Environmental Science Global Climate Change
Mrs. Douma The Controversy: Fact or Fiction
Lesson Objectives
· Participate in group brainstorming sessions and class discussions related to the impact of the greenhouse effect and global warming.
· Hypothesize about the effects of global warming on the climate and the world’s populations
· Conduct research using a variety of primary sources to explore perspectives in the global warming debate
· Complete a Venn Diagram that compares various points of view on global warming issues.
· Take a position on global warming and support this viewpoint with reasons, facts, and examples gather during lesson activities.
Lesson One
Background:
Until about 1960, most scientists thought it implausible that humans could actually affect average global temperatures. Today, most scientists agree that Earth’s temperature has risen over the past century and that carbon dioxide is one of the primary greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. Disagreement persists, however, over whether or not global climate change is a normal environmental variation, and over how big of a problem global warming could become for the planet.
Amidst such controversy, world leaders met and outlined legal rules, known as the Kyoto Protocol, to limit the emissions of greenhouse gases. The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on 11 December 1997 and entered into force on 16 February 2005. The detailed rules for the implementation of the Protocol were adopted at COP 7 (Conferences of the Parties) in Marrakesh in 2001, and are called the “Marrakesh Accords.” One hundred forty countries that collectively represent 61.6% of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide have ratified the Kyoto Protocol. In 2012 the Kyoto Protocol runs out. In 2009, there was a conference in Copenhagen where the parties of the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) meet for the last time on government level before the climate agreement need to be renewed.
The United States does not support the Kyoto Protocol and disagrees with a number of its provisions. Instead, the U.S. has funded additional scientific research on the causes and effects of global warming, encouraging climate change technology research and development efforts, backing the research and development of renewable energy sources, and pursuing other strategies that it believes will address global climate change without major upsets to the U.S. economy.
A Timeline on Climate Debate
Assignment:
Create an annotated time line using the following websites, plus any other website you research. http://www.pbs.org/now/science/climatechange.html#
Your timeline should be to scale and cover the last 100+ years. Annotate your entries with a summary of the event. You should understand the importance of each event entry. Your annotations should be on regular letter size paper and attached to your completed timeline.
Other websites:
· History of Climate negotiations http://www.davidsuzuki.org/issues/climate-change/science/international-climate-negotiations/history-of-climate-negotiations/
· Climate Science Watch http://www.climatesciencewatch.org/history/
· Climate Change Timeline http://butnowyouknow.net/those-who-fail-to-learn-from-history/climate-change-timeline/
· Discovery of Global Warming http://www.aip.org/history/climate/timeline.htm