...Climate Change: Debate Unit Research Design Journal Marco Palomares [Working Families] Mr. Delcambre Professional Communications 1B April 20th, 2017 Introduction Since the 1760s, fossil fuel has become the primary source of energy. We used fossil fuels for over two hundred years. Today, fossil fuel such as oil, powers most of our modes of transportation. Then coal and natural gas powers our electricity. Over the two hundred years we used fossil fuels, it has developed a problem that only got bigger over time. A problem that we face not only as a nation but as the human race. The problem is climate change. Climate change is caused by natural or non-natural greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere. Modern human activities have increased the release of non-naturally occurring greenhouse gases because we have boost our demand of burning more fossil fuel. The following design cycle explains my point of view [Working families] on climate change. Criterion A Need for...
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...idea that animates his life, that guides his philanthropy, that keeps him late in his sleek book-lined office overlooking Lake Washington, outside Seattle – is the hacker's notion that the code for these problems can be rewritten, that errors can be fixed, that huge systems – whether it's Windows 8, global poverty or climate change – can be improved if you have the right tools and the right skills. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the philanthropic organization with a $36 billion endowment that he runs with his wife, is like a giant startup whose target market is human civilization. Personally, Gates has very little Master of the Universe swagger and, given the scale of his wealth, his possessions are modest: three houses, one plane, no yachts. He wears loafers and khakis and V-neck sweaters. He often needs a haircut. His glasses haven't changed much in 40 years. For fun, he attends bridge tournaments. Related: Q&A: Bill Gates on How to Stop Global Warming Related: Obama in Command: The Rolling Stone Interview Related: Steve Jobs: The Rolling Stone Interview But if his social ambitions are modest, his intellectual scope is mind-boggling: climate, energy, agriculture, infectious diseases and education reform, to name a few. He has former nuclear physicists helping cook up nutritional cookies to feed the developing world. A polio SWAT team has already spent $1.5 billion (and is committed to another $1.8 billion through 2018) to eradicate the virus. He's engineering...
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...doesn’t account for who or what was there before the ones doing the taking. Therein lies the problem. Or for many early science fiction writers- a great story idea. Fuelled by real scientific observation, starting with Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli and his 1877 “discovery” of canals on the planet Mars (which later was rejected as part of the natural landscape by better technology) to the 1960’s and 1970’s NASA programs Mariner and Viking. Specifically because of the real science behind Mars exploration, authors like; Philip K. Dick, Martian Time-Slip, Greg Bear, Moving Mars, and Kim Stanley Robinson with Red Mars, all explored very scientific, but humanistic stories with themes of the political, economical and social effects of colonization on Mars. One interesting aspect of Mars literature is the use of environmental similarities of globalization here on Earth as a reflection in the colonization of Mars stories. In her article, “Martian Ecologies and the Future of Nature”, Ursula K. Heise talks about the shift of a “postmodernist thought” to one of “ecocriticism”. A term that emerged in the early ‘90’s when ‘globalization’ was the new thing in literary and cultural studies. She goes on to talk about how the “meaning of nature” has changed, because people have changed it by way of ‘climate...
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...Critical and Creative Thinking in Society Short Essays Week One Describe a situation of public interest in which critical and/or creative thought could have been used for a better outcome. Describe why it is important to think critically and creatively in similar situations. One situation that comes immediately to mind is the phenomenon of climate change we are currently dealing with and how we are woefully unprepared to cope with it. If critical and/or creative thought had been used by all concerned, instead of fear and denial, we would be in a better position to handle and curtail these climate changes. When the data that pointed to human-induced climate change first was made public, it seemed that fear and hysteria was the common theme in most discussions of the problem. It has gotten better in recent years but it may be a case of too little, too late. It is important to think critically and creatively because it helps you to see the whole picture. When you think critically, all sides of the problem such as history, a source, a context are considered making a realistic and effective solution to a problem more likely. Define free will, truth, knowledge, and opinion. Explain how we use them to form thoughts. What role does each play in critically assessing situations? We have free will when we have the freedom of self-determination, action and ability to make choices. If the choice is consistent with a person's desires and nature then it is representative of a person’s...
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...rapid increase in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere and is responsible for changes in global climate patterns. It occurs when greenhouse gasses including carbon dioxide, methane, black carbon, and other toxic gasses trap the heat and light from the sun in the earth's atmosphere, which increase the temperature. Some scientists agree that human consumption of the earth's natural resources and activities over the years had contributed to the earth's current state of being. However, opposing sides claim that there is no evidence to support this; rather it is just a bogus statement. They believe human action has nothing to do with the earth’s hot temperature. The controversy involves a disagreement over the fact, cause and consequences of the global warming. Both sides of the issue can find multiple experts to support their case that the earth is or is not warming, that global warming is either the consequences of human activities or a cyclical phenomenon and that global warming will be good for us or will bring tragedy. Global warming has created awareness amongst the public and government officials because of its effects on our ecosystem and future ability to maintain a stable environment. Yet it has not been given the political or financial attention it needs. Global warming is an epidemic that must be addressed immediately by the government and society because it is real, human-caused and catastrophic. To begin with, critics of the issue argue...
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...little holes, through those holes the rays of the sun pass through the atmosphere, and therefore global warming is created. This is how global warming is produced, it has been present since a long time ago, and what I just went through is the process of it. “People tend to focus on the here and now. The problem is that, once global warming is something that most people can feel in the course of their daily lives, it will be too late to prevent much larger, potentially catastrophic changes.” Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker, Apr 25, 2005. Kolbert, is a very successful writer, and she might not be known world wide, but she is very wise, because she wrote something seven years ago, which by now is becoming true. I feel that Global Warming is getting to a point that the whole world is about to meet him, because now only educated people know about it, and we must all know that global warming is real. As a matter of a fact one can see many reasons or facts to why Global Warming is real, and it is not only real, but also it is starting to get worse, with the passing of the years. “However the new research from the University of Washington has found that warming in West Antarctica exceeded one-tenth of a degree Celsius per decade for the past 50 years, which more than offsets the cooling in East Antarctica (Newsbusters.org, Amy Ridenour).” So with this quotation of a website, from an article I researched about, we can see an example...
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...Critical and Creative Thinking in Society Short Essays Week One Describe a situation of public interest in which critical and/or creative thought could have been used for a better outcome. Describe why it is important to think critically and creatively in similar situations. One situation that comes immediately to mind is the phenomenon of climate change we are currently dealing with and how we are woefully unprepared to cope with it. If critical and/or creative thought had been used by all concerned, instead of fear and denial, we would be in a better position to handle and curtail these climate changes. When the data that pointed to human-induced climate change first was made public, it seemed that fear and hysteria was the common theme in most discussions of the problem. It has gotten better in recent years but it may be a case of too little, too late. It is important to think critically and creatively because it helps you to see the whole picture. When you think critically, all sides of the problem such as history, a source, a context are considered making a realistic and effective solution to a problem more likely. Define free will, truth, knowledge, and opinion. Explain how we use them to form thoughts. What role does each play in critically assessing situations? We have free will when we have the freedom of self-determination, action and ability to make choices. If the choice is consistent with a person's desires and nature then it is representative of a person’s...
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...about my abilities to say the correct answer and produce high quality assignments and projects not just due to chance, but because of my dedication to learning the...
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...temperatures will soar to 14.5 degrees warmer than current day. These are the stunning results of climate and carbon cycle model simulations conducted by scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. By using a coupled climate and carbon cycle model to look at global climate and carbon cycle changes, the scientists found that the earth would warm by 8 degrees Celsius (14.5 degrees Fahrenheit) if humans use the entire planet's available fossil fuels by the year 2300. The jump in temperature would have alarming consequences for the polar ice caps and the ocean, said lead author Govindasamy Bala of the Laboratory's Energy and Environment Directorate. In the polar regions alone, the temperature would spike more than 20 degrees Celsius, forcing the land in the region to change from ice and tundra to boreal forests. "The temperature estimate is actually conservative because the model didn't take into consideration changing land use such as deforestation and build-out of cities into outlying wilderness areas," Bala said. Today's level of atmospheric carbon dioxide is 380 parts per million (ppm). By the year 2300, the model predicts that amount would nearly quadruple to 1,423 ppm. In the simulations, soil and living biomass are net carbon sinks, which would extract a significant amount of carbon dioxide that otherwise would remain in the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels. The real scenario, however, might be a bit different. "The land ecosystem would not take up as much...
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...some areas than I’d expected. Read on to find out about the game’s expanding narrative engine, how climate change is forcing the team to update the code that generates weather patterns, why the ugliest aspects of football have no place in FM and how a non-contract player’s family situation might prevent him from playing for your club. RPS: You’ve mentioned in previous interviews that you have a database of thousands of features to implement eventually. But do you have an overall vision of where the game is going to be in two or three years? Is there a shape that it’s taking? Jacobson: I tend to work two versions ahead. It used to be three but it’s two now because we’re managing to fit in a lot more each year, so there’s always an overall vision for the game. Whether that’s a year of revolution or of evolution – I think, certainly, the revolution years are going to be less and less because there’s so much in the game already that we’d rather look at evolving certain large chunks of the game each year. When you’re working on an annually iterative sports title that’s based on real life, it’s kind of difficult to turn around and say ‘the whole match engine is going to be 5d!’. We can’t change the rules like that. So once 3d went in, that was the year we had Che Guevara postcards going out for the year of revolution. We’re on to seemingly smaller changes now. There are loads of changes in the game this year that are actually revolutionary but they’re not obvious when you...
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...Whatever Happened to the 100-Year Event? They're big, we know them when we see them, and we remember them. By STEVEN SULLIVAN B y September 16, 2013, more than 4,500 square miles of Colorado were under water. That’s an area roughly the size of Delaware by some estimates; others compared it to Connecticut. The territory on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains had already been subjected to six straight days and 17 inches of rain, more than five inches above the annual average for the area. More than 1,200 people were missing, 19,000 homes were damaged or destroyed, 12,000 people evacuated. Fatalities were still unknown, but expected to be numerous. Television images showed raging torrents in streams and creeks that rivaled the last few hundred yards of the Niagara River before the Falls. Colorado was experiencing not just a 100-year event; this was a 1,000-year event, a flood that even the National Weather Service characterized as not only historic, but biblical. That turns out to be a pretty good characterization of a 100-year event. They’re big, we know them when we see them, and we remember them: Hurricane Katrina in 2005; Super Storm Sandy in 2012; the tornado that devastated Moore, Oklahoma in 2013; the entire wildfire summer of 2012. And if one of them takes your loved ones, your home, or your possessions, it doesn’t really matter if it makes the record books. 26 ACTUARIAL REVIEW NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013 • WWW.CASACT.ORG Misleading...
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...Traffic Problems in Baton Rouge 5:30 traffic in Baton Rouge could easily be defined as the time in which no one wants to get in their car and go anywhere regardless of urgency. Baton Rouge, Louisiana is notoriously known for their inefficient traffic systems. Why is that? With a population rank of 67th in the United States, Baton Rouge’s ranking of 33rd in the nation for worst traffic congestion has definitely impacted the community’s identity (Meaux, Reveille). Money, or lack thereof, plays a huge role in what could be called Baton Rouge’s traffic crisis. "Unless you have the funds to update your infrastructure, people are going to be stuck in traffic," said Mark Lambert, communications director with Louisiana's Department of Transportation and Development. "Our infrastructure is terribly behind the needs in Louisiana ... All of it comes down to a matter of money (Meaux, Reveille).” The government’s perspective on the matter of money is that they simply aren’t being allotted enough towards specifically solving the congestion problems of Baton Rouge. For every gallon of gasoline purchased, Louisiana gets $0.16 for infrastructure improvement (Meaux, Reveille). Money is definitely at the root of the problem, however there are many other contributing factors. Due to how far behind Baton Rouge is in congestions problems, society obviously believes that more money needs to be funneled in that direction. The society thinks that the Baton Rouge roads need to be revamped. Shouldn’t...
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...Global Warming. Is it caused by us? “…Climate change is now with us. It will not go away.”(Musil, 17) Many of us have noticed that our Earth is getting warmer. We seem to ignore what is going on and just continue with our everyday life. There is evidence that our climate has been getting warmer ever year. Some scientist believe it is because of green house gases. Green house gases include the carbon dioxide from gases that our industry produces, methane gases that cows put off, and some believe it has nothing to do with things living on Earth. The scientist that believe we have nothing to do with global warming believe that the sun’s temperatures has something to do with it. There are some people who think that global warming is not a major crisis. The fact is that the planet is getting warmer. No scientist dines that fact, but reason why varies. We the people of the United States can also do things to help stop global warming. Global warming is define as “an increase in the earth's average atmospheric temperature that causes corresponding changes in climate and that may result from the greenhouse effect.”(www.dictionary.reference.com) Over the last century the average temperature on Earth has increased by one degrees Celsius. One degree Celsius may not seem like much, but it is. Earth’s temperature depends on that giant glowing ball in the sky known as the sun. Most energy from the sun is reflected back into space, but some is trapped in by our atmosphere because of...
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...from other disciplines in that it doesn't have a particular "thing" it studies. Botanists study plants, while geologists are interested in rocks. Geography is defined by its approach or methodology. Geographers describe their discipline as a spatial science. By "space" we aren't talking about celestial space. Geographers are concerned with answering questions about how and why phenomena vary across the surface of the Earth. For instance, geographers investigate patterns of vegetation as they relate to distributions of climate, soils, and topography. Geographers recognize the dynamic nature of Earth's physical systems. The physical geography of Earth changes in response to variations in weather and climate, the shifting of continents, and and the sculpting of coastlines by wave action. By recognizing the Earth system is dynamic, geographers take time into consideration when looking at the spatial patterns of Earth phenomena. Therefore, geographers are playing important roles in understanding the effects of climate change on earth systems. The role of geographers in assessing patterns of environmental change is a theme that reoccurs throughout this book. Figure 1.1 Folded Appalachian Mountains Linear folds of the Appalachian Mountains can be easily seen in this satellite image. (Source: NASA/GSFC/JPL, MISR Team) Geographers study both the form and processes acting at the surface of the earth, the principal domain of geographic study. Examine the landscape of the Appalachian mountain...
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...successful. We often fail to consider the importance of word choice until it is too late, and our communication has failed. Think of a time when the words you selected contributed to your miscommunication with another person. How did your word choice impact the miscommunication? What could you have done differently? Discussion 2 Getting off to a strong start with the course project, the Communication Change Challenge (CCC), is important. Please take some time early this week to review the following and to post any specific questions you may have about how to proceed with the project to this week's Q & A thread. • Under Week 1: the Course Project Tab – CCC Part 1. • Under Course Home: the introduction in the Course Project tab and the screen cast tutorial: Communication Change Challenge. Begin by defining interpersonal communication. Then, think of an instance you want to share where your interpersonal communication habits or behaviors got in the way of successful communication between you and another person. Describe the behavior, and tell us why it was a problem. week 2 Discussion 1This week we will explore how we use nonverbal communication. Please refer to Chapter 5 in your course textbook.Essentials of Human Communication,when responding to this Discussion topic. The chapter explains how nonverbal behavior complements our verbal messages and the...
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