Theme: Climate Change
Key Learning: During this session, we first took a look at what climate change is. Climate is the average weather at a given point and time of year over a long period of time, typically 30 years. A common misconception is that climate change is the change of weather within a day. Although we expect weather to change a lot from day to day, and within a day, we expect climate to remain relatively constant. When this climate does not stay constant, it is known as climate change.
We also had a look at the effects of climate change, in various areas of our environment. Agriculture is effected, as significant amounts of agricultural land on the end of deserts has become unusable through the process of desertification. Crops are wiped out in low-lying areas that suffer from flooding, sea levels rise, and ice caps are melting. This is of great danger for many animals in their natural habitats, as their land is gradually being destroyed by the effects of climate change.
The greenhouse effect is a process where the earths surface heats up. The sun’s energy reaches the earth’s atmosphere, and some of this is reflected back into space, which results in the remains being absorbed and re-radiated as greenhouse gases. An example of a greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide.
The thinning of the ozone layer is a major issue as this layer shields earth from harmful ultraviolet rays. The more this decays, the more harmful rays are allowed to reach earth.
Below is an infographic that I created to summarise some information that I learned about politics and global warming during Louise’s workshop.
“Success has come about where science and education have been backed up by appropriate levels of funding and coupled with the political will to make decisions that are not popular with all sections of society.” (Kemp, 2004, P399)
During Andrew’s workshop, we focused on climate change and weather through various practical tasks. This gave me some interesting ideas for my future teaching, as well as furthering my knowledge.
In one experiment we created a cloud by covering the bottom half of a jar with black paper and filled it with hot water. We emptied the water and held a match in the jar before dropping it in the remaining water. We then held a bag of ice cubes over the mouth of the jar, and this in turn created a cloud.
Impact on my views/lifestyle/practice: I now feel well educated on what climate change is, and this has made me much more aware of to what I extent I am contributing to climate change. Politics and climate change is an area that I had not previously looked into in much depth, and it has been highlighted to me why tackling this issue may not be their top priority. I feel much more passionate now about the government taking control of this, as the people with power are those that can make a great difference. Despite this, I plan on taking a closer look at what I can do to reduce my carbon footprint and damage to the environment.
Areas of interest to further explore/develop: This topic as a whole is one that I have become greatly interested in. I plan on reading the additional materials provided by Louise and Andrew. I specifically hope to become confident in the politics of global warming and executing practical tasks/experiments to carry out in schools. This includes explaining instructions and performing the experiment first as an example.
