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Action Projects Global Warming Understanding Climate Change: What is it? What are its likely impacts? How are humans contributing to it? Global Climate Change Developed by: Contact: Correlations to the CA State Science Content Standards
The evidence that global warming is real is clear and compelling. Since the late 19th century, the average surface temperature of the earth has increased by over 1 degree Fahrenheit. The year 1998 was the warmest ever recorded, and the ten warmest years on record have all occurred in the last 15 years. The forthcoming projections by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change project the temperature increase over the next 100 years to be 2.7-11 degrees Fahrenheit. As the earth gets warmer, there's a significant risk the climate will change in ways that will seriously disrupt our lives. Among the most severe impacts: a rise in sea level; more heat waves and droughts; more extreme weather events, producing floods and property destruction; and tropical diseases spreading to areas where they've not been known before or where public health facilities are not as well equipped to deal with the additional problems. Moreover, climate change could also bring a wholesale shifting of the world's ecosystems, including the destruction of vulnerable habitats such as tundra and alpine meadows. If we don't take action, global warming will threaten our health, our cities, our farms, and our forests, wetlands, and other natural habitats. Fortunately, something can be done. Since a major contributor to global warming is the burning of fossil fuels that pollute the atmosphere with carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases, we can take action to reduce our consumption of fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and gas. But it will take strong leadership from the government, industry, and the public-working together-to make a real difference. In the following activities, you can learn more about what global warming is, what causes it, and how people contribute to the problem, and hence, how they are key to finding a solution. Project 1. What is climate change and why should I care? Take some time with your fellow Earth Team members to become your school's experts on climate change. Observe current, and research past, news coverage on global warming. Make lists of the topics covered (new scientific discoveries, national and international political developments, impacts on local ecosystems, etc.), the people interviewed, the general positions they hold and so on. Discuss what all this global warming news is about and why it gets so much attention. What's the issue, and what's at stake? What is science still unsure about and why are these uncertainties so hard to resolve? How do new discoveries revise our knowledge base? Who are the different interest groups involved in the debate and what is at stake for them? Discuss your thoughts on the issue with your Earth Team peers, family, friends and teachers. When you hear all these predictions for what our world might look like when you're older - does that make you care about the debate, or about climate change? Why or why not? What is at stake for you personally? Why do different interests have such opposing views? What would you say them in response to their positions? After you have done some research and are able to answer the guiding questions below, give a presentation to your school, science class, a local community organization, elementary school or senior center. Give an overview of why climate change is occurring, what some of the potential impacts are, and why your audience should care about climate change. Objectives: Guiding Questions:
Project 2. What can I do about it? What is your family's contribution to the build up of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere? Calculate your family's current CO2 emissions using one of the "carbon calculators" below (see LINKS)! How much carbon do you use a year? How many trees would your family have to plant per year to soak up (sequester) an equivalent amount of carbon? Can you think of ways to reduce your emissions? If you're really ambitious try to calculate your school's total CO2 emissions! Get your science teacher to help! Make it a class project! Take your findings and create a poster or display illustrating your family's or school's carbon emissions to educate other students. And then get your school to think about how to reduce their energy use and emissions!!! Objectives: Guiding Questions:
Climate Science
Calculate your CO2 Emissions:
Suggestions for Reducing CO2 Emissions:
Impacts of Global Climate Change
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