Wrapping up the year!

As we wrap up our year, with Thirteen Days, I am seeing a pattern or a theme if you will. The theme is that history is a series of problems and solutions, and every solution came with a ling string of decisions. In Thirteen Days, the Kennedy administration struggled to find a solution to the Cuban missile crisis. With out the careful planning and smart decision making, the course of world history could have been completely altered. The same can be said for every event in US or even world history. The decisions we make determine our course we just have to be smart enough to make the right ones.

I'm gonna miss this class. A lot :(

letter to the future perspectives

To the Randolph School class of 2216,

I’m writing to you in hopes that you will find some knowledge and guidance in what we know in the year 2016 in regards to climate change and the global perspectives on the topic.  I have spent a week conducting brief research on the topic, and my letter to you is composed of my findings.

As of today, it is a fact that climate change is happening. According to NASA (1), Global temperatures have risen by approximately 1 degree in the past century, sea levels are rising and various natural disasters are occurring and damaging many parts of the earth. However, many people don’t believe that it is happening and there is no need for concern, and I find it to be extremely troublesome.

I studied the beliefs of my classmates, and found a quiz (2) that compares my views about climate change to those of other countries around the world. People of 40 nations around the world on their perspectives of climate change, and when ranked against other countries, I scored 6^th, meaning that my concern is greater than that of 85% of the countries polled. Scrolling through the results, I found that the United States is ranked 37^th of the 40 countries and my own results. 37/41 is an absolutely horrifying statistic to me, especially because of the fact that as a nation, we produce on of the highest levels of greenhouse gas emissions. You would think that it’d make the United States care more, but apparently not. Most countries around the world believe that the richest countries should be the ones that put forth a greater effort, and a greater budget towards trying to find solutions to the problems of climate change. I completely agree, the countries that have more money, tend to emit green house gasses, and yet these are the countries that appear to have greater rates of climate doubt. Whereas countries that have less of a budget seem to have a greater concern for the issue, South American countries in particular have the lead in concern for climate change. The greatest concern for all people around the world is the possibility of drought or water shortage as one of many side effects of global climate change.

After reading these shocking statistics, I decided that I should compile my own data. I created a survey and asked my classmates to respond. The website I used allowed me to view all of the respondents answers on a graph for each individual question.

Figure 1

For the first question in my survey, I asked my peers the question that I had found most shocking when compiling research on other countries. I asked which countries they’d expect to have the highest level of concern for change in the climate. Shockingly, over half of them guessed the US, Russia, and China. When in fact, as you have already read, South American countries are the ones with the highest level of concern.

Figure 2

The second question I asked was how soon they thought climate change would make a drastic impact on life, well the fact was that it is happening today, in 2016. I was surprised that more people didn’t believe that it was happening now, But I was actually glad to see that there are people who believe that climate change is an issue is going on in 2016.

Figure 3

Next, I asked for the level of concern my classmates had for the matter, and the results were well dispersed and pretty evenly spaced, The two most common levels of concern were 3 and 6 on a scale of 1-10. Which are relatively moderate levels of concern. I would place myself in the 8-9 range on a scale of 1-10.

Figure 4

The final question I posed to my classmates was if they thought that countries with more money and power should spend more money to fix the problems of climate change. Approximately 75% of my peers shared an opinion similar to that of many countries around the world.


1) NASA  NASA stands for national aeronautics space administration and it is in charge of science and engineering having to do with space.

2) PEW research center is a research "think tank" based in Washington DC; founded by Andrew Kohut.

Climate Change Concern Survey

Everyone PLEASE take my survey! I'd really appreciate it!
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Y2PP755 

I'd also love if you'd comment on this post with any thoughts you might have about the subject or any questions that I asked. It'll help further my research a lot!

Research pt1

Of the research that I have done so far, I have found several different polls with conflicting results on climate change.  One of the polls says that more people than ever believe in climate change, where as another poll says that fewer people than ever believe in climate change.

A lot of my research that I have found so far deals with politics, and I'm struggling to find opinionated articles that help support the perspectives category.

Class questions to focus on:

What widely-held and/or alternative views do people living in the US, and in the world, have about the climate of our planet?  Upon what are these views based?  (Data, ideology, culture, propaganda, research, etc., ?)

When it comes to discussion of the climate, around what issues or questions does there seem to be debate?

“Why is our climate changing so rapidly?” / “Is global warming real?”

Data:

• Republicans are beginning to believe now more than ever the effects of climate change
• Poll from Monmouth university says the 70% of people polled believe in climate change.
• ⅔ of the respondents called for action against climate change
• Approxamately 27% believe that humans are the cause of climate change.
• When these people that were polled think climate, they think rising sea levels and extreme weather changes

I plan to do my own poll with in the Randolph community. As well as find blogs of possible about climate change. It is just a matter of where I look to find these blogs, I may need some help finding such blogs.

Sources:

http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/264767-poll-70-percent-believe-in-climate-change

http://www.techtimes.com/articles/109620/20151123/americans-do-not-think-global-warming-is-real-why.htm

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/10/16/3713267/climate-change-poll/

perspectives

climate

1) weather- I keep having this image of rain for some reason. Rain on a mountain. its really weird and I'm not at all sure why that is the first thing that came to my mind......
2) atmosphere-the things around me are the atmosphere
3) storage- like climate controlled storage facilities.
4)change- climate change is said a lot. thinking about global warming.
5) humidity- When the climate changes (global warming) I think heat. Heat makes me think humidity. miserable humidity.


My Question:
What have we done as a population that has worked in the past and is still implemented in the future? In other words, What have we done right?

Dust Bowl Memorial and Museum

Welcome to the American Dust Bowl Museum & Memorial. Here, guests will encounter and understand the causes and effects of the Dust Bowl in the 1930s. The facility is separated into three buildings, the main building, composed of 6 small exhibits; the “green”ery , which is an indoor farm facility, and lastly “the shack”.

Descriptions of each exhibit may be found on this guide. Note the numbering on the map corresponds with the numbering on this guide.

1.     The Timeline Room- This room was designed to give the guest a very brief preview and background on the decade in which the Dust Bowl took place. Major events are listed such as “Black Sunday” and the massive migrations from the affected areas of the dust storms.

2.     The Culture Room- This is the space dedicated to the popular culture of and about the time. This is the only room in the museum which music is constantly played. The music that can be heard is Woody Guthrie’s songs about living in and surviving the Dust Bowl.  

3.     The Photo Gallery- This space is filled with the photographs from the Dust Bowl, these photos are meant to give the viewer a brief glimpse of the devastation brought about by the storms.

4.     The Film Room- this room is set up like a modern movie theatre and plays documentaries for guests wishing to deepen their knowledge on the time period.

5.     The news room- this is the room that covers the political side of the Dust Bowl; what the president and his cabinet to aid the relief of the drought and the dust storms that were affecting over 75% of the country.

6.     The conference room- This is a space in which groups may divide and interact and act as if they were in the time period and try to solve the problems that the citizens of the United States in the 30s.

7.     The “Green”ery- This space is an “outdoor” classroom so to speak. The greenhouse is divided into 2 sections. A majority dedicated to the proper techniques of farming that could have prevented the Dust Bowl. Where as the other is a small patch that demonstrates the improper farming techniques given the drought conditions that caused the Dust Bowl.  Farming was a large contributing factor to the Dust Bowl, and this building is to give it the importance it is due for the cause of the tragic events of the decade.

8.     “The Shack”- This last building is meant for visitors to see in person the conditions of the homes of people living during the Dust Bowl. Guests will enter the “shack” and experience a dust filled house similar to the conditions of the “Dirty Thirties”.

http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/timeline/depwwii/dustbowl/

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/timeline/dustbowl/

http://www.history.com/topics/dust-bowl

http://www.allmusic.com/album/dust-bowl-ballads-mw0000652784