Module VII Response

Essential Question: How is Earth's climate connected to its geological, biological, and cultural systems?

The Earth's climate is interdependent to its geological, biological, and cultural systems - which is the same idea that we keep coming back to each module: everything is connected. Photosynthesis, carbon, all of these finely-tuned processes evolved along with our planet - and allowed us to do the same. In this module I learned all about the element carbon, and how it is central to our existence and evolution, and changing climate. Every time we drive our cars or burn coal for electricity we are adding more CO2 to into the atmosphere, and more carbon dioxide means our atmosphere is able to absorb more heat. Most scientists agree that the Earth's global temperature will continue to rise as long as we continue to burn fossil fuels (Global Warming: The Physics of the Greenhouse Effect). The part about all of this I found to be the most frightening is that carbon dioxide emissions are changing the environment not just for us, but for future generations (Global Warming: Carbon Dioxide and the Greenhouse Effect). Additionally, over the past two centuries the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased by nearly 25% - which a has some scary implications if you think about it...

On a different note, as I didn't really understand a whole lot about carbon before this module I found the TD video Capturing Carbon so fascinating (not to mention I just love the idea of an "energy penalty," see pic of referee at right). I really enjoyed this resource though; perhaps because so many of the science concepts in this course are so over my head, or perhaps there was something in it that just resonated with me (like the father creating a system to capture carbon dioxide from an experiment that his own daughter came up with!). Clearly you cannot use more energy to create something than you are actually creating yourself! If their synthetic tree produces more CO2 to run than it can capture - well, what's the point?! Can they somehow reduce the amount of energy they use? FASCINATING!! Then, how to capture CO2? Top secret! Amazing. Overall, I think it is just that we hear about wind mills and there is such a "green" revolution going on all around us but it is not everyday that the entire process of how these things are discovered and manipulated to work is put in front of you. I think even my third graders would find this interesting, albeit may be a little over their heads...

The positive feedback loop discussed in the Soil Microbes and Global Warming TD resource was rather interesting, especially because "Changes in the Arctic landscape are provoking concern about the future, not just for the peoples of the north, but for all the earth's inhabitants." It made think more about the connection of the people and cultural aspects affected by all of the climate change occurring.

La'ona DeWilde experiences traveling to villages and teaching locals how to do mapping and take water samples and data is a wonderful example of how Alaska Native people can learn to interact and combine their knowledge with the Western science world, that will benefit and help both groups. Makes me think of one of the questions from the module that related "shining two lights on the same path." Lastly, change is an immediate concern for those whose traditional life ways depend on the land and its wildlife - especially in Alaska. (Alaska Native Teens Help Researchers)

A note about a few resources:

• I really enjoyed the link to the www.Good.is site, it proved to be a very interesting source. After perusing it a little more just now (nothing like a good distraction), I found an article (or entry or whatever it is called) about a group of Portlanders who have perhaps taken a few steps in the right direction of solving the whole carbon problem with their "virtual commune," Bright Neighbor. Check it out for more information.
• NOVA's Origins website had an interesting interactive section titled A Brief History of Life with some great pictures and descriptions where you can explore the past 4.5 billion years of life in just a few minutes!
• Global Warming: The Physics of the Greenhouse Effect was easy to understand and explained the greenhouse effect very well.
• Arctic Climate Modeling Program seems like a great resource, I plan to look into it more to see if it might be something that I could use for my Final Project.