What is the difference between climate and weather?
One of the goals of this course is to provide you with the information needed to be able to have an informed discussion on climate change with folks that may have a strong opinion that the Earth’s climate is not changing or that humans are not having an impact. To this end, we will be offering several extra credit Discussion Boards where you can learn the arguments on either side of these debates and formulate your position on the topic. In the best case scenario, you may even find someone to have the conversation with and report back about your experience. For this first global warming myth-buster discussion board we will discuss the idea of Cherry Picking data either over a short period of time or from only a small portion of the globe to argue that the globe is not warming. This idea was introduced in Figure 1.7 in Chapter 1 of your textbook: Down the Up Escalator.docxPreview the document and also by folks that experienced the harsh cold winter of 2013 – 2014 in the eastern US as pointed out here: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/02/watch-jim-inhofe-throw-a-snowball-on-the-senate-floor/452604/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. For your essay/blog on this discussion board, we would like you to find someone (real or imagined) that believes the globe is not warming based on cherry picked data either from a short period of time or from one region of the globe. Here, you will explain to them why it is important to include long periods of time across all regions of the globe in order to assess whether the globe is warming or not. Your discussion should include explanations of the following: 1) What is the difference between climate and weather? (3 pts) perhaps check out this site: http://nas-sites.org/climate-change/climatemodeling/page_1_1.php (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. 2) What does it mean to calculate the global average temperature? Do we expect all sites to be warmer in every year? (3 pts) 3) What is polar amplification? (3 pts) 4) How could polar amplification lead to a more wavy jet stream where polar air masses can move to low latitudes despite the warmer temperatures in arctic regions (3 pts). You can learn more about this here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1fwNnJUYgU&list=PLXgw8LFaM3CyalQZ_wJcT9B4FH3MtPud&index=11 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. 5) What does it means to cherry pick data? How could cherry picking data for a short period of time or in only one region lead to the misunderstanding in this Myth (3 pts). 6) Make sure that your writing is clear, organized, and conversational (3 pts). We actually want you to write your answer in first person – as though your are explaining it to your friend. Make it a story. Perhaps even have the conversation with a friend and report back how your explanations went. Finally, make sure you provide substantive responses to at least two other post (2 pts). To get full points on this Discussion Board you will need to follow the rubric in the “gearbox” in the upper right corner of the module. You may find excellent arguments to help in your explanations by following the link to SkepticalScience.com in Figure 1.7 above: http://www.skepticalscience.com/graphics.php?g=47 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. We are looking forward to hearing your arguments! _________________________________________________________________ Note that you Must submit your write-up in two locations: 1) Here, as a Discussion Board post, where you can discuss your ideas with others in the class, and 2) as an Uploaded Word document, where Turnitin will generate a report that highlights any potential unoriginal text compared to documents available on the Internet, many print journals, and the database of other papers submitted in this and previous versions of this class (details in yellow highlight at end of document).
