Students conduct a greenhouse gas emission inventory for their college or university …
Students conduct a greenhouse gas emission inventory for their college or university as a required part of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment.
Link the college or university operations with local ecology. In this study, …
Link the college or university operations with local ecology. In this study, students use a tool from urban ecology, the nitrogen budget, to research the inputs, outputs and subsytem transfers of nitrogen on the college or university campus.
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In this nonfiction story, young readers and listeners learn how scientists use …
In this nonfiction story, young readers and listeners learn how scientists use cross sections from trees to reconstruct past climates. Versions are provided for readers at two levels, k-2 and 3-5, and in text-only and illustrated formats. The story is also available as an electronic book with recorded narration. An original story is a regular feature of each issue of the free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle. The story can be used in science and literacy lessons and activities throughout the magazine.
The case study involves the B.C. groundfish trawl fishery, which came under …
The case study involves the B.C. groundfish trawl fishery, which came under attack from ENGOs in the mid-2000s for destruction of the aquatic habitat. Specifically, the ENGOs were concerned with he destruction of numerous coral and sponge species. The ENGOs were able to give their complaints economic teeth by threatening the industry’s access to major markets. The resource manager, the federal government, was unable to address the problem effectively at the time. The initiative to deal with the problem was taken by the industry, leading to industry –ENGO negotiations. This would never have been possible, if the industry had been unable to act as a cohesive whole. How this intra-industry cooperation was achieved is not yet fully clear. Be that as it may, the negotiations were successful and led to the world’s first habitat bycatch limitation agreement, which came into place in 2012. The case study examines the negotiations and the degree of success of the agreement. It raises the question of the applicability of the B.C. experience to other fisheries in Canada and the rest of the world.
In this course, we will seek to interpret capitalism using ideas from …
In this course, we will seek to interpret capitalism using ideas from biological evolution: firms pursuing varied strategies and facing extinction when those strategies fail are analogous to organisms struggling for survival in nature. For this reason, it is less concerned with ultimate judgment of capitalism than with the ways it can be shaped to fit our more specific objectives for the natural environment, public health, alleviation of poverty, and development of human potential in every child. Each book we read will be explicitly or implicitly an argument about good and bad consequences of capitalism.
This course addresses the evolution of the modern capitalist economy and evaluates …
This course addresses the evolution of the modern capitalist economy and evaluates its current structure and performance. Various paradigms of economics are contrasted and compared (neoclassical, Marxist, socioeconomic, and neocorporate) in order to understand how modern capitalism has been shaped and how it functions in today's economy. The course stresses general analytic reasoning and problem formulation rather than specific analytic techniques. Readings include classics in economic thought as well as contemporary analyses.
This PBS video shows how Klaus Lackner, a geophysicist at Columbia University, …
This PBS video shows how Klaus Lackner, a geophysicist at Columbia University, is trying to tackle the problem of rising atmospheric CO2 levels by using an idea inspired by his daughter's 8th-grade science fair project. The video examines the idea of pulling CO2 out of the atmosphere via a passive chemical process.
This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by …
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:
"In terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems, fungi are essential for nutrient cycling, releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus into the soil. In contrast, in marine environments, fungi are often considered to be associated with debris and less essential to the element cycle than other microbes such as prokaryotes and phytoplankton. A recent study sought to better understand the role of open-sea, or pelagic, fungi in carbon cycling in the ocean. Using multi-omics techniques and existing genomic datasets, researchers performed a global analysis of carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes) – key enzymes in carbon cycling – in ocean fungi. They found that pelagic fungi are active in carbohydrate degradation, as indicated by a high ratio of CAZyme transcripts..."
The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.
In this learning activity, students use a web-based carbon calculator to determine …
In this learning activity, students use a web-based carbon calculator to determine their carbon footprint on the basis of their personal and household habits and choices. Students identify which personal activities and household choices produce the most CO2 emissions, compare their carbon footprint to the U.S. and global averages, and identify lifestyle changes they can make to reduce their footprint.
In this interactive game, players develop a sustainable city by greening transport, …
In this interactive game, players develop a sustainable city by greening transport, transforming industries, getting citizens on board, and showing world leaders how it's done. Players will need to bring together governments, industries, and the public to bring carbon levels to zero before it's too late.
This video features a short animated sequence that illustrates the difference between …
This video features a short animated sequence that illustrates the difference between young and old carbon released into the atmosphere from the consumption of food (young carbon) and the burning of fossil fuels (old carbon).
This lesson was originally created to give elementary school teachers a foundation …
This lesson was originally created to give elementary school teachers a foundation for understanding the impacts of climate change. Teachers, acting as students, physically participate in the movement of carbon throughout various biospheres.
This activity from NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory introduces students to the …
This activity from NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory introduces students to the scientific understanding of the greenhouse effect and the carbon cycle. The activity leads them through several interactive tasks to investigate recent trends in atmospheric carbon dioxide. Students analyze scientific data and use scientific reasoning to determine the causes responsible for these recent trends. By studying carbon cycle science in a visual and interactive manner, students can learn firsthand about the reasons behind our changing climate.
In this activity, students develop concept maps of the carbon cycle through …
In this activity, students develop concept maps of the carbon cycle through a die-rolling game that simulates carbon reservoirs and fluxes. By the end of this activity, students should be able to describe and explain how the carbon cycle has changed in the last 250 years.
This is two-hour lab exercise based on computer data sets. Students examine …
This is two-hour lab exercise based on computer data sets. Students examine records of CO2 levels in the atmosphere as well as annual temperature records for the US and the world.
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Students will learn that there is a finite amount of carbon on …
Students will learn that there is a finite amount of carbon on earth, which moves around in the environment, from one place to another. Activity is scaleable from elementary to high school with options to introduce advanced content. Wrap up includes role playing the carbon cycle with the addition of human influences (e.g. burning of fossil fuels). Activity can be done in classroom or outside, includes working in a group and role playing. Grades 3-12. This resources is part of the Our Changing Ocean and Estuaries Series
In this activity, students work in groups, plotting carbon dioxide concentrations over …
In this activity, students work in groups, plotting carbon dioxide concentrations over time on overheads and estimating the rate of change over five years. Stacked together, the overheads for the whole class show an increase on carbon dioxide over five years and annual variation driven by photosynthesis. This exercise enables students to practice basic quantitative skills and understand how important sampling intervals can be when studying changes over time. A goal is to see how small sample size may give incomplete picture of data.
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