Category: Climate

In the News: Lost for Words

Global issues include all social, environmental, economic, health and security concerns that have far-reaching impact on people and life on earth, are persistent and long-lasting, are trans-national and often interconnected. Yet somehow we are often blind to how all-encompassing this can be. Then it is a good thing that we have dedicated journalists and open-minded editors that allow a variety of stories and perspectives to be published that we ourselves have a hard time realizing the enormity of.

The Guardian published an article today in which they focus on a consequence of climate change that we do not often think about. Read about it here.

Guest Speakers

Write a blog post where you comment on the value of having visitors join our class and talk about different subjects, such as you have experinced this spring either via Zoom (refugee Kawthar Sheheda from Syria/psychologist Solfrid Raknes in Washington D.C.) or live (Fulbright Roving Scholar Renee Brekke Ebbot, who talked to about such diverse topics as water and identity). 

What can we learn from such visits that is different than regular learning in the classroom? Would you like the school to invite more guest speakers, and do you have any thoughts on how the learning experience in different school subjects can be broadened and perceived as relevant by the students?

Ingunn

https://url12.mailanyone.net/scanner?m=1njLEA-00063G-3P&i=57e1b682&c=C1puZhj3MqHYE12hqJah9Bu6-mQ-BkAfEv6cloADQWDibRhL_0etBIkUDshvy1H6i06oGqodj9csazYM9Qkc-GJO7fLITtRRj70VYEN527KvAAws2x8BNvwWyj35A-lRqdfYWK_0LMnOGt2k6vOOW_xOqTvTOPjDinEpA-pX7WWXq3jaagpnP78guZJng5xBPk69FbdYTmoYnHjQon4iB6999a8PtgJgrN4FnwgCjyHeiGdjPzdcj1-u5idpfbc2

Goodbye, 2021 – Welcome, 2022

After having watched the two videos above, write a blog post where you summarize the content briefly. Then explore one of these issues – the most urgent and/or interesting one to you – and explain why you think so.

Ingunn

Here’s an extra video from the Economist if you are more into tech issues: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlQ_4604Xfg&t=3s

The Election in the USA and Global Issues

As Election Day in the USA is approaching, what does it matter to the rest of the world who becomes the next American president? Here’s a look at how global issues will be affected: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/10/22/926692628/trump-and-biden-on-global-issues-from-reproductive-rights-to-refugees

Climate Change

Fil:Sustainable Development Goal 13.png – Wikipedia
https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/climate-change/

First, take this quiz to see if you make good climate choices: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/08/30/climate/climate-footprint-quiz.html?campaign_id=54&emc=edit_clim_20200902&instance_id=21841&nl=climate-fwd%3A&regi_id=82938763&segment_id=37340&te=1&user_id=3f918cec3816c58d935d8b30ca3a78b9

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/31082020/candidate-profile-donald-trump-climate-change-election-2020

How, does the article above argue, has Trump’s administration been a set-back for climate ad environmental policies? Make a list and discuss. Then look at this article:

The US election is even more crucial with UN climate talks delayed to 2021

This article argues that Biden has a better climate platform. What are some of the things mentioned that he will do if he is elected president?

Listen to the speech above. What is DiCaprio’s message? What are some of the devices he uses to get his message across?

Watch the film Before the Flood:

https://archive.org/details/youtube-90CkXVF-Q8M

The film is from 2016. Do you think it is still relevant today? Have things gotten worse, or improved in some areas? Discuss in your groups. Use the film’s web site to get updates and see what can be done: https://www.beforetheflood.com/

Write a blog post about climate change and how it is affecting our environment, using the information you now has as your starting point.

Ingunn

Climate changes affect indigenous cultures

Watch this 15-minute video produced by the Guardian and read this article from the same news source detailing how some indigenous peoples experience changes to their culture due to effects of climate changes.

What challenges and benefits do the people on Greenland experience because of climate changes? And while Aboriginal Australians may have the same core problem, given their vastly different physiography the effects are even more devastating. Add governmental obstructions, for instance when it comes to infrastructure, into the equation, and it is hard to see any benefits from climate changes like the Greenlanders do. So what challenges do the people of Australia’s Northern Territory face because of climate changes?

Hilde

Sources:

In the news:  New species, some under threat even before they were discovered

Kew scientists have officially given 110 new species scientific names in the course of 2019, this Guardian article reveals. Among these 102 plants and eight fungi are species that can change medicine. One has the ability to trick our taste buds. Another has been used for centuries to treat arthritis. It has only this year been given a formal scientific name, and seems also to have abilities to combat cancer.

According to the article, “[t]here are almost 400,000 known species of plant, and about 2,000 new species are named every year”. Yet with their habitats being under threat due to a variety of dangers, the world is at risk of losing them before the species are even discovered, registered, named, or measures being taken to protect them.

Reflecting on all the undiscovered species still out there and all the potential they hold, particularly within medicine, should we not do more to protect them from becoming extinct? Should we not rage against the forest fires raging in several parts of the world, whether or not the destruction is deliberate? Should we not protest dam projects that could potentially wipe out an entire species? Should we not reflect around our own and our governments’ values and actions (or inaction), in the hopes of preserving nature?

In the news: Time Person of the Year 2019

Time Person of the Year is annually awarded to the person who “for better or worse […] has done the most to influence the events of the year.” Could there be a more deserving winner for 2019 than Greta Thunberg? Time Magazine’s editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal said in his announcement: “She became the biggest voice on the biggest issue facing the planet this year, coming from essentially nowhere to lead a worldwide movement.”Time magazine cover with Greta Thunberg

Congratulations!

 

 

COP25

For two weeks civil servants, activists and some politicians are meeting in Madrid for the 25th summit of the UN’s conference of the parties – COP25. By Friday, 13 December 2019, they will have debated issues concerning the climate – once again. Will it help? Hopefully, but only time will tell. The Guardian has compiled an excellent overview of what to expect before the climate conference started on 2 December. Read it, but also do your own research, for instance on COP25’s own website. For instance, how many did Norway send to Madrid during these two weeks? Did the UK send anyone, or were they too busy campaigning ahead of the general election on 12 December? Has COP25 actually achieved anything now that there are only days left, or are they postponing most things until next year and COP26, since most countries has 2020 as one of their deadlines, whether for attaining the previous targets, set in Copenhagen, or revising the objectives set in the Paris Accord.

Hilde

Making the world uninhabitable?

We are destroying the planet, in the words of Greta Thunberg “our house is on fire.”

What will happen if we fail to stop this trend?

Today we are going to watch A Plastic Whale, a documentary about how our ways of life are destroying our animal life. Before that, let’s read Brad Plumer’s article “Humans Are Speeding Extinction and Altering the Natural World at an ‘Unprecedented’ Pace” in the New York Times.

As you read, write down answers to the following questions:

  • how are we speeding extinction and altering the natural world?
  • how much has animal and plant life decreased for the past 100 years?
  • are any species particularly at risk right now?
  • which areas/countries are most at risk?
  • are any solutions offered?

Now, go to WWF’s Species List of Endangered Species. Pick a specie and find out: why is this specie threatened with extinction and what needs to be done to save this one in particular. And, why does it matter whether we preserve it or not?

Make a blog post combining your findings from The NY Times and about an endangered specie.

Hanna