ROUTINES AND EXPECTATIONS

• 1. Place your cellphone face down on the top right-hand corner of your desk

• 2. Follow ALL directions to the letter. Failure to do so will only make this course more difficult for you.

• 3. If you miss class, all assignment and instructional materials can be found on the new class website - pacholkoscience10.wordpress.com

• 4. During class, all content either written on the white board or displayed on a PowerPoint constitutes examinable material unless otherwise specified. A Perfect example to illustrate this point is the DDT-Biomagnification scenario.

• 5. In the event that you miss an exam, YOU are responsible for contacting me within 4 days to reschedule. If you fail to do so, I will assign a date of my own choosing for which you may not be prepared.

• 6. Do not shout out during the middle of class. It is both extremely irritating and disrespectful.

• 7. The bell does not dismiss you. I do.• 8. During work sessions, you are to work. If you do not, further

assignments will be given, and they will not be easy.• 9. Cheating is a reprehensible and disgusting act. Should such an

event as occurred on Thursday happen again, all suspected individuals will be held accountable. The events of last Thursday will be kept in-house, but all future infractions will be dealt with both harshly and publicly.

CLIMATE CHANGE

STATEMENT

Over the course of history, temperatures have fluctuated significantly. The increasing of the earth’s current average temperatures (global warming) is due to natural causes.

Agree or Disagree

FACTS

• Concentrations of CO2 (carbon dioxide) in the atmosphere are at their highest levels in the last 650,000 years.

• Atmospheric CO2 traps heat, causing temperatures to rise.• 97.4% of climatologists agree that human activity has contributed

to climate change.

STATEMENT

About one quarter of carbon dioxide emissions caused by human activity are absorbed by the world’s forest and oceans.

Agree or Disagree

FACTS

• Half of the CO2 emissions produced by humans are absorbed by the world’s forest and oceans.

• Carbon sinks have a cooling effect by removing CO2 from the air.• We are destroying carbon sinks at an alarming rate, further

exacerbating (heightening) the impacts of climate change.

STATEMENT

The world’s poorest countries and most vulnerable people will bear the heaviest burden of climate change.

Agree or Disagree

FACTS

• Poor countries are especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change because they lack the financial resources and technology to respond and adapt.

STATEMENT

• It’s too late to address climate change. Agree or Disagree

FACTS

• Climate change is inevitable; however, the extant to which climate change occurs, and the extant to which we are impacted by it, is firmly within our control.

INDICATORS OF CLIMATE CHANGE

• Polar ice caps are melting at a greater than expected rate• Polar bears are now classified as an endangered

species due to the impacts of climate change on their natural habitat

INDICATORS OF CLIMATE CHANGE

• CO2 levels are rising at an unnatural rate, throwing the system out of balance• Greater than normal levels of water vapor are in the

atmosphere, indicating that atmospheric temperatures are rising• Sea surface temperatures are rising• Current data supports the concept of

anthropogenic global warming

THERE IS NO DEBATE OVER CLIMATE CHANGE!

WHAT DOES THE ENVIRONMENT MEAN TO ME?

WHAT DOES THE ENVIRONMENT MEAN TO YOU?

INDIGENOUS WAYS OF KNOWING

• We are a part of the environment – we belong to it, it does not belong to us• All things have a spirit – we are not above

the world• The land is not ours to own, it is not ours to

exploit"We are people of the land; we see ourselves as no different than the trees, the caribou, and the raven, except we are more complicated".(Blondin, 1997: 18)

Honor the sacred.Honor the Earth, our Mother.Honor the Elders.Honor all with whom we share the Earth:-Four-leggeds, two-leggeds, winged ones,Swimmers, crawlers, plant and rock people.Walk in balance and beauty.

Native American Elder