Ch. 17, 18 APES Webquest - Climate, Air and Plooshen
Take a look at this list of Tornado FAQs'. How are tornaodos forecast? What is the difference between a "spotter" and a "chaser"? What is Toto? List a few items you found particularly interesting.
2. Weather and climate data, University of Wisconsin - Click on "Current Stellite Images". Can you guess the jet stream by the pattern of clouds? Any Storms? If you plan on attending a college away from San Diego, what is the cloud cover looking like now? Go back to the main page and click on the iceberg images. Why is it necessary to map and name the icebergs?
3. National Weather Service Home Page--U.S.
Government Warnings and Forecasts
What is the latest word on the El Nino forecast? Where in the US do drought conditions exist? What is the latest weather news?
4. National Snow and Ice Data Center
What is the "cyoshpere"? What is the current state of the cryosphere?
Evaluate this page and the site it links to? Do the facts seem to be presented in a non-biased way? Any facts that you disagree with or know are wrong? Who sponsor this site? Do you trust the information on this site more or less than you would from a gov't site or a not-for-profit company.
6. Sierra Club Global Warming Campaign
Read the intro...bias?? Explain.
Click on "overview" and record the estimates in temp change for the future. Who are the big "culprits"? What evidence does the Sierra Club provide to demonstrate that global warming has begun? Looking at the "Evidnce Mounts" section, are you convinced that climate changes are more drastic because of human activities? Any "evidence" strike you as less than solid?
Click on "How much could you save?" and play around with the calculator. Plug in a family car or one of your friend's. Then try your favorite sports car. Try an SUV of your choice. Try theHonda Insight. Compare that to another car you know that claims to get good gas mileage. Record all the data from each "trial" and discuss summarize your findings.
What does IPCC stand for? Who are they? What do they do? Evaluate the information on this site for bias. Compare it briefly to Sierra Club's global warming site (above).
8. Global Warming: Focus on the Future.
(Environmental Defense Fund)
Try this site - if it is too slow or crashes your computer then skip it. If you get it, then evaluate the message of this site. Is it informative? Considers all perspective? Is it convincing? Biased?
9.
Global Warming: A list of links related to global warming.
Randomly choose three of these sites and briefly summarize their content, organization of information, and bias.
10. Plain English Guide to Clean Air Act of 1990
What are the requirements of the CAA? Who enforces it? What is the public's responsibilty? What is "smog" and how is it created? What are some pollutants in gasoline and consumer products? What is the position on home woodstoves? How do you know that the CAA is working?
What is radon? Where does it come from? How much is harmful? Are you at risk? How do you tell? What can you do? How do you know if the air is safe to breathe iin school? List some facts about school air.
How many days until the HCFC-141b production phaseout? Click on "science" and scroll down to General Info "What can individuals do?". Summarize some steps that we can take as individuals to improve the ozone situation? Is Ozone good no matter where it occurs in the atmosphere? Explain.
13. EPA Office of Mobile Sources (Motor
Vehicles, Fuels, Engines)
Take the "environmental quiz" and record the answers for items that you got wrong (and also those that you had no idea but guessed correctly!). What are some "cleaner" fuels. Any downside to the clean feul technology? Explain. Go back to the main page and click on "Your car's fuel economy". Find the rating of your family car (or similar) or the one you would buy if you had an unlimited budget.
14.
10 Tips for Drivers. 10 things you can do to prevent pollution from your vehicle.
Summarize the tips for drivers. Choose four of the MOST broken rules (in your estimation) and discuss what it would take to get people to improve their polluting habits.