Minute Earth: The Faint Young Sun Paradox!
June 13, 2017
This short two minute video from MinuteEarth looks at the Faint Young Sun Paradox and gives a brief overview of likely solutions to it. Nicely points out that the greenhouse effect isn’t a bad thing!
Linked in the grade 10 climate unit. and the grade 12 earth and space science course.
Linked in the grade 10 climate unit. and the grade 12 earth and space science course.
Minute Earth: How to Build a Better City
June 13, 2017
This short two minute video from MinuteEarth takes a quick look at urban design, and how North American cities are not as ecologically friendly as European ones.
Linked in the grade 9 biology unit.
Linked in the grade 9 biology unit.
Minute Earth: How To (Literally) Save Earth
June 13, 2017
Farming erodes soil 50 times faster than it forms. We can change that, but will we?
This short three minute video from MinuteEarth looks at soil formation and degradation, especially the effects of farming practices on soil, and suggests a few sustainable farming techniques that would help.
Linked in the grade 9 biology unit.
This short three minute video from MinuteEarth looks at soil formation and degradation, especially the effects of farming practices on soil, and suggests a few sustainable farming techniques that would help.
Linked in the grade 9 biology unit.
Climate Change: The View From Minute Earth
June 13, 2017
In this short two minute video, the MinuteEarth team briefly explain the effects they have personally observed, and suggest what ordinary people can do about the problem.
Linked in the grade 10 climate unit.
Linked in the grade 10 climate unit.
Minute Earth: Why Poor Places Are More Diverse
June 13, 2017
A short three minute video explaining why poorer soils allow more biodiversity. A good way to spice up a lesson on biodiversity.
Linked in the grade 9 biology unit.
Linked in the grade 9 biology unit.
Minute Earth: Is Climate Change Just A Lot Of Hot Air?
June 13, 2017
A short two minute video explaining why a slight increase in air temperature can have a large effect on extreme weather events. Simple enough for even struggling students.
Linked in the grade 10 climate unit.
Linked in the grade 10 climate unit.
Why People Don’t Believe In Climate Science Video
June 11, 2017
A short video clip that neatly summarizes George Marshall’s book Don’t Even Think About It, about the psychology of climate change denial.
Scientists overwhelmingly agree that our climate is changing, Earth is getting warmer, sea levels are rising, and it’s primarily because of humans putting lots of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Yet 4 in 10 Americans aren’t convinced.
Here’s what psychologists and sociologists have to say about why some people don’t believe in climate science.
Linked in the grade 10 climate unit.
Scientists overwhelmingly agree that our climate is changing, Earth is getting warmer, sea levels are rising, and it’s primarily because of humans putting lots of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Yet 4 in 10 Americans aren’t convinced.
Here’s what psychologists and sociologists have to say about why some people don’t believe in climate science.
Linked in the grade 10 climate unit.
Don't Even Think About It: Why Our Brains Are Wired To Ignore Climate Change Book
June 11, 2017
An interesting look at the psychology behind how we regard the problem of climate change.
Why, despite overwhelming scientific evidence, do we still ignore climate change? And what does it need for us to become fully convinced of what we already know?
George Marshall’s search for the answers brings him face to face with Nobel Prize-winning psychologists and the activists of the Texas Tea Party; the world’s leading climate scientists and the people who denounce them; liberal environmentalists and conservative evangelicals.
Along the way his research raised other intriguing questions:
Don’t Even Think About It argues that the answers to these questions do not lie in the things that make us different and drive us apart, but rather in what we all share: how our human brains are wired, our evolutionary origins, our perceptions of threats, our cognitive blindspots, our love of storytelling, our fear of death, and our deepest instincts to defend our family and tribe.
With witty and engaging stories, drawing on years of his own research, Marshall shows how the scientific facts of climate change can become less important to us than the social facts – the views of the people who surround us. He argues that our values, assumptions, and prejudices can take on lives of their own, gaining authority as they are shared, dividing people in their wake.
He argues that once we understand what excites, threatens, and motivates us, we can rethink and reimagine climate change, for it is not an impossible problem. Rather, it is one we can halt if we can make it our common purpose and common ground.
And so this book does not talk in detail about the impacts of climate change or the things that make us turn away. There are no graphs, data sets, or complex statistics, because, in the end, all of the computer models and scientific predictions are constructed around the most important and uncertain variable of all: whether our collective choice will be to accept or to deny what the science is telling us. And this, says Marshall, is the most engrossing and intriguing question of all.
Linked in the grade 10 climate unit.
Why, despite overwhelming scientific evidence, do we still ignore climate change? And what does it need for us to become fully convinced of what we already know?
George Marshall’s search for the answers brings him face to face with Nobel Prize-winning psychologists and the activists of the Texas Tea Party; the world’s leading climate scientists and the people who denounce them; liberal environmentalists and conservative evangelicals.
Along the way his research raised other intriguing questions:
- Why do most people never talk about climate change, even people with personal experience of extreme record breaking weather?
- Why did scientists, normally the most trusted professionals in our society, become distrusted, hated, and the targets for violent abuse?
- Why do the people who say climate change is too uncertain become more agitated about the threats of cell phones, meteorite strikes or alien invasion?
- Why does having children make people less concerned about climate change not more?
- And, why is Shell Oil so much more concerned about the threat posed by its slippery floors than the threats posed by its products?
Don’t Even Think About It argues that the answers to these questions do not lie in the things that make us different and drive us apart, but rather in what we all share: how our human brains are wired, our evolutionary origins, our perceptions of threats, our cognitive blindspots, our love of storytelling, our fear of death, and our deepest instincts to defend our family and tribe.
With witty and engaging stories, drawing on years of his own research, Marshall shows how the scientific facts of climate change can become less important to us than the social facts – the views of the people who surround us. He argues that our values, assumptions, and prejudices can take on lives of their own, gaining authority as they are shared, dividing people in their wake.
He argues that once we understand what excites, threatens, and motivates us, we can rethink and reimagine climate change, for it is not an impossible problem. Rather, it is one we can halt if we can make it our common purpose and common ground.
And so this book does not talk in detail about the impacts of climate change or the things that make us turn away. There are no graphs, data sets, or complex statistics, because, in the end, all of the computer models and scientific predictions are constructed around the most important and uncertain variable of all: whether our collective choice will be to accept or to deny what the science is telling us. And this, says Marshall, is the most engrossing and intriguing question of all.
Linked in the grade 10 climate unit.
Climate Clock
June 11, 2017
A simple project I found out about at the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanic Society Conference.
Time is the key metric we need to include to make climate change relatable.
We all now know that the global average temperature passing the threshold of 2° above pre-industrial averages is the point where really bad things start to happen… and it becomes much more difficult to slow down the devastating effects of climate change. But if you look online and in the media, it’s very hard to find a good reference for when 2° will actually happen. Presently, the 2° target floats abstractly in the public mind. The Climate Clock acts a public line in the sand and says, this is the date. It is a measuring stick by which we can evaluate our progress.
Every spring, the Climate Clock will be stopped. A group of leading climate scientists from around the world will evaluate the latest data; and then we will restart the Clock with a new time. We will be able to see then how we are doing in relation to 2°. Have we gained time or lost time?
Humanity has the power to add time to the Clock, but only if we work collectivity and measure our progress against defined targets.
The Clock is built to scale. It can be downloaded and embedded on any website as an iframe. For outdoor building projections or at conferences, the Clock can be downloaded as a simple Google Chrome app and played on any computer running the latest version of Chrome (no internet connection is required as the Clock’s date and time is validated by the internal date and time of the computer). We can easily customize the Clock to any language but presently it runs in French and English. Please contact us of you would like to project the Climate Clock and we will send you the instructions for how to do so.
Phase 2 of the Clock will be building an interactive companion website with data visualization all related to time. It will allow the user to manipulate the relevant data points and explore the relationship between the factors that effect the date of 2° through an interactive graphic interface.
This site will allow users to manipulate multi-factor climate data and experience a visual representation of the effects on temperature and time on the Clock. By city, by country, by continent; what does the data really mean in terms of time?
For example, If all countries stick to their Paris Agreement promises how much time does that buy us on the Clock? (Answer, only 6 years). If North America switches to green energy how many years does that add to the Clock? If China goes vegetarian how many years?
The Clock represents a radical new way to measure climate change, by using a metric we understand. This relationship between temperature and time is crucial in the story of climate change but has been largely missing from the narrative.
We don’t measure our lives in degrees. We measure our lives in years.
Next year I’m going to use this as a dramatic introduction to climate change, along with the section from Hot Earth Dreams about agriculture starting to break at around 2° of warming. With a bit of luck Phase 2 will be available by then, so the kids can do some exploration on their own.
Linked in the grade 10 climate unit.
Time is the key metric we need to include to make climate change relatable.
We all now know that the global average temperature passing the threshold of 2° above pre-industrial averages is the point where really bad things start to happen… and it becomes much more difficult to slow down the devastating effects of climate change. But if you look online and in the media, it’s very hard to find a good reference for when 2° will actually happen. Presently, the 2° target floats abstractly in the public mind. The Climate Clock acts a public line in the sand and says, this is the date. It is a measuring stick by which we can evaluate our progress.
Every spring, the Climate Clock will be stopped. A group of leading climate scientists from around the world will evaluate the latest data; and then we will restart the Clock with a new time. We will be able to see then how we are doing in relation to 2°. Have we gained time or lost time?
Humanity has the power to add time to the Clock, but only if we work collectivity and measure our progress against defined targets.
The Clock is built to scale. It can be downloaded and embedded on any website as an iframe. For outdoor building projections or at conferences, the Clock can be downloaded as a simple Google Chrome app and played on any computer running the latest version of Chrome (no internet connection is required as the Clock’s date and time is validated by the internal date and time of the computer). We can easily customize the Clock to any language but presently it runs in French and English. Please contact us of you would like to project the Climate Clock and we will send you the instructions for how to do so.
Phase 2 of the Clock will be building an interactive companion website with data visualization all related to time. It will allow the user to manipulate the relevant data points and explore the relationship between the factors that effect the date of 2° through an interactive graphic interface.
This site will allow users to manipulate multi-factor climate data and experience a visual representation of the effects on temperature and time on the Clock. By city, by country, by continent; what does the data really mean in terms of time?
For example, If all countries stick to their Paris Agreement promises how much time does that buy us on the Clock? (Answer, only 6 years). If North America switches to green energy how many years does that add to the Clock? If China goes vegetarian how many years?
The Clock represents a radical new way to measure climate change, by using a metric we understand. This relationship between temperature and time is crucial in the story of climate change but has been largely missing from the narrative.
We don’t measure our lives in degrees. We measure our lives in years.
Next year I’m going to use this as a dramatic introduction to climate change, along with the section from Hot Earth Dreams about agriculture starting to break at around 2° of warming. With a bit of luck Phase 2 will be available by then, so the kids can do some exploration on their own.
Linked in the grade 10 climate unit.
The Great Derangement Book
June 10, 2017
Possibly a bit advanced for grade ten students, but intriguing — and our best students will get something from it. I had to take Ghosh’s remarks about literary theory as given, as I know little about that subject, but his argument is both plausible and provocative.
Are we deranged? The acclaimed Indian novelist Amitav Ghosh argues that future generations may well think so. How else to explain our imaginative failure in the face of global warming? In his first major book of nonfiction since In an Antique Land, Ghosh examines our inability—at the level of literature, history, and politics—to grasp the scale and violence of climate change.
The extreme nature of today’s climate events, Ghosh asserts, make them peculiarly resistant to contemporary modes of thinking and imagining. This is particularly true of serious literary fiction: hundred-year storms and freakish tornadoes simply feel too improbable for the novel; they are automatically consigned to other genres. In the writing of history, too, the climate crisis has sometimes led to gross simplifications; Ghosh shows that the history of the carbon economy is a tangled global story with many contradictory and counterintuitive elements.
Ghosh ends by suggesting that politics, much like literature, has become a matter of personal moral reckoning rather than an arena of collective action. But to limit fiction and politics to individual moral adventure comes at a great cost. The climate crisis asks us to imagine other forms of human existence—a task to which fiction, Ghosh argues, is the best suited of all cultural forms. His book serves as a great writer’s summons to confront the most urgent task of our time.
Linked in the grade 10 climate unit.
Are we deranged? The acclaimed Indian novelist Amitav Ghosh argues that future generations may well think so. How else to explain our imaginative failure in the face of global warming? In his first major book of nonfiction since In an Antique Land, Ghosh examines our inability—at the level of literature, history, and politics—to grasp the scale and violence of climate change.
The extreme nature of today’s climate events, Ghosh asserts, make them peculiarly resistant to contemporary modes of thinking and imagining. This is particularly true of serious literary fiction: hundred-year storms and freakish tornadoes simply feel too improbable for the novel; they are automatically consigned to other genres. In the writing of history, too, the climate crisis has sometimes led to gross simplifications; Ghosh shows that the history of the carbon economy is a tangled global story with many contradictory and counterintuitive elements.
Ghosh ends by suggesting that politics, much like literature, has become a matter of personal moral reckoning rather than an arena of collective action. But to limit fiction and politics to individual moral adventure comes at a great cost. The climate crisis asks us to imagine other forms of human existence—a task to which fiction, Ghosh argues, is the best suited of all cultural forms. His book serves as a great writer’s summons to confront the most urgent task of our time.
Linked in the grade 10 climate unit.
Teaching Science