Discussion: Human Impact on the Carbon Cycle
As the winter holidays near, you hear several neighborhood children complain about the lack of snow in your area. You realize it has been a bit warmer this season. In fact, as you think about the weather a bit longer, you realize you did not have much snow last year, either. Is this what scientists are talking about when they refer to global warming?
Global warming is a popular topic in today’s media. In spite of this wealth of information, it may be difficult to understand what global warming is, the science that explains it, and its impact on the survival of living organisms on the Earth.
For both this week’s Discussion and Assignment, you have the opportunity to gain a better understanding of global warming and its relationship to the carbon cycle on which all living things depend. For this week’s Discussion, you explore global warming’s correlation with CO2(carbon dioxide) levels in the Earth’s atmosphere and evaluate how your own activities, as well as human activity, in general, influence the carbon cycle.
To prepare for this Discussion:
Review Chapter 5, “Life in the Greenhouse” inBiology: Science for Life, and focus on the following:
What the greenhouse effect is
How water, heat, and temperature are related
What CO2is and how its amount in the atmosphere is changing
How CO2levels correlate with global warming
Consider how your personal actions may increase or decrease CO2levels by calculating your carbon footprint. Links to several carbon footprint calculators are listed in the Required Resources section. Use one of these calculators to estimate your carbon footprint.
Learn about the atmospheric history of CO2by reading the article “Past Climate Change” listed in the Required Resources section.
Conduct additional research to learn more about the relationship between human carbon footprints and CO2levels in the atmosphere.
Read theDiscussion Sparktopic/question or comment posted by your Instructor in the Discussion Thread onDay 1.
With these thoughts in mind:
