This seminar contains resources to explore why carbon is the basis for all life forms.  Activities show how the structural characteristics of carbon allow it to be both efficient and versatile to form the basis of all life.  A learning  lab creates a visual discovery of  the unique bonding capacity of the carbon atom and how it can create a variety of biological structures that support life.  StandardsBIO.A.2.2.1 Explain how carbon is uniquely suited to form biological macromolecules.

The DISCOVER-AQ curriculum integrates real-word research with real-life learning to answer the question: What are the causes and effects of air quality issues and how do they affect human health and the environment?

Common elemental building blocks of biological molecules: Carbon, Oxygen, Hydrogen, Nitrogen and Phosphorus.

Our world runs on energy - without it, things come to a screeching halt, as the recent hurricanes have shown. Ever stop to wonder what our energy future is? What are our options for energy, and what are the associated economic and climatic implications? In \Energy and the Environment\" we explore these questions, which together represent one of the great challenges of our time - providing energy for high quality of life and economic growth while avoiding dangerous climate change. This course takes an optimistic view of our prospects, and we'll see how shifting to renewable energy can lead to a viable future.

Students learn about the periodic table and how pervasive the elements are in our daily lives. After reviewing the table organization and facts about the first 20 elements, they play an element identification game. They also learn that engineers incorporate these elements into the design of new products and processes. Acting as computer and animation engineers, students creatively express their new knowledge by creating a superhero character based on of the elements they now know so well. They will then pair with another superhero and create a dynamic duo out of the two elements, which will represent a molecule.

Increasingly volatile climate and weather; vulnerable drinking water supplies; shrinking wildlife habitats; widespread deforestation due to energy and food production. These are examples of environmental challenges that are of critical importance in our world, both in far away places and close to home, and are particularly well suited to inquiry using geographic information systems. In GEOG 487 you will explore topics like these and learn about data and spatial analysis techniques commonly employed in environmental applications. After taking this course you will be equipped with relevant analytical approaches and tools that you can readily apply to your own environmental contexts.

In this 8th grade science lesson, students review the six essential elements of life and discuss how they function in the garden.

Students learn about energy and nutrient flow in various biosphere climates and environments. They learn about herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, food chains and food webs, seeing the interdependence between producers, consumers and decomposers. Students are introduced to the roles of the hydrologic (water), carbon, and nitrogen cycles in sustaining the worlds' ecosystems so living organisms survive. This lesson is part of a series of six lessons in which students use their growing understanding of various environments and the engineering design process, to design and create their own model biodome ecosystems.

This video segment adapted from NOVA illustrates why carbon is at the center of life on Earth. It also asks whether carbon-based life might exist on other planets.

This course is an introduction to chemical oceanography. It describes reservoir models and residence time, major ion composition of seawater, inputs to and outputs from the ocean via rivers, the atmosphere, and the sea floor. Biogeochemical cycling within the oceanic water column and sediments, emphasizing the roles played by the formation, transport, and alteration of oceanic particles and the effects that these processes have on seawater composition. Cycles of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, oxygen, and sulfur. Uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide by the ocean. Material presented through lectures and student-led presentation and discussion of recent papers.

The structure of the course is designed to have students acquire a broad understanding of the field of Marine Chemistry; to get a feel for experimental methodologies, the results that they have generated and the theoretical insights they have yielded to date.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Human activity is driving an increase in the amount of atmospheric reactive nitrogen. California grassland growth is typically limited by the amount of available nitrogen. Thus, more available nitrogen leads to more plant biomass, which means more carbon is deposited in the soil. Both the increase in nitrogen itself and the increase in carbon affect soil microbes. To better understand these impacts, a recent study examined microbial metabolic functioning in experimental grassland plots in California. These plots had been maintained for 14 years with increased nitrogen deposition mimicking the predicted levels for the end of the 21st century. This increased deposition led to an increased abundance of fast-growing bacterial species, as well as an increased capacity to use easily accessible, or labile, carbon sources. In contrast, the community's capacity to degrade recalcitrant carbon sources was unchanged or even decreased by elevated nitrogen..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

The focus of PlaNet-Maize is to investigate the effect of environmental and endogenous factors on the growth and water relations of the maize plant. This functional–structural plant model (FSPM) encompasses the entire soil-plant-atmosphere continuum with a sub-organ resolution. The model simulates the growth and development of an individual maize plant and the flux of water through the plant structure, from the rhizosphere to the leaf boundary layer.
This web interface only display basic capabilities of PlaNet-Maize, mainly for teaching purposes.

This module teaches students about ozone’s role in the atmosphere and explores authentic data to compare and contrast conditions that affect ground-level ozone values.

El objetivo del caso de la captura del carbono en los bosques a nivel escuela preparatoria es basarse en la ciencia de la captura de carbono del caso de la escuela secundaria. En este caso, la captura de carbono se refiere a la eliminación de carbono (en forma de dióxido de carbono) de la atmósfera a través del proceso de fotosíntesis. El almacenamiento de carbono se refiere a la cantidad de carbono unido al material leñoso por encima y por debajo del suelo. Los estudiantes de preparatoria desarrollarán una comprensión de las variables y consideraciones que surgen del manejo de los bosques para diferentes propósitos, incluida la captura o secuestro de carbono y otros servicios del ecosistema. 

Los estudiantes exploran el fenómeno de cómo un árbol obtiene su masa. Se les anima a pensar en lo que saben sobre la fotosíntesis y explicar lo que saben y lo que se preguntan sobre el fenómeno de una semilla que se transforma en un árbol grande y tiene masa. Específicamente, el carbono se absorbe de la atmósfera en forma de CO2 y se transforma en glucosa para proporcionar energía y, en última instancia, material de construcción (celulosa). En este caso, la captura de carbono se refiere a la eliminación de carbono (en la forma de dióxido de carbono) de la atmósfera a través del proceso de fotosíntesis. El almacenamiento de carbono se refiere a la cantidad de carbono unido al material leñoso por encima y por debajo del suelo.  

La rápida expansión de la frontera agrícola como consecuencia desmesurada de la deforestación y cambios antropogénicos a nivel mundial, es un tema de preocupación por la comunidad científica internacional. Además, frente a una lucha contra el cambio climático por efecto de la ganadería, una de las principales estrategias para la mitigación de gases de efecto invernadero, lo constituyen alternativas sostenibles si uso de productos con alta huella de carbono, revalorizando, además, los recursos locales. En el caso de la zona norte de Ecuador, a pesar de los limitados atributos respecto a gradiente de fertilidad de los suelos, la cría de ganado ya sea de leche y/o doble propósito representa uno de los eslabones más fuertes dentro de la economía de las familias. Por lo tanto, es menester investigar alternativas de producción que nos permitan conservar los recursos naturales dada la fragilidad de estos ecosistemas megadiversos. Mediante este libro se plasma que el uso de sistemas ganaderos convencionales, degradan los recursos naturales con mermas significativas de la productividad, así como bajo réditos económicos. En consecuencia, la implementación de sistemas silvopastoriles como alternativa tecnológica de fácil instalación, es sin duda el camino para alcanzar sistemas ganaderos más eficientes, amigables con el medio ambiente, diversificando además los ingresos económicos de la población.

Over several days, students learn about composites, including carbon-fiber-reinforced polymers, and their applications in modern life. This prepares students to be able to put data from an associated statistical analysis activity into context as they conduct meticulous statistical analyses to evaluate/determine the effectiveness of carbon fiber patches to repair steel. This lesson and its associated activity are suitable for use during the last six weeks of an AP Statistics course; see the topics and timing note for details. A PowerPoint® presentation and post-quiz are provided.

How can we translate real-world challenges into future business opportunities? How can individuals, organizations, and society learn and undergo change at the pace needed to stave off worsening problems? Today, organizations of all kinds—traditional manufacturing firms, those that extract resources, a huge variety of new start-ups, services, non-profits, and governmental organizations of all types, among many others—are tackling these very questions. For some, the massive challenges of moving towards sustainability offer real opportunities for new products and services, for reinventing old ones, or for solving problems in new ways. The course aims to provide participants with access and in-depth exposure to firms that are actively grappling with the sustainability-related issues through cases, readings and guest speakers.