September Breaks Heat Records Worldwide -- What Do We Teach in Schools about Climate Change?

Jude

Oct 16, 2015 at 5:16am

I put the discussion in education rather than in Soapbox in the hope that: (a) we could have a slightly more rational discussion; (b) realize that we all understand that the children in our schools and all other schools will inherit this world and they should be well educated in what that world will be like.

http://mashable.com/2015/10/15/global-warming-september-spike/#F1zmZ7jBeuq7

The article is based on NASA data and it is now extremely likely 2015 will be the hottest year on record.

Two charts attached below.

Jude

Oct 16, 2015 at 5:30am

Here is one on a place close to home -- Delaware.

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/10/16/rising-seas-overwhelm-delaware-tide-gates.html

A few nice quotes:

"The Southbridge neighborhood is part of Delaware’s largest city, Wilmington, at the northern end of the state. With a population of 72,000 people, the city sits on the Delaware River, where Brandywine Creek meets the Christina River, 65 miles from the ocean. Yet Southbridge, although far from the beaches of Delaware’s bay and the Atlantic, is vulnerable to the effects of sea level rise. The neighborhood already faces chronic flooding, due to a combination of its low-lying location and aging infrastructure, and the flooding is likely to get worse as sea levels rise.

" 'The Christina River, which encircles all of South Wilmington, is subject to sea level rise, just like the rest of the tidal water bodies in the state,' explained Susan Love, the leader of the climate and sustainability division at the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) and a former project manager for its sea level rise initiative. 'Over the past 100 years, the average tide level has risen by about a foot, so that means that high tides are higher today, and the tides that affect flooding happen more often in this area. So the flooding that we’re seeing is in part being exacerbated by the effects of sea level rise.'

"According to the DNREC’s researchers, future rates of sea level rise on the Delaware coast could range from 1.6 feet to 4.9 feet by 2100, potentially submerging up to 11 percent of Delaware’s land, putting roads, railroads and water wells at risk. More than 20,000 people in the state living less than 5 feet above sea level could be directly affected, about 10 percent of them in Wilmington, where many of them are socially and economically vulnerable."

It has already risen a foot, perhaps a combination of land sinking and sea levels rising, but another foot or more rise will be a disaster for Delaware.

tjohn

Oct 16, 2015 at 6:43am Edited

I don't think young people are the problem and I don't think this is an education problem. I think the problem is in Washington, D.C. and I think the problem is with a lot of us who might drive when we should walk or use the A.C. when we really shouldn't and so on. There are no pain free solutions to the CO2 problem.

tom

Oct 16, 2015 at 6:53am

Nobody is saying that young people are the problem. But education definitely plays a role. There are a lot of people in this country who quite frankly believe superstitions rather than science.

Jude

Oct 16, 2015 at 7:48am

Kids are not the problem. The problem -- if I can phrase it that way -- is that climate change is complex, it has many factors underlying it (natural cycles, human induced change, atmosphere dynamics, ocean dynamics, wind patterns, the cycles of El Nino and many other factors), and it has become politicized due to the efforts of the fossil fuel industry in particular followed on by the auto (even with better mileage, "drive more"), power (costs are real to convert from fossil to sustainable energy sources) and real estate (let's build on the beach in every state) industries. We have US Senators and members of Congress standing up and deriding climate change; in some states it is forbidden for members of state regulatory and environmental departments to use climate change in any document or meeting.

When I was growing up and Ralph Nader was leading the charge on auto safety, the auto industry stood as one and opposed safety measures as "too costly" and no one wanted them anyway; one company I remember said people don't want seatbelts, they want white wall tires. Over time Nader and his allies won and due to those efforts literally hundreds of thousands of people are alive today who would have perished without safety measures.

So, how do we educate the next generation to assume a responsible role in fixing what our generations have helped create? Kids in high school today will be in middle age by 2050. It seems far away, but now 9-11 seems far in the past. Pretty much everyone from 9th graders on down were born after 9-11. The kids who are seniors barely have any memories of 9-11 at all -- they were too young. Just going out to 2030 most of the kids aged 8 or older will be out of college. Unlike 9-11, the climate issue is always there, perhaps making things more difficult for ourselves, themselves, and their own children. The time will go quickly.

Nationally we need an approach to up the ante on the squirrels who think this is just a passing fad. Part of this is a real curriculum in the schools, just as important as doing algebra 2 or english lit or a foreign language.