This highly informative site explores five different ecosystems and the public health issues that have arisen in each. Students can explore the different ways that ecosystem services that address air quality, heat hazard mitigation, recreation and physical activity, water hazard mitigation, and water quality impact many health conditions.

In the board game "EcoVenture," resources play a crucial role in shaping players' decisions and strategies as they aim to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Here's a brief description of the types of resources in the game:Water:Represents the sustainable use and management of water resources. Players may encounter decisions related to water conservation, clean water access, and responsible usage.Energy:Focuses on renewable and sustainable energy sources. Players make choices related to energy production, consumption, and the impact on the environment.Agriculture:Reflects sustainable farming and food production practices. Players may need to consider aspects such as organic farming, crop diversity, and responsible land use.Biodiversity:Addresses the preservation of ecosystems and wildlife. Players make decisions related to habitat protection, conservation efforts, and sustainable practices to support biodiversity.Other Natural Resources:Depending on the game's design, additional resource cards might represent minerals, forests, or other natural elements. Decisions could involve responsible extraction, reforestation, or conservation.

Students learn about the concepts of the tragedy of the commons and sustainability in the Course Introduction. Project 1 builds on these concepts by having students analyze their family’s ecological footprint using data they collect by auditing their use of various resources. Students then propose how they their family live more sustainably. Part of Sprocket's AP environmental science course.

Lurking beneath our natural desire to ensure that water will always be available to perform its many life-supporting functions is the fear that it will run out. Our thinking (in truth, our feeling) about water tends to be dominated by myth and misunderstanding. We believe that our 'need' for water is exponentially greater than other wants and needs; we also believe that this intense 'need' confers special status, making water a unique resource. We mistrust the ability of people to recognize water's special status, and we assert that only through common or public ownership can we preserve water for future generations. Paradoxically, while our conviction that water is unique derives from our knowledge of its many important uses, we have trouble acknowledging the value of water in anything other than pristine form. We tend to assume that, when it comes to water, there's no such thing as 'too clean.' Unfortunately, in acquiescing to these myths, we make things worse; we create for ourselves an intellectual box that constrains our ability to conserve the resource we value so highly. These lessons challenge the myths and use economic reasoning to suggest a new way to think about our use of this vital resource. In brief, the lessons assert: (1) that in economic terms, water is not fundamentally different from any other resource, good, or service; and (2) that many of the answers to our concerns about water conservation and water quality can be found in markets, the same institution that provides us bread, shoes, underwear, tractors, flowers, computers, charities, flu shots, bubblegum, the collectible craze of the moment, and the myriad other products we find 'essential' to the way we wish to live.

The Economics of Infrastructure is the first video in the Explore Economics animated series. It shows how infrastructure such as roads, bridges, railroad lines, water mains, sewer pipes, and power lines support the operation of an economy.

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:

"Neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder, or NMOSD, is a rare auto-immune demyelinating disease of the central nervous system. Now considered a separate disorder from multiple sclerosis, NMOSD can be severely disabling and life-threatening, with a reported mortality of between 7 and 32%. The hallmark of the disease is recurrent attacks of optic neuritis and/or transverse myelitis that result in accumulating, irreversible disability, including blindness and paraplegia. Approximately 75 to 90% of patients with NMOSD have a disease-specific, pathogenic IgG autoantibody against the aquaporin-4 water channel, or AQP4. This antibody is thought to bind to AQP4 on astrocyte foot processes at the blood-brain barrier. This causes damage to astrocytes and the blood-brain barrier itself through several mechanisms, including the formation of the membrane attack complex through activation of the complement component C5b9..."

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

Students construct model landfill liners using tape and strips of plastic, within resource constraints. The challenge is to construct a bag that is able to hold a cup of water without leaking. This represents similar challenges that environmental engineers face when piecing together liners for real landfills that are acres and acres in size.

This activity is a field trip investigation where students gather stream flow, volume, depth & height (area) data on Ramsey County dams (Keller and Round lake), interpret their findings and make in-depth observations in order to assess the effectiveness of dams through the season and estimate the life-span of the dams in years.

In this video produced by ThinkTV, explore the effects of land masses on local climate conditions, and learn about regional impacts of land-atmosphere interactions.

Nitrate and phosphate are useful as fertilizers in agriculture and gardening. Nitrate and phosphate aid agricultural production by producing more abundant crops. However, since the mass production of ammonia during the 1940's by way of the Haber process, it has been noted that a phenomenon known as “nitrate pollution” may occur. This pollution can be demonstrated by conducting this simple experiment. This experiment demonstrates two main ideas. The first is a test of what levels of nitrate and phosphate allow for optimum algal growth. The second demonstrates at which levels of nitrate and phosphate algal blooms may occur, causing harm to an aquatic ecosystem (Freeman, 2002).

In this video segment adapted from NOVA scienceNOW, scientists examine the link between rising sea surface temperature and more intense hurricanes.

Students will observe and record the changes caused by weathering and erosion from moving water have on limestone.

In this media-rich lesson, students learn how global warming is changing the Alaskan environment and examine the consequences of climate change on the region's human and wildlife inhabitants.

This worksheet helps students think about the cause and effect of pressure/temperature changes in subsurface and how these changes would affect the state of a solid rock. In this worksheet, students are given 6 different scenarios and associated pressure/temperature charts with a solidus line and a starting pressure/temperature point. Scenarios include heating and melting due to a nearby intrusion, diagenesis, decompression melting, cooling of magma at the surface, and adding water to the system. For each scenario, students draw an arrow from the starting point to show how the pressure and temperature would change. For example, students are told that a rock in the subsurface quickly rises towards the surface and melts, so fast that the temperature doesn't change much. A student would then draw a vertical arrow up to show that there is only a change in pressure. There scenarios are chosen to help students better understand the complexities of the subsurface in terms of pressure and temperature.

This worksheet uses the sketch-understanding program with built-in tutor: CogSketch . Therefore, students, instructors, and/or institution computer labs need to download the program from here: http://www.qrg.northwestern.edu/software/cogsketch/. At any point during the worksheet, students can click the FEEDBACK button and their sketch is compared to the solution image. The built-in tutor identifies any discrepancies and reports pre-written feedback to help the student correct their sketch until they are done with the activity. Once worksheets are emailed to the instructor, worksheets can be batch graded and easily evaluated. This program allows instructors to assign sketching activities that require very little time commitment. Instead, the built-in tutor provides feedback whenever the student requests, without the presence of the instructor. More information on using the program and the activity is in the Instructor's Notes.

We have developed approximately two dozen introductory geoscience worksheets using this program. Each worksheet has a background image and instructions for a sketching task. You can find additional worksheets by searching for "CogSketch" using the search box at the top of this page. We expect to have uploaded all of them by the end of the summer of 2016.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

OBJECTIVES:At the end of the topic students will be able to:1) Students will be able to understand the effects of heat on the states of matter.2) Students will gain in depth understanding of the concept of thermal expansion and contraction of solids.3) Students will apply the concept of thermal expansion and contraction of solids in their day-to-day life.Standard:7th Standard  and aboveContent Analysis:New Terms i) Change of state of a substance                  ii) Expansion and contraction of solidsDefinition:The changing of solids into a liquid and a liquid into a gas on heating is called a change of state of a substance.Concept:For a substance to undergo a change of state, heat must either be given to it or taken away from it.Examples:1) When we place the ice on a table it gets converted into a liquid.2) On heating water, it gets converted into the vapour that is the gaseous form.3) On cooling the hot water it gets converted into the liquid form. When we place a lid on the top of the hot water, water droplets are formed on the surface of the lid that is condensation takes place.4) When we put water in a refrigerator it becomes ice after sometime.Expansion and contraction of solids:On heating most solids expand that is their length or volume increase. While on cooling solids contract.Examples:1) If the tin lid of a bottle is struck on too tightly, we often dip it in warm water to help open the bottle.2) If two metal bowls have got struck one inside the other, we place them in hot water. This helps to separate the two bowls easily.Experiment:When the metal wire is heated it expands. That is, its length increases. As a result it pushes the pointer. If we stop heating the wire it cools slowly and contracts and the pointer goes back to its original position. Thus we see that solids expand when heated and contract when cooled.

Students use a watt meter to measure energy input into a hot plate or hot pot used to heat water. The theoretical amount of energy required to raise the water by the measure temperature change is calculated and compared to the electrical energy input to calculate efficiency.

In this course you will start by identifying the different steps a HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) engineers need to follow to come to a proper design while collaborating with the architect.

You will then learn how to distribute heat and cold using air and water systems, what temperature levels to use in both and how that relates to the type of energy supply and to the thermal quality of the building construction. You will further deepen your knowledge on air handling units and how to humidify and dehumidify air when needed and what that does mean for the energy consumption. As ventilation systems are often responsible for local thermal discomfort, you will also discover how different distribution systems lead to different comfort experiences and different indoor air qualities and you will know which simple control techniques can be applied.

Finally you will study a modern complex system consisting of an aquifer thermal storage, heat pump, boiler, solar collector, PV-cells, air handling unit, water and air distribution systems. This will allow you to develop skills to catch the complexity of such HVAC systems and to understand the basic rules of how to control them to get the best out of them and how to use data from the Building Energy Management System to help you in this task.

This video explains what El NiÃo is and provides the definition of El NiÃo. It goes into detail about the devastating terrestrial and aquatic effects an El NiÃo can have on living organisms and the climate (disease, storms, floods, tornadoes, drought, wildfire, increased air temperatures, decreased water temperatures, etc).

This short video illustrates the phenomena of El NiÃo and La NiÃa: their relationships to tradewinds and surface water temperatures, and their effects on precipitation in North America.

El Niño is marked by the appearance from time to time of warm water in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean. The end result of the evaporative process that follows is excessive rainfall.