Science Methods II - Week 14

 

1.       What did you do in lab today?

a.       In lab today we began by discussing our interviews with elders in our small groups. The next thing we did was look at amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere from the 1950s to today. We then looked at jars with one different colored bead per 1 million beads. This helped us get a context for what parts-per-million looked like. We talked about, and watched a video on why CO2 changes seasonally, but how there is still a clear rise globally. We then looked at a simulation of how different greenhouse gasses affect infrared and visible light particles. We also watched a video explaining how greenhouse gasses absorb the infrared light emitted by the earth and as more gasses remain, more light is trapped in the atmosphere, warming the earth. We then talked about how the surface temperature is increasing globally, and how the hottest 10 years in history have been in the last decade.

2.       What was the big question?

a.       The big question for this week was: How do we debunk those who say climate change is a myth with hard evidence and data?

3.       What did you learn in Thursday’s discussion?

a.       In discussion Thursday we talked more about the effects of climate change. We talked more about positive feedback cycles, specifically how they relate to Albedo; (Ice caps melt, lowering the albedo of the area, causing more sunlight to melt more ice, causing more ice to melt). I learned how volcanoes in the ocean increased carbon dioxide in the air and continued to release carbon dioxide until more sunlight was trapped and the snowball Earth melted.

4.       Read the textbook, chapter 23

a.       Chapter 23 was the last chapter of the textbook, and I covered my thoughts on that with last week’s blog post.

5.       What do you still have questions about?

a.       I am still curious as to what other data I can look at to learn more about climate change and greenhouse gas emissions. Also, what data can I look at to see the progress we and other countries are making to lower emissions?