I found an interesting chart put out by an Australian company that tracks carbon emissions by country.

I was surprised that the US is not the highest. OK we’re close. . .

I also found a Canadian blog that is a resource for teachers, but would be great for any kind of research on environmental studies.

Can Climate Change Make Us Sicker? 

Jason shared this Time/CNN article with me–it was really intersting.

In this article, Bryan Walsh writes about the effect of climate change on human health, including

• a rise in malaria caused by the increase in strong downpours
• heat related deaths caused by heat waves in places not used to such temperatures (Europe 2003), especially the elderly
• water borne diseases because the water cycle changes (heavy rainfall)

“For him, carbon dioxide should be treated as a pollutant that damages human health, albeit indirectly, and it’s in our medical interests to reduce it. ‘Energy policy becomes one and the same as public health policy,’ says Patz”

Check out the Nature editorial that says that slowing global warming would be very difficult because the “technological changes needed to decarbonize energy could be much harder than we thought”–are we already too late?

“the priority should be adapting our public health system to a warmer world, versus spending on carbon mitigation.”

Patz thinks that we have a plan for  the effects is important but even more important would be “cutting off the problem upstream”

On the page of this article, there was a podcast  that was an interview with Dr. Jonathan Patz, a professor of environmental studies and population health sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (that’s where Mr. Landow went to school–I wonder if he knows him!), in which he elaborated on some of the ideas in Walsh’s article.  It was also a good example of an expert interview–I think the interviewer may have been Walsh.

Some interesting ideas:

• Important not just adapting, but fighting the causes–

• Greenhouse gases have a 1/2 life of 70-100 years–we will have a warming, so we will need to adapt, but that is not all–if we only focus on that, “we’re mopping up the floor while the faucet is still running”

• Patz talks about the importance of environmental policy merging with energy policies and health policies–they all converge with climate change.

Reflection

This was an informative article and interview.  The fact that the CO2 is not going away for awhile, no matter what we do made me realize that adaptation and preparation for the health and economic concerns is going to be essential.  But that is not enough–I think people may think the fix is the solution–we’ll take our medicine and avoid malaria, but do nothing to stop the cause of the disease (literal and metaphoric).

This morning when I was driving to work and heard a great NPR story about a college student who was going to all kinds of conferences on global warming. She is a real activist. Then some of the things she was saying made it sound like she was at Wash U and lo and behold she was! When I got to school I looked up the story about this Climate Policy Wonk–she might be a good lead for an expert interview.

Today we had the kids write about what they had learned so far.

• What you’ve learned?
• What’s surprised you?
• What should the focus of your segment be (based on what you know so far)?
• What further research do you need?
• Do you have any research that could help another group? (and what are you going to do about it?)

For the most part, they gave thoughtful responses.

We also talked more about academic discourse and that part of continuing the discussion is to answer the questions and address the comments that the blog-readers pose. They needed direct instruction to open the links that others gave them and to respond to those articles. The blog readers have been unbelievably helpful. They have raised thoughtful questions and have been excited to share resources.

Now interviews. I’m getting a bit nervous. We started standardized testing today and we really need the time to get some interviews lined up. I guess we could use in-house specialists, but I would like the kids to get the experience of getting outsiders to be a part of the process. I want them to make those cold calls and figure out how to explain what they need and what they need to do to get the information they need. It takes a lot of planning. I’m hoping that the environmental studies department at Wash U. will be a good resource. I’m not sure if I should call ahead or not. . . probably not. But. . . I just hope it get finished before finals!

Here is a sample summary/response for a Climate Connections story from NPR.

It’s All About Carbon: a 5 part video/cartoon

Summary

Part 1: Global Warming, It’s all About Carbon

This first segment was mostly an introduction to the series and didn’t get much into global warming. It did focus on the importance of CARBON in the whole matter.

Interesting facts about carbon:

1. after we take out water from our bodies, we are 2/3 carbon
2. carbon attaches to other things easily
3. carbon has 4 points of attachment
4. carbon takes on many forms: spheres, lines, jungle gyms

Part 2: Making Carbon BondsThis segments talks mostly about how carbon attracts and attaches easily and about how strong those bonds are.

Interesting facts about carbon bonds

1. carbon bonds are so strong that even after something dies, the carbon is still connected
2. ancient jellyfish called zoa something (need to look that up) died, sank to the bottom of the sea, and then under pressure became oil (fossil fuel)
3. “oil, then, is ancient life that is liquified”
4. making a bond takes energy, breaking it releases it

Part 3: Breaking Carbon Bonds

This segment talks about how breaking carbon bonds produces energy

Interesting facts about breaking carbon bonds

1. heat excites the molecules and makes them break apart
2. they from new bonds that are more stable and efficient, so there is some energy left over, just floating around
3. digestion also breaks down bonds, releases energy in the form of calories, fuels the body
4. same for engines–spark heats the gasoline, breaks bonds, releases energy for movement
5. the richer humans become, the more carbon they use

Other elements produce energy (uranium, dangerous; hydrogen, expensive) but carbon is still the most common and cheapest form of energy

Part 4: Carbon in Love

When energy is released, it is in the form of carbon dioxide (digestion to breathing; fire to heat; engines to tailpipe exhaust)

When carbon bonds break a carbon atom looks for a new atom–it love oxygen, especially 2 and that molecule CO2 is very hard to break.

Interesting facts about CO2

1. trees and sea absorb CO2
2. too much in the air for trees to absorb creates “greenhouse effect” b/c it is floating out in the air
3. when sun bounces heat off of earth up to sky, CO2 doesn’t break (too strong of bond), it just heats up–leads to global warming

Part 5: What Can We Do?

Carbon is going to behave like carbon (and probably people are going to behave like people) so. . .

Possibilities

1. use alternative energy: solar, wind,
2. capture CO2 and store it in the ground
3. vacuum CO2 out of the sky (carbon sequestration)
4. people change behavior (use less carbon)

Response
So, I chose this cartoon because I love Robert Krulwich–I think he is witty and makes science compelling for the non-scientist without dumbing it down. These short videos were a good reminder for me of my 10th grade chemistry class–covalent bonds have not been on my mind much since then–and how breaking bonds produces energy. It also reminded me about the common element in all living things–made me start thinking about the one-ness of it all–perhaps a bit too philosophical for this project.

The last section really raised questions for me:

1. Can we change our behavior, or are we, like carbon always going to behave in the same manner?
2. I didn’t know about the vacuuming CO2 prospect–what would the downside to such an invention be? Where would the CO2 go once it is in the vacuum–the dust in my vacuum at home has to be dumped out eventually.
3. What are the ramifications of putting CO2 in the ground? What if it leaked?
4. Could we get rid of too much CO2?

I think the class can really learn from the style of this video–there were videos, cartoons, sound effects, and fast-paced, humorous narration. I don’t know how funny this documentary we are making can be, but the information was memorable because of the delivery. I hadn’t thought about adding drawings to the documentary–I’ll bet we have some artists in class who might be into making cartoons, if not animated drawings. Something to think about.