PDS AP Environmental Science 5th Period 2010-11

So, your text had a section on carbon offsets, but we never discussed it in class. There are many companies out there now marketing carbon offsets to reduce your “carbon footprint.” Terrapass is a popular one. You can offset one year’s worth of air travel (an estimated 8,000 pounds of carbon emitted) for just $50.60 [...]

Since it was such a busy week with prom and since most of you met your scribe post obligations during the energy project, I did not assign scribes over the last few days. So, here is a collection of links from last year’s class on Global Climate Change for those that missed class: Intro to [...]

On Monday, we learned primarily about smog, or “smoky fog”, which is the dark, sooty pollution one can typically see over heavily populated industrial areas such as Pittsburgh or Mexico City. There are two main types of smog: “grey” smog and “brown” smog, which are obviously named as such due to their color. Grey smog, [...]

*Note: Since no one took biomass fuels in our smaller class, here is an intro post from AnnaSB in the other: To understand what biomass energy is, first one must know what biomass is. Biomass is defined as the total mass of living matter in a given unit of environmental area. http://i484.photobucket.com/albums/rr209/videotellem/types-of-biomass.jpg Biomass energy is [...]

We can only take so many field trips, but this is one I would love to do if we had the time.  We discussed coal-fired power plants in class, but this short interactive tour (with real pics and computer animations) will give you a better feel than the diagrams in your text. Image source: Scientific [...]

For those who missed the first day of our energy unit, here is the kick off: Mining Practices & Impacts View more presentations from Derrick Willard. I tried to give you a sense of just how destructive surface mining can be to habitats and biodiversity. I’ve also found a great slideshow by a photographer named [...]

This last chapter, we really started to get an idea of how biogeochemical cycles work and can “malfunction.” Here are a few interesting current events on the topic if you want to learn more: Nitrogen Cycle: Whales Help Fertilize Ocean With Floating Dung http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130437080 Phosphorus Cycle: Manure, Fertilizer Part Of Chesapeake’s Problem http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121565792 Carbon Cycle: [...]

So…I forgot to make sure there was a scribe for this lesson, so I got this one.  Maybe a model of what those that handle other cycles can do? Since we are all “carbon-based life forms,” this cycle is crucial to life.  We reviewed a little biochemistry in class, noting that carbs, lipids, nucleic acids, [...]