The environment, pollution and global warming
From the previous session, the students will have acquired enough information to now move on to pollutants and global warming. We will initially focus on our relationship to the environment and the need to keep it clean to safeguard life on Earth. Our discussion will start with a brainstorming session on what things/activities students think pollute the environment and later rank those items from the most to the least contribution. A common list of pollutants should have items that can be placed in a broader classification of air, water and land pollution. Towards the end of this activity, students will be able to trace the biggest impacts of pollutants in our environment to fossil-fuel related activities.
Right after, we will study 2 graphs: one from econbrowser.com that shows CO 2 emissions by fossil fuel; the second one from earth-policy.org which shows the top 5 countries with the most carbon emissions. Analysis and conclusions will point out that carbon emissions are slightly diminishing in the US but that globally they are still increasing and that coal and petroleum consumption is lowering but natural gas consumption is rising. In a next session, we will spend some time studying and discussing the interactive map in the Breathing Earth website: this world map displays the amount of CO 2 being released in real time by every country in the world.
We will continue by watching a video about the greenhouse effect and global warming from You Tube. From this video, students will understand that there is a natural, desired greenhouse effect that, however, has been exacerbate by our energy choices. Further discussion will be led to bring students' awareness to the potential for catastrophes if we continue such a path. We will come back to the importance of energy and I will guide them to arrive at the conclusion that, as a country, we need to rely on the energetic resources readily available, and closer to our communities. We will discuss how sustainable sources of energy keep us competitive in the world market while also ensuring the survival of our planet. A guest speaker from Sustainable Tulsa will join us to present and discuss renewables, as well as any local or state initiative regarding new and cleaner sources of energy.
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