In class on Friday, we talked about Plate Tectonics and the Rock Cycle. For most of us, it was a throwback to middle school science, but there are some key points that are good to review: Plate Tectonics: You can think of the earth like an egg. The shell, like earth’s crust, is the tough [...]
So, last year the APES text (published 2008) had a section on carbon offsets-first time I’ve seen it in a school textbook. 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 [...]
In class on Tuesday we spent most of the period discussing the evidence (the things we see happening) that shows the earth is warming. The first piece of evidence we have are record global temperatures. NASA concluded 2009 to be the second warmest hear on record. With average global temperatures continuing to increase each year, [...]
Today we discussed potential solutions to the problem of the enhanced greennhouse effect, also known as global warming. The only way to truly solve this problem is to attack the problem at its source: Greenhouse Gases. We need to decrease the amount of greenhouse gases, especially Carbon Dioxide, in the atmosphere by either reducing the [...]
Last Friday, we discussed the origins of global warming. However, climate change is a more accurate term since some regions are cooling, not warming. First off, it must be established that not all greenhouse gases, like water vapor, CO2, CH4 and N2O are “bad.” In fact, without the natural greenhouse effect earth would be very [...]
Today in class, we continued talking about the secondary effects of car exhaust and coal burning. Today we spent the day talking about the formation/affects of acid rain in particular. Acid rain in a problem in the troposphere, and is therefore a regional problem. Even though acid rain has always been referred to as “rain,” [...]
Today’s topic was the first of three types of water pollution: Cultural Eutrophication. Eutrophication is the process of Natural Nutrient Enrichment of Phosphates and Nitrates to a body of water. Cultural Eutrophication is when humans speed up this process, and this is when problems occur. The process of Cultural Eutrophication takes place in a few [...]
So, since we introduced the idea of cover crops, I thought I would mention my garden. We moved last fall, and so I decided to start a new veggie garden in my back yard last spring. I grew tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, carrots, onions, potatoes, and herbs–all in a 10 x 20 foot plot. Here’s a [...]
Again, here is another good nutrient cycle story, by Ursula A., that may be helpful to review: A Carbon Story My name is Carbon. For the couple days or so I have been in the sky, stuck with my two twin brothers, Oxygen One and Oxygen Two. For now, I am relaxing and enjoying the [...]
I was digging through old files and found this biogeochemical cycle story by Michael G. Thought it covered things pretty well, and might be a good review: A Sulfur Atom’s Tale One could almost hear a sigh of boredom echoing through the subatomic landscape, the resigned wheeze of a sulfur atom on quarantine. When he [...]
