Climate Change Impacts in Your Region

What exactly is all the fuss about global warming? So the average temperature is a few degrees warmer. How could it affect me? What kinds of impacts might I or my children and grandchildren experience?  In this exploration, you are challenged to work with others to look for signs of change already occurring in the places where you live.

BASIC
Let's start by considering the climate (not weather, what's the difference?) in your region of the world and thinking about human perceptions of climate change. Complete the Climate Change Survey. You will need to ask an adult volunteer to fill out a portion of it as well. If possible, the adult should be someone who has lived in your area for at least three decades.  Include copies of these surveys in your STEM Explorations folder in a file entitled "Impacts of Global Climate Change in Your Region - Basic Level".

When you are done, check out the Common Sense Climate Index for U.S. and World Cities, maintained by NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Science. The Common Sense Climate Index is a simple measure of the degree (if any) to which practical climate change is occurring. It is expected to have positive values when warming occurs and negative values for cooling. If the Index reaches and consistently maintains a value of 1 or more, the climate change should be noticeable to most people who have lived at that location for a few decades. (You can obtain a more thorough explanation of this index here.)  Click anywhere on the map to bring up the city or town closest to you.  Click on the station name to bring up the Climate Index and seasonal temperature curves for that station.

Next, check out this movie of the running 10 year averages of the Common Sense Climate Index across the globe.  Averaging the index over a number of years and looking at how that average changes over time is believed to be an indicator of possible long-term climate change.  Be sure to pay particular attention to your part of the world.

Once you have completed the climate change survey and explored the Common Sense Climate Index for your region of the world, consider the following questions and prepare a response to upload.

1. What does the Climate Index say about climate change in your region?  Has climate been warming, cooling, fluctuating or staying constant?  Should climate changes over the last few decades be noticeable to older residents, i.e., has the Climate Index been persistently greater than 1?
2. Do the results between your survey and the Climate Index agree?  What reasons may account for the difference, if there was one?
3. How might one's lifestyle affect their perception of climate change?
4. Do you think your lifestyle affected your perception of climate change in your region?
5. What other factors might affect one's perceptions of climate change?

   GRAB YOUR POINTS!

1. Log into eFolio. The link below will place your work into the eFolio and give you the Mini Survey.

GOING BEYOND
Check out this Global Warming: Early Warning Signs Map. This world map provides a great overview of global climate changes already observed around the world and identifies those changes we can expect to see more of in the not so distant future. Be sure to click on the photos link to see photographs of many of the changes reported on the map. Take a look at the regions of the world in which you have lived or visited. Are you familiar with the incidents that are noted there?  Of the ten categories of potential climate change impacts identified on this site, which impacts do you think are most relevant to your region of the world?

Take this idea one step further and explore potential impacts to your region in greater detail using web resources. You may also want to question adults within your community. What local impacts are occuring or are likely to occur?  Consider your region's food production (e.g., the wine regions of the world are changing in accordance with local climate changes), tourism and recreation (e.g., the ski industries in regions of the European Alps and the Northeastern region of the U.S. are concerned about the loss of cold weather and the associated impact on business), societal impacts (e.g., Allstate Insurance, a major U.S. insurance company, has recently announced that it will no longer accept new home insurance business in the mid-Atlantic states of the U.S. because the company believes that the risk of doing business in hurricane-prone areas has increased due to global warming) and so on. Are any of the projected impacts positive? (For example, warming climates may increase the amount of agricultural land in Canada.) Give us your reactions to the changes your region can expect in the form of a short write-up for your eFolio. 

   GRAB YOUR POINTS!

1. Log into eFolio. The link below will place your work into the eFolio and give you the Mini Survey.

If You Need Help

If you have specific questions about this exploration, please contact your STEM Mentor.  If you still have questions, email Susan Hull Grasso. Or "Skype" her.