Your Study Resources: Module 3

SECTION ONE (General Knowledge) The Smog Factor

Soot: Black Snow in the Arctic

Energy Balance
http://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/viewFlash.do?fileid=2343&id=2374&aid=2467
For older students, consider clicking through the animation.

The Albedo Effect
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/environment/arctic_soot.html
This shows how polar ice reflects light from the sun.

How ozone works
http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/9816-our-restless-atmosphere-ozone-harmful-and-helpful-video.htm
A great video about how ozone is formed from pollution and what happens to it after that.

Solar Cooking Resources
http://www.solarcooking.org/
A wealth of information about cooking with solar heat, including many DIY designs.

Solar Oven Society
http://www.solarovens.org/
This nonprofit organization raises funds to send solar ovens to developing nations.

AirNow International Air Quality portal
http://airnow.gov/index.cfm?action=where.world
Check the air quality!

Smog City
http://www.smogcity2.org/

Air Quality in Google Earth
http://airnow.gov/index.cfm?action=google_earth.main

AirNow pollution simulator Smog City 2
http://www.smogcity2.org/
Investigate how to reduce smog and ozone.

How ozone works
http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/9816-our-restless-atmosphere-ozone-harmful-and-helpful-video.htm
A great video about how ozone is formed from pollution and what happens to it after that.

United Nations Environment Programme Ozone Secretariat
http://ozone.unep.org/
A comprehensive, detailed look at ozone and smog and their health impacts.

When CFCs meet Ozone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1wrEvc2URE&NR=1
A terrific movie explaining and visualizing the chemical reactions, context et al. in easily understood language.

Antarctic Ozone Hole 1979-2007
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taTzqRHNIEc&feature=related
NASA's been tracking the thinning of the ozone layer the south pole for nearly 20 years. In this slowed-down animation, you can watch the ozone hole's average size each October.

Climate Change: Lessons from the Montreal Protocol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2HAwuRyzxU&feature=related
On the links between ozone and climate change and how we can apply what we have learned from the successful doings of Montreal Protocol in our approach to climate charge!

World Maporama
http://world.maporama.com/
 
NASA’s Ozone Monitoring Instrument
http://jwocky.gsfc.nasa.gov/teacher/ozone_overhead.html

2008 Special Observations from NASA
http://tes.jpl.nasa.gov/visualization/googleearth/

Science Daily: Arctic ozone loss
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/04/040426053953.htm
Related articles on ozone issues in the arctic.

NASA: The Good, the Bad, and the Ozone
http://www.nasa.gov/missions/earth/f-ozone.html
A description of NASA’s TES projects and a primer on good and bad ozone.

Scientific Facts on Air Pollution: Ozone
http://www.greenfacts.org/en/ozone-o3/
Summary, detailed, and source material explaining the effects of ground-level ozone.

The Skeptics vs. the Ozone Hole
http://www.wunderground.com/education/ozone_skeptics.asp
Explores the techniques used by industry to discredit the original science behind ozone depletion.

SECTION TWO (Native Knowledge) Adaptation and Change

Animal Characteristics Game
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidscorner/games/animalclassgame.htm
Introduction to classification of animals and a fun little game on the traits that characterize mammal, reptile, bird, fish, and amphibian -

AirNOW Kid’s Air
http://airnow.gov/index.cfm?action=aqikids_new.main
What should you do when the Air Quality Index is orange? Let the chameleons K.C., Koko, and Kool, show you how EPA measures pollution in the air.

Arctic Food Chain Game
http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/food/food_menu.html
Time to exercise your Arctic food web knowledge!

Inuit Taxonomy
http://www.arctic.uoguelph.ca/cpl/Traditional/traditional/uumajuit_frame.htm
Any time we take a group of things and break it down into smaller categories, we’re creating a taxonomy, or a system of classification. Scientists use taxonomies to identify plants and animals. The Inuit have their own taxonomy of Arctic animals, too, which is based on the human-animal relationships.  Explore the various classifications that the Inuit used.

Characteristics of the Arctic Hare
http://nature.ca/ukaliq/021des/010_chr01_e.cfm

Bunny Stumpers
http://nature.ca/ukaliq/030act/014_quz_e.cfm
Students pick a category and answer the questions about Ukaliq’s habits, adaptations, and behaviors.

The world's biomes
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/exhibits/biomes/index.php
An in depth look at the world’s biomes from the University of California Museum of Paleontology

Endangered Ecosystems
http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/lessonplan.jsp?id=492
A great lesson plan from Scholastic gets students to learn about ecosystems by building their own caterpillar.

SEED science: Feedback loop
http://www.seed.slb.com/subcontent.aspx?id=4052
Both positive and negative feedback loops have an impact on climate. The water cycle, for example, is a self-regulating negative loop.

Climate change impacts on settlements and infrastructure
http://www.greenfacts.org/en/arctic-climate-change/l-2/6-melting-permafrost.htm#3
Students can click through summary, detail, and primary source documents from GreenFacts.com that discuss the results of thawing permafrost on Arctic built environment.

Waste-to-energy plants
http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energy_fungames/riddles/index.html

Sign up with TerraCycle!
http://www.terracycle.net/
TerraCycle’s programs have a collection program to collect juice packs, plastic bags, and other trash to turn into products for sale. They send out a collection box, to be filled up and send it back postage paid. They pay 2 cents for every individual piece of trash to a charity of choice!

Flying Anthropogenic
http://www.eoearth.org/article/Anthropogenic_biome_maps

Industrial Pollutions
http://www.cec.org/naatlas/prtr/

Greenhouse Gas Bubbling From Melting Permafrost Feeds Climate Warming
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/09/060907102808.htm
Related articles from Science Daily about methane sequestered in the Arctic.

The Snow Must Go On
http://www.grist.org/cgi-bin/printthis.pl?uri=/news/maindish/2005/07/26/gertz-inuit/index.html
A profile of Inuit activist Shiela Watt-Cloutier and her fight against climate change in the Arctic.

Methane bubbles
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6yo_DNREWI
A YouTube video of a science classroom conducting the methane bubble experiment in this activity. 

CASE STUDY: FACT FINDER

BBC’s Serious Arctic page on the polar bear
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/wild/arctic/games/polarbear.shtml
Using this interactive online feature, roll over areas of the polar bear graphic  to learn about some of the ways that polar bears have adapted to life in the Arctic.

WWF Polar Bear Pages
http://www.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/arctic/area/species/polarbear/
Extensive listings of information about polar bears, including habitat, diet, threats, from the World Wildlife Fund

Case Study: Dioxin
http://www.chemicalbodyburden.org/cs_dioxin.htm
Information about dioxin, a byproduct of chlorine produced during industrial paper making.

The Canadian Assessment
http://www.abnc.ca/programs/pdf/how_species_endangered.pdf

NASA Jet Propulsion Lab’s Climate Time Machine
http://climate.jpl.nasa.gov/ClimateTimeMachine/climateTimeMachine.cfm
This tool shows changes to the permanent block of ice that makes up the polar bear’s habitat. What changes do students notice about the ice? Does the trend of receding Arctic sea ice appear to be accelerating?

Polar Bear Opinions 1: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7368484.stm
Polar Bear Opinions 2: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3706668.stm

Great Pacific Garbage Dump
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Story?id=5524886&page=1
What happens to the world’s non-biodegradable trash? Some of it—3.5 million tons of it—ends up in the ocean. This article explains what happens next…

Pesticides
http://www.epa.gov/espp/coloring/espcies.htm
Information from the U.S. EPA about pesticides and their threats to species.

Interactive food chain
http://earthguide.ucsd.edu/earthguide/diagrams/energybalance/index.html
When the animals in the diagram are clicked, a popup box explains their habitat, habits, and role in the food chain. Once these contaminants reach the Arctic, what happens to them?

NASA Jet Propulsion Lab’s Climate Time Machine
http://climate.jpl.nasa.gov/ClimateTimeMachine/climateTimeMachine.cfm
This tool shows changes to the continues sea ice that makes up the polar bear’s habitat. What changes do students notice about the ice? Does the trend of receding Arctic sea ice appear to be accelerating?

Stockholm Convention Training Tool
http://chm.pops.int/Programmes/WasteStockpiles/Trainingtools/TrainingToolEnglish/tabid/387/language/en-US/Default.aspx
Visit the actual training website at the

Environmental Working Group’s “Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database”
http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/index.php?nothanks=1
Check the personal care product they brought to class. Students simply enter the name of the product and they will get a report of the ingredients. By rolling over the various elements on the page, they get descriptions and interpretations.

Pesticide Use
http://www.epa.gov/oppbead1/pestsales/01pestsales/producers_users2001.htm

Scientists Predict Arctic Ozone Loss
http://seagrant.uaf.edu/news/05ASJ/03.04.05ozone-loss.html
Audio segment with transcript describing how pollution contributes to ozone depletion in the northern latitudes.

POPs: Arctic Invaders
http://www.carleton.ca/catalyst/2002/s5.shtml
Story describing the Arctic Assessment Monitoring Program work on transboundary pollution.

Shoppers Guide to Pesticides in Produce
http://www.foodnews.org
A buying guide that helps consumers choose produce without pesticides.

THINK GLOBAL-SAVE THE POLAR BEARS

Act Local—Prevent Pollution!

Join the virtual Global Warming March
http://stopglobalwarming.org
Sign up today! Climate change is a reality. And it can be a scary one. But where there is a will, there is a way! The most important thing we can do is to conserve energy, because the more fossil fuels we use to power our gadgets, factories, homes, and vehicles, the faster the climate will change. But while we’re pursuing that long-term goal, we can take short-term actions that will have an immediate and powerful impact on the health of the climate. Reducing methane, persistent organic pollutants, and ozone depleters provides a double benefit: less environmental poison and less climate change.

Tell your representatives climate protection is important to you
http://dfind.leg.wa.gov/dfinder.cfm
Your elected officials make critical decisions in your name that either hurt or help the fight against global warming. In the U.S. Congress and in the statehouse, your representatives need to hear that you want action!

Start a walk- or bike-to-school campaign
http://www.iwalktoschool.org/whoswalking/country.cfm?id=45
Kids around the world are walking to school as a way to promote physical fitness. And it also cuts down on carbon and smog which contribute to climate change.

Stamp out garbage
http://www.nrc-recycle.org/americarecycles.aspx
The three Rs of reducing climate change are “reduce, reuse, recycle.” Your garbage sits for years in the landfill where it makes methane and warms the planet. In addition to practicing them in your home and school, you can join with people around the world who helping to teach the three R’s. Check out the National Recycling Coalition in the U.S. for a starting point.

Pack a lunch—without plastic
http://www.reusablebags.com/store/wrapnmat-p-2.html
The ocean is home to the largest garbage dump in the world—twice the size of the U.S. state of Texas—where thousands of tons of junk end up, most of it plastic. The average American uses as many as 700 plastic bags a year! In the ocean, they end up harming marine life, and they stick around for thousands of years. Here’s an alternative to the ubiquitous sandwich bag: A stylish and fun wrapper that can be used again and again.

MODULE ALERT