Climate Science Project

Over the next several weeks, we will be learning about the causes and effects of climate change, and its current impacts on weather, biodiversity, and the global human population. The end product of this project will be a slideshow or a webpage that you will be adding to as we navigate this unit. The following PEs will be assessed during this unit:

HS-ESS2-6: Develop a quantitative model to describe the cycling of carbon among the hydrosphere, atmosphere, geosphere, and biosphere.

HS-ESS2-4. Use a model to describe how variations in the flow of energy into and out of Earth’s systems result in changes in climate

HS-ESS3-5. Analyze geoscience data and the results from global climate models to make an evidence-based forecast of the current rate of global or regional climate change and associated future impacts to Earth systems.

The goal of this project is to directly connect the various causes of global climate change to the effects that we are already experiencing, and the potential future impacts if societal changes are not implemented. You will demonstrate your understanding of specific cause-effect relationships by using examples, models, and data to explain the science behind climate change.

What will be common with all projects:

As per HS-ESS2-4 and HS-ESS2-6, you must be able to develop and use models to demonstrate your understanding of the connection between increased CO2  and global temperatures.  This will be done through addressing the following questions:

• How does energy enter and leave the Earth’s system?

• What kinds of energy does this involve?

• What is the “greenhouse effect” (GHE)?

• Is this effect natural or caused by human activity?

• What are greenhouse gasses, and what role do they play in the GHE?

• Where are the various stores of carbon on Earth?

• Where does CO2 come from? Through what processes is it formed or removed from the atmosphere?

What will differ between each person:

You will choose one cause/effect from each of the following categories (Contributing Factors / Global Effects / Regional/Local Effects):

1. Human Activities-What do we do in our daily lives that contributes to climate change?

   1. What is the impact of your diet (specific food)?

   2. How does what you purchase contribute to CO2 production? 

      1. Fast fashion and climate change?

   3. How do leisure activities / hobbies contribute to climate change? 

2. Industry- How does the production of goods contribute to climate change

   1. Where to begin...

3. Building Usage- How do our living/working spaces contribute to climate change?

   1. 40% of CO emissions from new construction. 

   2. Do we still need malls?

   3. Built for Change Podcast

   4. Could Tougher Building Codes Fix Climate Change? 

4. Transportation- How does how we move from place to place  contribute to climate change

   1. How will you travel during Winter Break?

   2. Looking ahead to the future of travel - Podcast

5. Agriculture- How does the production of our food contribute to climate change?

   1. Pick a food source, describe the impact. 

6. Land development- How does the construction of new buildings and roads contribute to climate change?

   1. Decarbonizing Cities

   2. Is Copenhagen the world's greenest city?

   3. Creating Sustainable Cities

• Explain what the cause is and how it contributes to increased atmospheric CO2. 

• Develop a quantitative (this means you need to include numbers) model to show how this specific cause affects the various stores through the various processes of carbon transfer.

• Use data to show how the production of CO2 from this specific cause has changed over time.

This presentation will take the form of a Website.

Climate Science Data Sources:

• Kaggle: 

  • https://www.kaggle.com/datasets?search=deforestation 

  • Emissions by Country | Kaggle

  • https://www.kaggle.com/datasets?tags=7201-Atmospheric+Science  

• Climate Change Data - IMF 

• IPCC WGI Interactive Atlas: Regional information (Advanced)

• Climate Data Online (CDO) - The National Climatic Data Center's (NCDC) Climate Data Online (CDO) provides free access to NCDC's archive of historical weather and climate data in addition to station history information.

• NASA Earth Observatory

• European Space Agency: Open Data Portal

• UN Environmental Program: Publications & data

• Data.gov (US Gov’t Data Site) 

• FAO Map Catalog

• https://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/

Non data related resources

• Global distribution of major stores of carbon

• Carbon Dioxide | Vital Signs – Climate Change