Patricia M. Sorrentino
Atmosphere, Basics of Climate Change, and Energy
Prior to reading any texts, we need our students to understand the structure of the atmosphere, what greenhouse gasses are, and how energy is created. The science co-teacher will use a variety of methods to explain the compositional layers of the atmosphere and the major characteristics of each layer. He will expose our students to the foundation of climate change. In addition, he will teach them about how energy is created and the difference between renewable and nonrenewable energy. He will plan a field trip to the Yale Power Plant for our class and create a shake-a-gen with our students in class (see Potential Causes of Climate Change by Alva Roy Hanson Jr.).
While the science co-teacher covers those topics, I will be responsible for helping my students keep a journal of all the necessary words and their definitions important to understand. A helpful tool is the http://www.epa.gov/Region5/climatechange/posters/climate-change-vocab-list.pdf website. The important words are:
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Anthropogenic: Having to do with man, or caused by humans.
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Atmosphere: The mixture of gases and aerosols – the air – that surrounds the Earth in layers protecting us from the sun’s powerful ultraviolet (UV) radiation, and even from meteors. The atmosphere extends up to 20 miles above the Earth.
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Carbon Dioxide (CO2 ): A heavy, colorless atmospheric gas. It is emitted during respiration by plants and by all animals, fungi, and microorganisms that depend either directly or indirectly on plants for food. CO2 is also generated as a byproduct of the burning of fossil fuels or vegetable matter. CO2 is absorbed from the air by plants during their growth process. It is one of the greenhouse gases.
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Carbon Footprint: The total amount of greenhouse gases produced to directly and indirectly support human activities, usually expressed in equivalent tons of carbon dioxide (CO2). Your carbon footprint is the sum of all emissions of CO2 (carbon dioxide), which were induced by your activities in a given time frame. Usually a carbon footprint is calculated for the time period of a year.
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Climate: The average weather for a particular region over an extended time period. In other words, climate is the weather you would expect to have in a particular region.
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Climate Change: Major changes in temperature, rainfall, snow, or wind patterns lasting for decades or longer. Climate change may result from both natural processes and/or human activities.
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Emissions: The act or instance of discharging (emitting) something into the air, such as exhaust that comes out of the tail pipe of a car or a smokestack.
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Energy: Power derived from the utilization of physical or chemical resources, especially to provide light and heat or to work machines.
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Fossil Fuels: Fossil fuels are natural substances made deep within the Earth from the remains of ancient plants and animals. Over time, heat and pressure turned the decomposing remains into substances that act as fuel to release energy when burned. Coal, oil, and natural gas are the three main fossil fuels.
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Global Carbon Cycle: The cyclical movement of carbon within the biosphere. Carbon is primarily removed from the air by plants during photosynthesis and by dissolving in bodies of water. Carbon is generally returned to the air via biological respiration, decomposition of organic matter, volcanic activity and society's industrial activities, including the combustion of fossil fuels.
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Global Warming: An increase in the Earth's average temperature, which in turn causes changes in climate. This increase in temperature is caused mainly by an increase in greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere.
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Greenhouse Effect: The effect produced by greenhouse gases allowing incoming solar energy to pass through the Earth’s atmosphere, but preventing most of the outgoing heat from escaping into space. The natural greenhouse effect is necessary to maintain life on earth, as it keeps the Earth 60ºF warmer than it would be without the presence of these gases.
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Greenhouse Gases: Gases such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide that allow incoming solar radiation to pass through the Earth’s atmosphere, but prevent most of the outgoing infrared (heat) radiation from the surface and lower atmosphere from escaping into outer space. Greenhouse gases are present in the atmosphere from both natural processes and human activities such as burning fossil fuels and driving cars.
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Methane: An oderless, colorless, flammable gas, CH4, the major constituent of natural gas, that is used as a fuel and is an important source of hydrogen and a wide variety of organic compounds.
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Climate Change Mitigation: Refers to efforts to reduce or prevent emission of greenhouse gases. Mitigation can mean using new technologies and renewable energies, making older equipment more energy efficient, or changing management practices or consumer behavior.
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Renewable Energy: Energy from a source that is not depleted when used, such as wind or solar power.
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Solar Radiation: The energy emitted by the sun. This energy can be seen and felt as heat in the sun’s rays.
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Urban Heat Island: A region of warmer air temperature (relative to the surrounding countryside) in a metropolitan area. Urban heat islands have been documented to exist in cities with as few as a thousand inhabitants.
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Weather: The specific condition of the atmosphere at a particular place and time. It is measured in terms of such things as wind, temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, cloudiness, and precipitation. In most places, weather can change from hour-to-hour, day-to-day, and season-to-season.