The certainty of climate change remains a public controversy despite the consensus among approximately 97% of active climate researchers, who not only agree that the Earth’s climate is changing but also state that this change is intensified by human activity, predominantly carbon emissions 1. The disconnect between the public and the experts is partly due to poor understanding of the mechanisms involved in climate change as well as the differences among essential concepts such as weather...

Melting Land and Sea Ice
ExpandNOTE: This activity is a simulation of land- and sea-ice melting and their effects on water levels.
First, label one graduated cylinder as 'Sea Ice' and the other graduated cylinder as 'Land Ice.' Hypotheses: the experimental hypothesis might be that the land ice melting will cause the water level to rise more than the melting sea ice. The null hypothesis would be that there will be no difference in the change in water level between the two containers.
Add 10 ice...

Preparation for the Ice Melt, Greenhouse Gas, and Species Range Activities
ExpandTo prepare for the exercise, first print enough data recording tables for students in each group. NOTE: Activities one and two can be done simultaneously, each by half of the class broken up into groups of two to four students, or by all students if desired.
If the class will split the activity, separate the data tables accordingly.
Students performing activity one will need copies of Table 2 and Table 4. Click...

Throughout its ~4.5 billion year history, the Earth has experienced periods of warming and cooling. However, the current drastic increase in global temperatures is well outside of the Earth’s cyclic norms, and evidence for human-caused global climate change is compelling. Paleoclimatology, the study of ancient climate conditions, provides ample evidence for human-caused global climate change by comparing recent conditions with those in the past.