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In regard to curricula materials on climate change: Yes, there are three
modules at the National Center for Atmospheric Research to compliment
their Climate Discovery exhibit. You can find the materials at
www.eo.ucar.edu/educators/ClimateDiscovery. The three modules, designed
for middle school students, are on the Sun-Earth connection,
paleoclimatology, and climate present. (Climate future is in the works.
Stay tuned.) There is also curriculum (currently in draft form but will
be in final form by mid December) at
www.atd.ucar.edu/apol/biocomplexity. The module at this site is
entitled Carbon, Climate, and Technology and is designed primarily for
high school students and also physics or laser optics courses. Much was
designed by two educators who worked with scientists over the past three
summers on new technology to measure carbon-12 and carbon-13. The site
also contains numerous informal video clips of scientists involved with
the project answering climate change questions that the teachers had.
There is a lot out there on climate change. I know Northwestern
University has a terrific module and I believe the EPA & Center for
Concerned Scientist do as well. Do a search at DLESE.org (an Earth
Science portal based at NCAR) to find more or contact me at the email below.
To respond to Fred Singer's interview would take much of my afternoon I
fear. Suffice it to say, that over the past 25 years, climate models
have come much closer to providing detailed estimates of feedbacks and
of regional features. It's well known that one major uncertainty in
climate models are clouds and their interaction with radiation and
aerosols. Nevertheless, confidence in climate models to provide useful
projections of future climate has improved due to their demonstrated
performance on a range of space and time scales. Climate models do not
just predict future climate. NCAR's Community Climate System Model 3
accurately reproduces the climate of the past century. Models that
accurately reproduce past climate give us confidence in their ability to
do the same for the future, despite the remaining uncertainties in our
very complex climate system.
Also of interest: This past weekend news broke of a new Antarctic ice
core from Vostok dating back in time nearly three-quarters of a million
years. The data collected shows that CO2 levels are the highest they've
been in 650,000 years (formerly, we had records of atmospheric
concentrations dating back 440,000 years.) You can Google/News "Vostok
Ice Core" to read more about it.
Also, in regard to David's comment regarding volcanic eruptions, he is
correct in stating that our climate cools for a period following major
eruptions -- the degree of cooling being dependent on the size of the
eruption. Prior to the 1970s, the warming that occurred on Earth was
well within the range of natural variability, including cooling
following El Chi After this period, however, we cannot account for the
degree of warming without adding in the anthropogenic forcing. Without
the anthropogenic forcing, models show that Earth's climate would
actually be cooling. When we add in the anthropogenic forcings, then
the models clearly show the Earth's increasing temperatures. And don't
forget that the increase in global temperature is a mean. While much of
the world is warming modestly, the arctic circle is experiencing a
drastic increases in temperature. (See a terrific 140 page report in PDF
on impacts of a warming arctic at the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment:
http://www.acia.uaf.edu/).
Disturbing climate news also came from "commitment model runs" for the
IPCC third assessment report due out in 2007. In a commitment run,
climate models run in a zero future emissions scenario (meaning we stop
driving, heating our homes, etc. etc. etc. -- truly zero emissions). The
climate models still clearly show that we will continue to warm for a
period and the oceans will continue to rise significantly due to our
former emissions (and that's if we stop ALL emissions now).
Suffice it to say, there is no doubt Earth is warming (not even up for
debate anymore) and there is no doubt humans have become part of the
climate system. We are changing the composition of the atmosphere. We
are gambling with the climate system of future generations, namely our
children and grandchildren. We live with uncertainty everyday. With a
system as complex as the climate system, we will probably never have all
the answers. Nevertheless, over 10,000 policy makers are in Montreal
right now for the annual United Nations conclave on global warming
(COP-11). Its true that the Kyoto Protocol will hardly make a dent in
GHG emissions, but at least it is a start.
We should all take heed of the IPCC's 2007 report. It is comprised of
the leading climate scientists from around the world.
(There 2001 report is available online), including scientists from
Saudia Arabia and other oil producing nations. The reports are
conservative in that they include what the thousands of scientists agree
on. The process is extremely open and the reports are a consensus of
what is agreed upon.
Another "must read" that will be published next years comes from Susan
Moser, PhD (NCAR) and Lisa Dilling, PhD (CU Boulder) regarding
communicating climate change (read their Dec. 2004 article in
Environment magazine entitled, "Making Climate Hot -- Communicating the
Urgency and Challenge of Global Climate Change" if you'd like a
precursor of the book.)
I'll keep you posted on this last recommendation once I know their
book's title and its release date.
If anyone would like recommendations on reports etc. where they can
learn more about the issue of climate change, feel free to contact me at
[log in to unmask]
Teri Eastburn
NCAR Educational Designer
Jennifer Gorenstein wrote:
> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
> institutions.
> *****************************************************************************
>
>
> Regarding the recent emails sent about global warming - does anyone
> know or have information about a module or curriculum written on the
> topic? We organize an annual K-12 professional development conference
> each summer and would like to partner to offer a workshop focusing on
> global warming.
>
> For more information visit http://k12summerinstitute.mdanderson.org/
>
> Thanks in advance, Jennifer
>
>
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