http://www.hurricanescience.org/resources/webinar2012/

Changes in the ocean

• Scientists worry about ocean species success due to Increased levels of CO2 impacting living organisms such as shells of muscles. Scientists were able to predict these potential issues because There are muscles living near underwater volcano current and natural high levels of   CO2 these changes may be happening too fast for evolution and natural selection

• ocean currently serving as a buffer for temperature change

• coral reefs no longer forming

• Melting of sea ice could lead to a tipping point and increasing ocean temperatures

• Scientist suggests an experiment that student could easily do. Beaker containing water and ice and thermometer of temperature probe, apply heat and record heat over time.

Impacts of Climate Change
“As governments respond to the aftermath of severe weather events, water and air quality issues, and changes in the way energy is produced, the economic costs to society will be large.” I do not need to look hard, in either location or timing. I have alreading in some of my posts for this course referred to multiple aspects of what might once of been unusual or rare weather events. All of this is written with the complete understanding that what I am writing about is weather; and that decisions about climate require a bigger view.
1. Major flooding in New England multiple times in the past few years.
2. Lack of snow or even cold temperatures in New England this past winter
3. Major storms and tornadoes throughout the U.S. this spring

What are the greenhouse gases?

• water vapor
• carbon dioxide
• methane
• nitrous oxide

Impacts of the greenhouse gases?

1. An important and often overlooked fact about greenhouse gases and the “greenhouse effect” is that without these gases and their impact on the earth lfe as we know it would not be possible.

2. These gases serve as a blanket absorbing and trapping heat and maintaining an average temperature of 59 0 F.

3. Recent concerns stem from increasing amounts of theses greenhouses gases   especially those caused by the ever increasing release of carbon dioxide caused by humans burning of fossil fuels.

Bad news for Ski Areas

As an ardent skier and lover of winter this graphic is heart breaking. It also may be a great attention getter for high school students who have trouble seeing how things might impact them.

Overview of Greenhouse Effect/Definitions and Causes

•  specific human activities responsible for the increase in four greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and chlorofluorocarbons 
• 
  
•  Of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide is the one that humans have had the most effect upon. The burning of fossil fuels, which really took off once the industrial revolution is what has lead to an increase in the amounts of carbon dioxide in the earth’s atmosphere and thus to an increase in the amount of heat energy that is trapped into the Earth. 
• 
  
•  IPCC has made the claim that climate change is occurring on Earth.
• 
  
•   One important piece of information that kids may have trouble with, it that the proper amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are essential, with out any the earth would no longer be habitable (with and average temperature of 0 degrees vs. the 59 degrees we have today. 
• 
  
•  Most climate scientists agree the main cause of the current global warming trend is human expansion of the "greenhouse effect"1 -- warming that results when the atmosphere traps heat radiating from Earth toward space. 
• 
  
•   Think of how you and your classmates may play a role in their increase.
• 
  
•   Certainly student as well as teachers have a big impact simply by looking at car travel and burning of fossil fuels in the production of electricity
• 
  
•   How does evidence shows that current global warming cannot be explained by changes in the sun's energy
• 
  
•   - what is this evidence?
• 
  
•   One of the arguments given by the nay sayers was that the increase in temperature could be caused by increased solar action …unfortunately there is no truth here because the past ten years have been very hot and the past ten years has had low amounts of solar action.
• 
  
• 
  
•  The series of videos from the NPR site are very good ---I have used these with students in the past and they are very good.
•  1st All about Carbon … as a biology teacher I have always had an affinity toward carbon 
• 
  
• 2nd Making Carbon Bonds…. discussion of the bonds in the carbon of the living things that once buried and fossilized 
• 
  
• 3rd Breaking Carbon Bonds … Energy released once carbon bonds are broken and released to form new bonds at lower energy levels and release energy
• 
  
•  4th Carbon in Love – carbon a social atom and the molecule is happiest with is oxygen. Some of the carbon dioxide are used by plants and some are deposited in the oceans but increasing amounts are released into the atmosphere 
• 
  
• 5th What do we do? – possible solutions carbon sequent ion or we can learn to release carbon

So have my high school seniors already made up their minds about climate change?

So have my high school seniors already made up their minds about climate change?

In Chris Mooney’s article “The Science of Why We Don’tBelieve Science” he discuss multiple examples of science that is backed up by the preponderance of evidence but still has its distractors.  I think I got the point after the first page, actually I did find it interesting that he thought more pieces of evidence he gave the better would be his argument, when his point is that even with all the evidence people still believe what they want to believe. Don’t confuse me with the facts I have already made up my mind. Today I surveyed my students today and it certainly looks like many of them already have some strong feelings as well as some significant misconceptions. The research I have done on misconceptions tells me that kids need to acknowledge and work with their misconceptions before any movement is possible. They have to be given significant reasons to give up those misconceptions and replace these ideas with correct knowledge.