Without language there is no science. To be practicing scientists and derive new knowledge, we need language – reading, writing, talking, listening, enacting, and visualizing. Writing is one way to communicate understanding of our learning while allowing us to be creative in our delivery and provide insight and possible solutions to problems.
Albedo is a rather foreign word to many people. Craft a 2 minute “elevator speech” that would allow you to effectively explain what albedo is, why it is a considered a cycle without an end, and why it is of concern to you. Your goal after the “elevator ride” is to leave the person wanting to know more about the topic. Education is and will continue to play a major role in how we as individuals and as a nation address climate change.
*Special Note* – an elevator speech reflects the idea that it should be possible to deliver your topic in the time span of an elevator ride, or approximately thirty seconds to two minutes.
As climate changes the habitats of many species are impacted. The focus of our work was around Alaska. There several species that are considered endangered or threatened in this part of the United States, including the iconic polar bear, Northern Sea otter, Stellar’s Eastern and Western Sea Lion, and many other animal, fish, and plant species.
Go to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s Environmental Conservation Online System. Choose a species to learn more about. Investigate how climate change is impacting its survival and look into what scientists are doing now to help save the species and create your own design solutions that can help the species adapt in their changing climate.
Our energy practices from extraction to production and from transmission to consumption have a significant impacts on climate change. We see those effects quickest at the poles in the form of ice melt leading to global sea level rise.
Go to the Energy Information Administration’s site and choose your state. Write a summary profiling your states rank on total energy consumption, nonrenewable energy production, and carbon dioxide emissions. Then choose from any number of other pieces of information you feel are important for the public to aware of and better understand.