Environmental Issue Day

(Friday 24, 2010)

Summary

Today we started class by taking some notes on Globlal Warming and then moved on to the computer lab to watch our videos.

Greenhouse Gases

First we started our notes on greenhouse gases and how it affects Earth's temperature. Mrs. Stein explained greenhouse gases as a natural lightweight blanket around Earth that keeps it warm. This blanket is vital to human survival because it keeps Earth warm by holding in the Sun's heat. This blanked was turned into a comforter, a thicker blanket, y humnans and other animals. Humans help make this blanket thicker by burning oil into the atmosphere. We also contibute by burning forest, but when a wildfire burns trees the same affect happens. That contributes to the carbon dioxide part of the greenhouse gases but there is another part methane gas. Methane gas is produced by cows and humans eat meat and use cows for other things. All of the cows on Earth account for a large part of the greenhouse gases on Earth.

You may say so why does it matter that there is so many greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. The answer is global warming by making this light blanket a comforter more heat is retained on planet Earth. This heat is changing the climate of places on Earth. This heat is also melting the glaciers and ice caps in the North and South Pole. This water is causing the water levels to rise giving humans and other land animals even less room on Earth. Overpoppulation is already a problem but this in the future could make it even worse because humans will have even less room to expand. This climate change is effecting biodiversity as well some animals do not adapt well to climate change like the polar bear who now has less room to hunt and is becoming thinner and is threaten the species.

Ozone Layer

Ozone is not greenhouse gases. The ozone is a molecule made of three atoms of oxygen. If the greenhouse gases are a blanket then the ozone layer is sunscreen. The ozone protects humans as well as other animals from ultraviolet rays (UV rays). UV rays can effect DNA of animals. CFC's were the cause of the decay of the Ozone layer. Since the banning of CFC's the Ozone has recovered tremondously.

The End of Class

The last part of class we went to the math lab. In the math lab we watched each others videos and went onto the forum and answered the two questions if we had time. This was Friday's biology class.

Homework:

1. Invasive Species Project due Monday

2. Answer the Questions on the 3rd Period - Video Response Forum

3.TEST TUESDAY study using the objectives sheets in the front of your packet

The next scribe is Celia