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The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, this one from Working Group II, just hit the streets. You can read about it in many major news outlets. Headlines are emphasizing the sharp tone of this report and the projected and existing impacts on health and food supply.
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If you include Earth’s Moon in your interpretation and environmental education or have wanted to but aren’t sure where to begin, you may want to watch this webinar. It is sponsored by Earth to Sky in partnership with the Lunar and Planetary Institute and NASA’s Lunar Science Institute.
Our partners worked with informal educators to develop a set of materials and hands-on activities designed for use with youth ages 8-13, and their families. They use food, art, storytelling, and interactive investigations to celebrate our Moon.
The webinar will be archived on this site soon. Meantime, check out the presentation powerpoint and the many associated resources!
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If you are not already a member of the CLEAN network, you may want to consider joining. CLEAN provides a wonderful set of well-reviewed educational resources aimed at classroom educators for Grades 6-16. They’ve just added 80 new resources, so if you have not visited recently you may want to have another look.
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This resource alert is courtesy of ETS member Eric Schrading:
For those who have not already seen it, a report recently issued by the Pacific West Landscape Conservation Cooperative (LCC) provides an extensive and useful synthesis of scientific literature from 250 or so documents (including publications as recent as October 2013) related to ongoing and projected changes in climate and effects, as well as information on climate adaptation approaches.
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We received this note from David Shelley in January 2014. It's a good reminder to always check your sources.
“I just wanted to touch base and let you know about a disturbingly slick climate change denialist piece that just came across my desk. I am teaching at the University of South Carolina this semester, and in my campus mailbox I received a nice, professional, glossy, full color report titled "Climate Change Reconsidered II: Physical Science, Summary for Policy Makers." (There is a pdf online, too)
Turns out it is a serious anti-climate change piece produced by the Heartland Institute (among others). I knew that this propaganda was out there and even remembered a Skeptical Science blog post related to this one in October 2013 (which I hadn't read in detail at the time but just looked up again: http://www.skepticalscience.com/us-schools-heartland-nipcc-report.html). I knew that these things were well done, but the "apparent" quality and slick presentation here frankly caught me completely off guard. Of course, looking through it there are at least five billion things wrong with it (where to start...all of their "figures" are bulleted lists - because the graphs would clearly show their cherry-picking). They also include blatant mis-information (as in "Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) is a mild greenhouse gas that exerts a diminishing warming effect as its concentration increases"), in with a seductive presentation and philosophical arguments about the nature of scientific "truth." I could totally see this as intimidating and think of it as "authoritative" if I didn't know better.
In any event, I am not trying to get on a soap box here, but just wanted to share it as a testimonial/example of how this misinformation is really out there. Of course this also doubles as a concise summary of misconceptions and denialist claims that can be addressed in communications efforts. It just amazes me that these arguments are still out there in such force.
I won't say "Enjoy," exactly, but have a great day and thanks for the work you all do.”
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ETS member David Shelley noticed this article in the NY Times that highlights how some major companies are addressing climate change:
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In this Earth Observatory blog the authors explore the cause for the recent (Jan 24. 2014) enormous avalanche that blocked the Richardson Highway (Alaska Route 4), the only land link between the ice-free oil port of Valdez and the rest of Alaska. What does this have to do with the rest of us, you may wonder. In essence, Alaska’s warmth is the “flip side of the coin” to the Midwest and Northeast’s frigidity, and the drought in the Southwest. Read about it and see some impressive images of the avalanche, here.
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Watch the amazing video. In case you missed it, on January 21, 2014 NASA released its most recent analysis of global temperatures. NASA scientists say 2013 tied with 2009 and 2006 for the seventh warmest year since 1880, continuing a long-term trend of rising global temperatures. With the exception of 1998, the 10 warmest years in the 134-year record all have occurred since 2000, with 2010 and 2005 ranking as the warmest years on record. You can read more and watch the 15 second movie, depicting 60 years of warming here