The Reality of Climate Change

Today in Science and Technology Methods Dr. Smirnova brought in her husband Michael Edelstein to talk about climate change and the Climate Reality Project. Dr. Edelstein has been teaching science for the last forty four years at Ramapo College in New Jersey. The Climate Reality Project created by Al Gore is a non-profit organization involved in education and advocacy related to climate change. All the information that Dr. Edelstein shared about climate change and the Climate Reality Project was very informative. I was able to gather a lot of new information that I found beneficial for when I teach Science to my future students. Michael helped me learn so many new things about the climate that I thought was interesting and never knew about up until today. I learned that because we are passed 350 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere we can’t go back. As of 2017 we are now at the amount of 405 parts per million. One interesting fact that I read on the internet is that the carbon dioxide levels today are higher than at any point in at least the past 800,000 years. Something else new I learned was the scientific term for Water Cycle is Hydrological Cycle. Water can sometimes change form from solid to liquid to gases. Water shapes the land and runs off everywhere at the lowest point. I learned that all the water we’ve ever had is here on earth. I was also able to learn about systems and how the earth is a closed system with regard to matter and how the earth is an open system with regard to energy. Matter is defined as anything that has mass and takes up space. Energy is in everything. It is a property of matter and space. As a future science teacher it is extremely important to know about systems because of how many systems there are in Science such as climate systems, ecosystem, solar system and so on and so forth. As a future science teacher it is important that I am aware of these systems and how they run. If it weren’t for Dr. Edelstein I don’t think I would have learned about how much carbon dioxide is in the atmosphere or about open and closed systems and whether or not the earth is closed or open. I am so thankful to have learned more and new information about climate change. I was also happy to learn about the Climate Reality Project because it was a project that I was unaware of so it was something new for me to learn about. Overall class today was very interesting and informative, and I really enjoyed it.