Focus the Nation

In order to learn the most about global warming, I decided to view several resources, and then decide my own opinion, based on real factual evidence. First I viewed An Inconvenient Truth as well as The 2% Solution. Also, I researched articles at Science Daily (http://www.sciencedaily.com/), and I came across many interesting facts about greenhouse gases, global warming, and human contribution.

1) Throughout An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore discusses the trends between temperature and CO2 emissions. Everyone in the Media would like to have us believe that rising CO2 levels cause temperature to rise, however, that is simply not the case. When going back through those charts, it is very clear that temperature rises before CO2 does. If temperature rises first, how can it be caused by CO2 emissions? It can’t. “As temperatures rise, the carbon dioxide equilibrium in the water changes, and this releases more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. According to this scenario, atmospheric carbon dioxide is then an indicator of rising temperatures -- not the driving force behind it” (ScienceDaily.com).

2) Global warming isn’t as imminent as we think. The atmosphere had 5 times as much carbon dioxide in the air, and they were able to not only survive, but to thrive (ncpa.org). If the dinosaurs could survive this, there is a could chance humans can too. Also, the earth naturally goes through cycles, alternating between ice ages and periods of unusually high heat. The earth has been doing this for millions of years, so, obviously, if humans weren’t producing CO2, the earth would still be getting hotter. We are simply in a period where the temperature is rising. Temperature is constantly oscillating, as shown in the chart above, whether or not we contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. The earth has cycles to cool itself off, as well as heat itself up,which leads me to the third thing I learned about Global Warming.

3) Humans account for less than 5% of the CO2 released in into the atmosphere each year (ScienceDaily.com). Though humans do make a contribution to the rise of CO2, it is not as large an amount as we think. On the 2% solution, the suggestion for lowering greenhouse gases, is by lowering CO2 emissions by 2% each year, for 40 years. However, if humans account for only 5% of CO2, then the 2% solution will ultimately have very little effect on the greenhouse gases. As stated above, this is a natural process that the earth goes through, and we should simply let nature take its course, as it has been doing for millions of years. If humans can survive the 4 degree temperature drop that occurred 1300 years ago, we can survive the 4 degree temperature increase that we are allegedly heading into.

Throughout my classroom, in order to help kids learn about greenhouse gases, as well as to let them come to their own conclusions, I would have them research the topic themselves, then create linear graphs of temperature and CO2 means over a specific time period, perhaps over the last 10 years. This would allow them to learn about the topic at hand, as well as to practice their skills at creating graphs. Also, to bring differentiated instruction into my lesson, I would allow them to recreate the graphs however they like, possible creating webquest to follow.

Bibliography
An Inconvenient Truth. Dir. Davis Guggenheim. Perf. Al Gore. DVD. 2006.

"Greenhouse Gases Helped Dinosaurs Thrive." National Center for Policy Analysis. 6 Nov. 2004. NCPA. 1 Feb. 2008 .

Ohio State University. "Global Warming Natural, May End Within 20 Years, Says Ohio State University Researcher." ScienceDaily 15 June 2001. 1 February 2008

The 2% Solution. EarthDay TV. University of Florida. 31 Jan. 2008. 1 Feb. 2008 .

Web 2.0 Educator

I chose to read several blog entries by Cool Cat Teacher Vicki Davis. Her specialty seems to be integrating technology into the classroom. In one blog entry, she discussed the ELearn's predictions for 2008, however, she noted there were no teachers included in their predictions, so she made her own, and posted them in her blog. "E-Learning will become an integral part of the face to face classroom with students learning to collaborate not only with their seatmate, but with teammates from around the world." She strongly supports technology integration, and is very knowledgeable in that area. She also, interestingly enough, discusses the importance of things like MySpace and Facebook, and I completely agree with her thoughts on technology. Vicki Davis feels that it is important to use things like blogging and IM regularly, but also to limit yourself, because there are some people out there with Internet addictions. She feels that staying in touch, and developing different tech skills are important, as someday all this will be integrated into the classroom. I agree, because, whether we want to accept it or not, we live in a technological era. Laptops are already being integrated into daily student life, and soon most assignments will be done online. So it is very important to stay technologically savvy, but also to create limits to make sure that it’s you who are controlling the computer, not the computer controlling you. Vicki Davis is a very knowledgeable resource on the subject of technology integration, and I definitely will look at more of her blog posts in the future.