Possible Interviewees (Experts)

Karl M. Chauff: environmental science teacher at SLU Chauff@eas.slu.edu 

Science teachers at our school (Mr. Cradick, Mr. Duggan, etc.)

Meteorologist

Scientists who work in St. Louis

Gateway Clean Air Program: 1-888-748-1AIR (1247)  (this is an information line, but they might be able to put us in contact with someone from St. Louis)

St. Louis representative from the EPA

Factory worker from a factory that pollutes a lot

Missouri Department of Natural Resources  (Kerry Cordray, (573) 526-4220)   The area code 573 is in Jefferson City, but hopefully they can help us reach a representative who is in St. Louis

Questions to Ask for Interviews

Edublogs wasn’t working for me last night, so here are my ideas for questions from last night.

1.  Do you believe that global warming exists?  If not, why do you think it such a big issue being brought up today?

2.  Is there enough awareness about the causes and effects of global warming?

 3.  Do you know what causes global warming?  How are you contributing to global warming?

4.  Are you doing anything to help prevent global warming?  If so, what?  Is this cost efficient and would you recommend these things to other people?  Do you really think it makes a difference to the environment?

 5.  Are there any underlying causes of global warming that most people don’t know about?  Could be secretly be adding to global warming?  How so?

6. Does the earth itself contribute to global warming?  Do you think its important to find ways to stop this?

7.  Should people try to adapt to a warmer earth instead of changing it?  Why or why not?

8.  What is contributing to global warming the most: Long commutes to the city from suburban areas or short commutes with city gridlock?  Are you in either of these situations?  How long is your commute?  Would you consider moving to be more energy efficient or to emit less CO2?

 9.  Have you checked your carbon footprint?  Would you consider doing so?  Why is it important for people to be aware of how much CO2 they are emitting?

10.  Should the government put regulations on CO2 emissions?  What kind of regulations would make the biggest difference?

Reflection

So far I have learned a lot about global warming.  I now understand how the greenhouse effect traps gases in the atmosphere, and that this is caused by greenhouse gas emissions, especially CO2.  I think it is most important to get the main idea of global warming across in the documentary.  It is important for viewers to have background on it and understand how it works, but I also think that too many scientific statistics and descriptions will get to be too confusing.  I am surprised that several articles are very informative about the positive effects of global warming.  For example, global warming could be preventing hurricanes. 

My group’s segment is focusing on the causes of global warming.  We are trying to tie this in with the group working on prevention.  First, we will look at the different ways people (especially Americans) contribute to global warming the most.  Then we will look at different ways to help prevent it.  We should include minor lifestyle changes to help protect the earth as well as looking at a few drastic ones.  We hope to show that helping protect the environment should not be an annoying job, but part of a daily routine that is not difficult.

Earth Too Warm? Bury the CO2

by Mark Clayton

Scientists are currently studying in a Texas oil field called SAROC to determine if the United States  could possible be burying their greenhouse gases.   Here, more CO2 has been pumped underground over a longer period of time than anywhere else.  They are trying to separate carbon from coal to stabilize the air’s concentration of CO2.  “If the US captured just 60 percent of the CO2 emitted by its coal-burning power plants and reduced it to a liquid for injection underground, the daily volume would roughly equal what the US consumes in oil each day–about 20 million barrels.”  Still, injecting too much could cause pressure resulting in tremor and the CO2 may not even stay underground.  One of the scientists is tracking CO2 in another Texas field where she put food-grade CO2 in a well in 2004 and again last fall.  So far, the results are positive as the CO2 is stored as little bubbles in sandstone pores and could sit there on a 10,000 time frame.  Even if the well was opened, CO2 would not come rushing out like a geyser.  There is a lot of storage space undergound for CO2: There are space spaces in the United States currently being looked at, 3 of which could hold up to two centuries’ worth of CO2 permanently.  These sites must be tested for environmental safety and infrastructures must be built to get the CO2 into storage.  This could be a permanent option, but will probably be temporary until solar power or other energy-efficient sources become popular.  “High-volume CO2 injections of 1 million tons or more are expected to begin in Cranfield, Miss., later this year to push out hard-to-reach oil and to test further the feasibility of geologic storage.” 

 Although it probably doesn’t relate to causes very much, I found this article very interesting because it helped me realize that major changes could take place sooner than I thought.  I am also becoming more and more convinced that CO2 is even more important to global warming than some of the other issues mentioned in other articles.  I am very relived to hear that options like these are available and will be taking effect soon.

Im Emissions Battle, US Cities Vow to Be ‘Greenest’

by Ron Scherer

In urban areas around the country, city mayors are taking a stand to prevent global warming by reducing the emission of greenhouse gases.  To become clean and green, cities are planting trees, creating rooftop gardens, and creating more green buildings.  319 mayors have pledged “to attain the goals of 1997 Kyoto agreement.”  These cities are able to join ICLEI, an organization which already has 212 member cities, and half of them have already reduced greenhouse-gas emissions by 23 million tons, saving $550 million because of energy efficiency.  Many cities are setting goals and beginning to go green.  For example, Seattle has created a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 7% by 2012 with changes such as making cruise ships plug into electrical systems instead of running their engines at ports.  It has also been found that the way one operate a car or inflates his or her tires can affect greenhouse-gas emissions, so cities have been creating plans to help drivers make the best choices.  The most important city to go green is New York City, which produces about 2% of the United States’ CO2 emissions.  There are few solar panels and the buildings are old and not energy efficient.  The city council is currently working on a proposal to cut CO2 emissions 20% by 2009 and 30% by 2020.

 My group is focusing on the causes of global warming, but we are working closely with the group who is focusing on the prevention of global warming.  It was difficult to find articles that are specifically about the causes of global warming, but looking at ones about prevention helped me see how we are contributing now.  I wasn’t surprised to hear that New York contributed a lot to CO2 emissions, so I am glad to find out that they are trying to significantly cut back, and the article had several options, with new building codes and using grease from food to fuel delivery trucks.  There are so many ways to cut back on greenhouse gas emissions, if we would just hink outside the box.

Summary/Response

Winter Ice on Lakes, Rivers, Ponds: A Thing of the Past?National Science FoundationOver the past 150 years, a study shows a trend of fewer days of ice cover.  Changes in freezing days averaged 5.8 days per 100 years later, and 6.5 days per 100 years earlier.  Scientists have specifically looked at the rates of change in freeze in the Northern Hemisphere, especially in the Great Lakes.  Dates were 5.8 and 3.3 times faster.  “Average ice duration decreased by 5.3 days per decade.”  Over the same time period, average temperates increased about .7 degrees Celsius and snowfall decreased 1.7 inches cm per decade.  Several southern lakes did not even freeze over.  This has especially affected water animals because ice breakups change the growth pattern of certain water plants, leaving several type of fish with nothing to eat. This article gave several statistics which can be used in our documentary to back up our arguments and make a stronger point.  It demonstrates how winter is beginning to melt “around the edges” and could possibly even disappear forever someday. Activism Heats Up: A Proposed Solution to Global WarmingGeorge MonbiotActivists are hoping to achieve a 90% reduction in global warming.  First, we have to realize that this is a big challenge.  The best way to do this would be to distribute the energy cuts equally.  Some people think that the government should enforce a rationing system so nobody uses too much energy.  This way, they will think about each energy decision they make.  If this took effect, the government would also have to be able to support those who cannot afford energy-efficient choices.  The author of this article has proven that it is economically and technologically possible to make a 90% cut, but have not proven whether or not it is politically possible.  To do so, everyone must become involved.  The most important thing to do to begin this process is to “regard ourselves as citizens rather than consumers” and take action to get everyone involved in the process. Although this article did not give many specific ways to help cut global warming, it helped show why it is important for us to begin now.  It also put into perspective how large of a task it will be.  We can make simple lifestyle changes, but we also have to take larger action to get others involved.

5 categories

Our group’s choices: 

1) what is it? (causes, etc)

2) effects (earth, animals, future generations)

3) affecting our generation

4) prevention

5) politics/morality

NPR Sumarry/Response

Life in the ‘Burbs: Heavy Costs for Families, Climate

Michelle Carvahlho lives in a 3,000 sq ft house with 5 bedrooms, a big yard, and a 2-car garage.  She and her husband have long commutes and high air conditioning costs.  Her 24 mile commute to her job at Emory University can take an hour to an hour and a half.  Her Nissan Altima holds 20 gallons, she and her husband fill their cars every 5 days.  It is common for an average person in Atlanta to drive 66 miles a day.  The city keeps spreading out so people can live bigger houses with more room, not thinking about how long their commutes are.  Houses farther away are much cheaper, so many people choose to live in the suburbs instead of the city.  Because so many people move out to the suburbs, there are even longer commutes, leading to global warming.  The family’s January natural gas bill was $300, and most of their bills are 3 times as much as the ones they had when they lived in the city.  Michelle’s husband Galileu is excited because he has a new job, but now his daily commute will be 70 miles instead of 40.

After listening to this article, I am definitely starting to think that living in the city would be a great idea.  I never realized how long of a commute the average American had every single day.  I was shocked when I found out that if you added up everyone daily commutes, the distance would be larger than the circumference of the Earth, and that’s only for people in Atlanta!  Although it may seem nice to live in a large home, most Americans don’t need that much room.  We aren’t just contributing to global warming to satisfy our needs, but we are destroying the earth just to live even more comfortably.

Atlanta Family Slashes Carbon Footprint

Malaika Taylor used to live in the suburbs of Atlanta, but when she realized that her lifestyle was contributing to global warming, she and her 11-year-old daughter moved to the city.  This made their commute much shorter.  They walk a few blocks to the school bus stop, and now she doesn’t even have to use a car on many days.  She lives in a walkable commutity called Atlantic Station and her daily comute is only about a mile.  The EPA supported this commutity at first because it is a model of how American life could be.  Living in a loft, she has lower bills because of shared walls and because she uses electricity to heat and cool her home.  She only fills her gas tank around once a week because she is able to walk most places, including the grocery store and other stores such as Target or IKEA.

 Before I listened to this article, I had never heard of a “commutity” before.  I think this is definitely a good idea because it creates a less stressful lifestyle as well as living with a small carbon footprint.  Malaika claimed to have a lot more free time because she did not have a long commute home, and could even leave work to pick up her daughter from the bus stop because it would only take a few minutes.  She only had to drive to work if it was raining, so her short commute did not emit any harmful gasses into the atmosphere.  These types of communities are great ideas.

Reflection

1. My gut reaction to choosing Global Warming wasn’t good.  I saw it coming, but I’m really passionate about religious intolerance and I thought it would make a better documentary topic.  Still, the topic has already been chosen so I can still choose to put a lot of effort into this topic and try to make the best of it.  I still think that global warming is an important issue that definitely needs to be addressed, and I think our class will be able to make a strong argument on how to make changes to prevent it.

2.  Yesterday I learned that global warming could actually be a good thing because it is stopping some hurricanes from reaching the United States and when there is more CO2 in the air, plants grow better so it will help us produce more crops.  One of the main causes of global warming is the greenhouse effect.  The atmosphere acts like a glass greenhouse and traps the heat from the sun on the surface of the earth.  This causes the temperature to die.  Over 30% of earth’s animals could die as the temperature continues to rise.  Another main cause of global warnming is acid rain, which is caused by chemicals put into the air from factories and automobiles.

3.  When we make our documentary, I think we will run into some problems.  It will be difficult to find experts to interview about global warming because not many people specialize in this topic.  However, I do think if we talk to congressmen and scientists, they will eventually lead us to experts will helpful information.  I also think that it will be difficult to find random people to interview because they will all have similar opinions: “Global warming is bad.”  I also think that most people will not have enough background information on global warming to make educated opinions on camera.

Greenhouse Effect: Should We Really Be Concerned?

see article here

-Acid Rain and Ozone hole affect us immediately

            -Greenhouse Effect will affect us more in the long run

-greenhouse effect: caused by increase carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere

-What should we do? DON’T panic, DO think rationally

-it used to rain a lot more (50-100% more in Africa/India 7-8,000 yrs ago)

-What’s GOOD about GW?

            -if there is twice as much CO2, cropsà bigger harvests

            -humans adapt easily to climate changes

-using up fossil fuels emits CO2

-chlorofluorocarbons: add to greenhouse effect, leading cause of ozone loss

-Before we act on it, we should learn about it!

Effects:

            -midwestern grain belt could move north

            -avg. temp. of Earth will be higher

                        -overall more evaporation and precipitation

                                    -some places = drying, some wetter

            -warm oceans, glaciers will melt, bigger seas

What is the greenhouse effect?

            -atmosphere gasses act like a glass in a greenhouse

            -they let sunlight pass through but don’t let heat escape

            -1/2 of sunlight that reaches atmosphere passes through to surface

                        -90% of this heat = absorbed, radiated back to earth’s surface

            -keeps earth @ 59 degrees Fahrenheit à needed for survival

            -human activity increases these atmosphere gases, more sunlight gets through

            -esp. use of coal and fuel

            -clearing land for farming/building cities = more methane & chlorofluorocarbons

Acid Rain:

            -caused by fossil fuel consumption

            -comes from sulfur dioxide & nitrogen oxides (power plants, automobile exhaust)

            -sulfur and nitrogen generate acids

            -ends up in precipitation

            -technology is being created to stop it

(“scrubbers” in power plants, clean coal technology)