Changes need to be made

Great article on the effects of GCC

Cool website

A colleague emailed me this website today on how to make our students more aware of their actions when using water. With global warming causing less precipitation, I think this could be a cool resource to use.
Water Planet Challenge

Blog Post 4

What is the relationship between increasing amounts of greenhouse gases and global climate change?
As we increase the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, we are thickening the "blanket" that surrounds our Earth and keeps our world habitable. While it is unknown the exact effect on the climate that increased greenhouses gases will have it is hypothesized that the earth will gradually warm. PBS learning media has a good video clip on how greenhouse gases effect climate change: Global Warming There it is some question as to how this warming temperature will effect cloud cover and therefore effect global climate. Imperfect understanding of climate feedbacks is a major cause of uncertainty and concern about global warming. How can the use of climate models help in the understanding of these uncertainties?
Climate models are run several times with different pollution and technological advances being taken into consideration in order to give scientists a better idea of what may occur in the next 100 years. The article "Accuracy and Uncertainty in Climate Models" helps to explain how climate models can account for a large range of possible scenarios.
With regards to the six emission scenarios, describe any evidence existing today that would suggest to you one or more of the scenarios may occur within the next 100 years. What key uncertainties (climate forcings and feedbacks) would exist for these scenarios as a whole, or specific ones individually?
In regards to the 6 emission scenarios. I think A1 (all 3 types) and B1 would be the most likely to occur. Rapid growth (up to 8.9 billion) is projected by the year 2050 with a decrease following. Economically, I do not see A2 or B2 being as likely because we are such a global economy and changing from importing a large portion of our goods to being self-reliant would affect our market and our jobs.
I don't believe that either of the climate forcings will be effected by any specific scenario; however, I think that as population grows in all 6 scenarios, CO2, methane and NO will rise. In A1B and A1T, less fossil fuels area used so that may decrease the feedback from some of the greenhouse gases. Assuing that population did increase to maximum capacity, I feel it is safe to assume that a global pandemic would not be out of the question and therefore could affect the feedbacks as well.

Thought this was interesting

Scary to think that we may be less than 2,000 days away from completely and irreversibly changing our climate.
"World has five years to avoid severe warming"

Importance of teaching GCC

In reflecting on the readings from this week, I am understanding more why it is so important to teach GCC in the classroom in order to create well-rounded 21st century learners. The students that we have today are going to be the ones who have to create something to help save our environment-whether that is coming up with an alternative fuel or creating crops that need less water and survive better in hotter climates. The 21st century student is going to have some major global challenges--famine, water loss, sea level rise; they will be responsible for solving these problems so I hope I am teaching them the problem-solving skills necessary!

Blog Post 2-Climate Feedback and Forcing

In my area, Lexington, South Carolina, we have a coal-burning electric company nearby. This would be the most prevalent climate forcing issue because of all of the aerosols put into the air. For those unfamiliar with terms see In the United States, see the "Glossary of Climate Change Terms". there has been an increase in temperature and CO2 levels as seen in the "Climate Time Machine" interactive. I believe that this increase is due to an increased consumption of fossil fuels over the past few decades.
In order to help my students I have found or borrowed resources from the STEM 417 course. These range from data to explanations of what climate forcing and feedback is. I really like the top resource because it offers the most common myths.
Skeptical Science (click on the thermometer on the right)
Pacific Tsunami Warning Center
Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center
Environmental Literacy Center: Climate Forcing & Feedback
Climate Forcing Data
The Azimuth Project: Climate forcing and feedback

Post 2-how do NASA, STEM and PBL meet the needs of 21st century education?

I would have to agree with Fisch's statement that we are preparing students today for jobs that do not exist. We must think on a large scale and be imaginative. NASA scientists focus on this everyday! How do we get to a planet/star/galaxy that we don't even know exists yet? How can we create a shuttle that uses a fuel that hasn't been developed yet? These scientists can't just "google it" as so many of our students do. They have to be creative and come up with new, never before thought of strategies. Project-based learning sets the stage for this. By asking our students to solve a problem, they must learn to think out of the box. Integrating science, technology, engineering and math is necessary to come up with solutions or ideas for most things that would be posed in my class. When the oil spill hit in the Gulf, I wish I had been teaching Biology. What a wonderful (yet tragic) opportunity to use PBL! I would love to have seen what my students could have come up with in order to fix the spill itself or in order to clean up the spilled oil. With all of the wonderful technology that we are lucky enough to have now, I want to see students utilize it to come up with something new.