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Academic Standards Check out the Classroom Ideas below. Each one is linked to one or more standards. Please contact us with your ideas! Related KEEP Activities
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IntroductionWarm winters and early springs, hurricanes occurring more frequently in the Caribbean, icebergs breaking off the Antarctic ice pack, are these signs of global climate change or merely normal fluctuations in Earth's atmospheric cycles? Find one scientist who supports these events as foretelling major climatic changes and there will be another scientist who provides equally convincing evidence that refutes the first scientist's arguments. While the media may enjoy fueling this newsworthy debate, the conflicting information results in a confused public. Society needs the skills and insights to be able to analyze this issue and decide which scientific claims are valid. However, it seems that students (our future society) lack an understanding behind the science that warms our atmosphere to the temperature needed to sustain life (the greenhouse effect). Where are we getting this misinformation? One source is the media. With terms like greenhouse effect and global warming being used interchangeably and each producing a variety of simplistic images, there is little wonder that we develop alternative frameworks to explain the process that warms our atmosphere. The issues surrounding understanding of the greenhouse effect have reached a level of sophistication that it is necessary for researchers to be specific about which aspect of the problem they are investigating. In understanding the greenhouse effect, the public needs to be able to distinguish between the scientific explanations of the natural phenomenon and scientific projections of what might occur if the phenomenon is enhanced. In understanding the issue, people need to appreciate that the debate involves the causes, reactions, as well as the consequences of the enhanced greenhouse. The first step to ensure that we have these abilities is to make sure our education system provides students with the scientific thinking skills and concepts to interpret how our atmosphere behaves. Perhaps part of this process is acknowledging that the terms "greenhouse effect" and "global warming" are misnomers and contribute in part to their own misunderstanding. Our school system needs to ensure that students possess the scientific knowledge to explain the greenhouse effect as well as the critical thinking skills to interpret what scientists, journalists, and politicians are saying when they make or debate claims related to the issue. With this comprehension, students have a better chance of becoming voting citizens who have the evaluative skills to decide whether and how to support policy decisions and take actions to manage their consumption of natural resources, including those that contribute to the greenhouse gas emissions. Note: A common misconception held by students is that ozone depletion contributes to global warming. It is important to make sure your students understand the differences between these two phenomena. Although there are common chemicals involved in both ozone depletion and the green house effect, they take place in different parts of the atmosphere and have very different environmental effects. To read a paper that looked at this misconception closely and tried to figure out ways to get students past that block, click the PDF link below. by Sara C. Kerr and Kenneth A. Walz Journal of Chemical Education Vol. 84 No. 10 Pgs.1693-1697 (2007)Terms To Know
Atmospheric
Ozone - Gaseous compound of three
oxygen atoms that forms a thin layer in the atmosphere that absorbs
harmful solar ultraviolet radiation. Compare to Ground Level Ozone.
Enhanced Greenhouse Effect - When the natural greenhouse effect has
been enhanced by human activities, such as accelerated emissions of
greenhouse gases. Also called Global Warming and Global Climate Change. Global Dimming - is the gradual reduction in the amount of global direct irradiance at the Earth's surface.
Classroom Ideas
Guest Speakers Click here to find contacts for guest speakers in your area.
Activities and Lessons 2. Involve students in an Energy Issue Investigation and Action Project.
3. Have students make a Science Fair presentation about their research.
Ask a ScientistQuestion:
Hi Dr. Walz, I wanted to ask your personal opinion about topics like global warming and carbon dioxide emissions. For example, do you think human created carbon dioxide emissions can significantly impact global temperatures? Or is it being hyped in the media just for somebody's personal profit or ego? I have a hard time believing that people can really affect the temperature that much when you consider how our climate has changed so much over the last few hundred thousand years (falling into and out of ice ages). You can't tell me the ice melted 12,000 years ago because of cars, you know? I just think some people forget that there are some big factors out there, like the earth's tilt on its axis, its orbit around the sun, and even the sun's solar output just can't be perfectly consistent. I assume they are variables and much bigger than a coal power plant in Oak Creek. I'd be interested in what you think about some of these controversial issues. __________________________________________________________________________________________________
Answer provided by: Kenneth A. Walz, PhD Chemistry and Engineering Instructor Madison Area Technical College
Greetings and thanks for your very thoughtful question. I have looked at this from various sides, and have explored the topic over the past 15 years with students from many angles, so let me give you my take. 1) There is no question that the earth is getting warmer. having spent the past couple summers in Alaska and seeing what is happening with their glaciers, and melting of permafrost, there is little question that surface temps are going up. Virtually all scientists agree on this. 2) Then the only real question is if the warming is natural or if it is man-made. The answer actually appears to be BOTH. There is a natural climate cycle - called the Milankovitch cycle - that functions very much like you describe based on the tilt and wobble of the earth's orbit and variations in the sun's intensity that reaches the earth. Based on ice core records, this cycle ebbs and flows on about a 100,000 year increment. Based on these records, it is also very clear that we are currently on the upswing of a Milankovitch cycle. This is responsible for some of the warming that we currently see. However... 3) Current warming trends are much more extreme, and more rapid than anything seen in past Milankovitch cycles. The climate models that have been built to describe what happens due to these natural factors cannot accurately explain the changes that we are currently observing in glaciers, melting sea ice, and increasing ocean temperatures. Something very different appears to be happening. And that something appears to be greenhouse gasses (mostly carbon dioxide released from fossil fuel combustion). 4) Those same ice cores that have given us the evidence for the natural Milankovitch cycle also have trapped CO2 in the ice that describes the composition of past atmospheres. Looking back almost a million years, the CO2 concentration has never exceeded 300 parts per million (ppm) - even at the very peak of the Milankovitch warming events. However, CO2 has been on the rise since the industrial revolution, and shows a huge increase starting in the early 1900s (just after World War I). Today, we are at about 385 ppm - this is unprecedented. 5) Svante Arrhenius was a Nobel winning chemist in the 1800's. He was the first to describe acids as being chemicals that donate H+ ions when dissolved in solution. In another set of famous experiments, he demonstrated how molecules like CO2 could absorb infrared (heat) radiation due to the properties of their molecular bonds. At the time he suggested the possibility of an atmospheric warming due to a "greenhouse effect" related to fossil fuel combustion. Nobody at the time thought it was possible for humans to affect the atmosphere this much. 6) What we now know after many years studying the original Arrhenius concept is that he appears to have been correct. Not only do we know how CO2 works in the atmosphere, but if you COMBINE, the effects of the natural Milankovitch cycle with the predicted effects of elevated CO2 in the atmosphere, you can almost exactly model the current global warming events that are seen across the earth. Worse yet, the models show that the CO2levels actually have a wicked feedback loop on the Milankovitch cycle. Just to simply illustrate this take two examples: a) If you increase the CO2 and absorb more heat, it melts snow, and you get less reflection of light from the surface. Less reflection means more absorption, making the surface warmer, melting more snow, etc.. b) As the surface warms, organic material (dead plants) that were frozen in permafrost thaw out. These start to decompose and release CO2 into the atmosphere which then absorbs more heat, thaws more permafrost, etc.... 7) I say almost because there is one more wrinkle - when we burn fossil fuels we also put a mess of soot into the air. Some of this is elemental carbon (black soot) and other is organic carbon (white soot). These obviously reflect or absorb light and heat in different ways, and to get really good matches on the climate models, we need to account for this also. It turns out that our sooty air pollution right now is probably helping to hold global warming at least partially in check. If we actually cleaned up our soot, the earth would probably get even hotter, and do so even faster than it is right now [Global Dimming]! Pretty scary to think that the only thing that is keeping us from cooking the planet is to simultaneously pollute the air we breathe! Anyways, I hope this helps some. If you have not seen Al Gore's film An Inconvenient Truth, I suggest checking it out. Also the April 3, 2006 issue of Time Magazine on Global Warming was really good. The cover was with the polar bear on the ice sheet and the title "Be Worried. Be Very Worried."
Support MaterialsWebsites 2010 International Conference on Climate Change www.heartland.org/events/2010Chicago/index.html
EPA's Climate Change Website The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) IPCC has been established to assess scientific, technical and socio- economic information relevant for the understanding of climate change, its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation. www.ipcc.ch/
Paradise Lost? An art exhibit on climate change in the Northwoods. www.wisc.edu/cbe/K12/paradiselost.html
United Nations Climate Change Conference in
www.unfccc.int/meetings/cop_13/items/4049.php
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
US Climate Action Network (USCAN)
The White House Energy and the Environment www.whitehouse.gov/issues/energy-and-environment
Climate Debate Daily
http://climatedebatedaily.com/ MORE CLIMATE CHANGE Resources Climate Change: A Wisconsin Activity Guide The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is proud to introduce a climate change guide for educators to use in their classrooms and activities. It is designed to teach 7th to 12th grade students about how climate change affects all of us in Wisconsin, Climate Change: A Wisconsin Activity Guide includes twelve engaging activities suitable for classes in English and language arts, environmental education, math, science, art and social studies. Educators can preview this timely guide at www.dnr.wi.gov/eek/teacher/climatechangeguide.htm and can order free copies by sending an e-mail to DNRAirEducation@wisconsin.gov with their mailing and email addresses.
Climate Change Education interdisciplinary/multidisciplinary resources present the basics of climate change, global warming, and solutions through multi-disciplinary approaches and include background materials. Visit the website at www.ClimateChangeEducation.org.
Climate Change – What You Can Do You release greenhouse gases as a result of using energy to drive, using electricity to light and heat your home, and through other activities that support our quality of life. Greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced through simple measures. This EPA site provides over 25 easy steps you can take to not only reduce your greenhouse gas emissions, but also reduce air pollution, increase the nation’s energy independence, and save money. Visit www.epa.gov/climatechange/wycd/index.html to learn more.
Dimming the Sun This program aired on PBS investigates the discovery that the sunlight reaching Earth has been growing dimmer, which may seem surprising given all the international concern over global warming.
Global Climate Change Research Explorer The Human Toll of Climate Change Science projects dangers to people and their well-being, including severe natural disasters, the spread of disease, loss of coastal communities, and declining crop and fish yields. A new map from the Center for American Progress provides scientific information on these threats, compiled from a variety of sources, and plots this information geographically to show areas of concern. Visit http://maps.scienceprogress.org/climate/index.php to view the map.
Wisconsin Center for Environmental Education Resource Library Includes books and activities on Global Climate Change. Check out this link for their bibliography: www.uwsp.edu/cnr/wcee/PDF/Bibs/Climate.PDF.
World's Top Emitters of CO2 - Carbon Monitoring for Action (CARMA)
A new interactive online database provides maps,
color-coded categories, and detailed information about who is putting 10
billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually from power
plants around the world -- about a fourth of it from the
CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE NEWS
Source: The Washington Post, August 10, 2008
Convincing the climate-change skeptics Source: Boston Globe, August 4, 2008
The Nation; Climate change a threat to health, EPA finds; Its report contrasts with its recent move on greenhouse gases. Source: LA Times, July 18, 2008 www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-climate18-2008jul18,0,4650919.story
Midwestern Perceptions of Climate Change and Energy Selected results from a recent
climate change & energy survey by the Energy Center of Wisconsin are
available at
www.ecw.org/climate-opinion. Overall, the survey found that:
See ECW's three public communiqués for more
information: Public Opinion and the Capacity for Action presents Midwesterners’ beliefs about climate change and their
suggestions for solving the problem. Public Opinion and Policy Preferences presents Midwesterners’ expectations of the public sector to address climate
change.
The Utility-Customer Connection presents Midwesterners’ expectations of
their utility company. The Climate Change and Energy Study of Public Opinion is an on-going initiative of the Energy Center of Wisconsin. The 2007 results were based on 3,284 comprehensive surveys completed by residents of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. Selected results from a nationwide repeat in 2008 will be posted in the future at www.ecw.org/climate-opinion.
EPA Climate Change News Releases www.epa.gov/climatechange/newsroom.html
Biofuels Cause Climate Change
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change For an update on the Climate Change debate and the most recent convention, visit http://unfccc.int/2860.php.
Roundtable
Discussion on Global Climate Change A Journal Sentinel Roundtable discussion met last week on climate change and the consensus was “silver bullet” isn’t the answer to global warming, but “silver buckshot” may be. The need for action crosses the spectrum: It must come at the international, federal, state and local levels; from governments and business; from groups and individuals. The response to the crisis of climate change must come from all levels of government, from the free market and from individual citizens. Only such a concerted effort can adequately address what many call the crisis of this century.
Source:
Environmental Effects of Increased Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Source: Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, Volume 12, 2007 pgs 79-90
500 Scientists with Documented Doubts of Man-Made Global Warming Scares
Climate Myths and Misconceptions An article entitled “Climate Change: A guide for the perplexed,” in the New Scientist provides a list of many of the most common climate myths and misconceptions. There is also a guide to assessing the evidence and links to primary research and major reports.
From Inside and Out, Climate Change Panel Is Pushed to Change Source: The New York Times- January 26, 2010 |
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