scientifically credible information about climate; communicate about climate and climate change in a meaningful way; are able to make informed and responsible decisions with regard to actions that may affect climate.

Climate variability is the way aspects of climate (such as temperature and precipitation) differ from an average, and can include extreme values. Climate variability occurs due to natural and sometimes periodic changes in the circulation of the air and ocean, volcanic eruptions, and other factors.

A period of abnormally dry weather marked by little or no rain that lasts long enough to cause water shortage for people and natural systems.

A natural variability in ocean water surface pressure that causes periodic changes in ocean surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific ocean. El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) has two phases: the warm oceanic phase, El Niño, accompanies high air surface pressure in the western Pacific, while the cold phase, La Niña, accompanies low air surface pressure in the western Pacific. Each phase generally lasts for 6 to 18 months. ENSO events occur irregularly, roughly every 3 to 7 years. The extremes of this climate pattern’s oscillations cause extreme weather (such as floods and droughts) in many regions of the world.

The science, art, and practice of managing and using trees, forests, and their associated resources.

The increase in global surface temperature relative to a baseline reference period, averaging over a period sufficient to remove interannual variations (e.g., 20 or 30 years). A common choice for the baseline is 1850–1900 (the earliest period of reliable observations with sufficient geographic coverage), with more modern baselines used depending on the application.

Are used to enhance livestock feeding by controlling the harvest of forages with grazing animals. The purposes of a managed grazing system are; improve or maintain the health and vigor of plant communities, improve or maintain quality and quantity of forage for livestock health and productivity, and promote economic stability through grazing land sustainability.

Gases that absorb heat in the atmosphere near the Earth’s surface, preventing it from escaping into space. If the atmospheric concentrations of these gases rise, the average temperature of the lower atmosphere will gradually increase, a phenomenon known as the greenhouse effect. Greenhouse gases include, for example, carbon dioxide, water vapor, and methane.

The negative health impacts, such as heat stroke or heat exhaustion, caused by exposure to extreme heat or long periods in hot environments.

A period of abnormally hot weather lasting days to weeks.

Land degradation is defined as the reduction or loss of the biological or economic productivity and complexity of rain fed cropland, irrigated cropland, or range, pasture, forest and woodlands resulting from a combination of pressures, including land use and management practices.

Mental health is a state of mental well-being that enables people to cope with the stresses of life, realize their abilities, learn well and work well, and contribute to their community. It is an integral component of health and well-being that underpins our individual and collective abilities to make decisions, build relationships and shape the world we live in.

Measures to reduce the amount and speed of future climate change by reducing emissions of heat-trapping gases or removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

The leading mode of large-scale atmospheric variability in the North Atlantic basin characterized by alternating (see-saw) variations in sea level pressure or geopotential height between the Azores High in the subtropics and the Icelandic Low in the mid- to high latitudes, with some northward extension deep into the Arctic.

The promotion and maintenance of the highest degree of physical, mental, and social well-being of workers in all occupations; the prevention amongst workers of departures from health caused by their working conditions; the protection of workers in their employment from risks resulting from factors adverse to health; the placing and maintenance of the workers in an occupational environment adapted to their physiological and psychological capabilities.

The process by which ocean waters have become more acidic due to the absorption of human-produced carbon dioxide, which interacts with ocean water to form carbonic acid and lower the ocean’s pH. Acidity reduces the capacity of key plankton species and shelled animals to form and maintain shells.

Efficacy is defined as the ability of a pest control product to fulfil the claims made on the product label. It includes the extent of control of the pest problem and considers any adverse effects on the treated site.

Efficency is the effectiveness against a pest (the preventive value) and the period that its effectiveness can be maintained (the period of the effectiveness).

The natural ability of a biotype of an organism to survive exposure to a pesticide that would normally kill an individual of that species; this occurs with insects, fungi, weed, and other pests.

Piece rate pay occurs when workers are paid by the unit performed (e.g. the number of tee shirts or bricks produced) instead of being paid on the basis of time spent on the job.

RCP stands for ‘Representative Concentration Pathway”. To understand how our climate may change in future, we need to preduct how we will behave. For example, will we continue to burn fossil fuels at an ever-increaseing rate, or will we shift towards renewable energy? The RCPs try to capture these future trends. They make predictions of how concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere will change in future as a result of human activities. The four RCPs range from very high (RCP8.5) through to very low (RCP2.6) future concentrations. The numerical values of the RCPs (2.6, 4.5, 6.0 and 8.5) refer to the concentrations in 2100.

Any substance which can cause inflammation or other adverse reactions in the respiratory system (lungs, nose, mouth, larynx and trachea).

Sets of assumptions used to help understand potential future conditions such as population growth, land use, and sea level rise. Scenarios are neither predictions nor forecasts. Scenarios are commonly used for planning purposes.

Silvopastures are the integration of trees and forages into a working system on a farm.

Is a warm-core low pressure system, without any front attached, that develops over the tropical or subtropical waters and has an organized circulation. These include tropical depresions, tropical storms, and hurricanes.

The tendency for higher air temperatures to persist in urban areas as a result of heat absorbed and emitted by buildings and asphalt, tending to make cities warmer than the surrounding countryside.

The degree to which physical, biological, and socio-economic systems are susceptible to and unable to cope with adverse impacts of climate change.

Describes the state of the atmosphere at a given point in time and geographic location. Weather forecasts provide an estimate of the conditions we expect to experience in the near future and are based on statistical models of similar conditions from previous weather events.

Working lands are managed areas, typically privately owned, but can be publicly owned, which are actively used for agricultural, forestry, or productive purposes.