Focus The Nation

So after reading all baout Focus the Nation, I decided to read more about global warming and what I can do, my small part, to help the environment. I researched it on the internet and found about a million articles on global warming so I went to wikipedia. I really did not know a lot about the environment and how we truely are destroying our world. I learned what global warming acutally means, the causes, greenhouse gases, solar variation, temperature changes, climate models, and debate about global warming. This really opened my eyes to how precious our world is and how easily it can be destroyed. I learned that.....

• "Global warming is an intensification of the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect which refers to the natural system that keeps Earth warm enough to sustain life."
• "If fossil fuel use increases or decreases, atmospheric carbon dioxide will also increase or decrease proportionately."
• "The melting of glaciers around the world have been contributing to sea level rise around the globe, which means damage to the United States' booming coastal counties that are now home to more than half of the U.S. population."

In my classroom I would love to have students write a blog about global warming. Then I would assign a project where they needed to go into the community and help with an organization or on their own to do something to improve the environment. They would then make a blog entry everyday for two weeks about how they have improved the environment. Then they would write a final blog about how they felt before the project and after. Then I could use their experiences in the community and relate it to the story or material we are studying at the time. For the final grade they could write a paper how the entire experience affected their view on global warming. This activity would not only make the students use their english skills to write a blog and a paper, but it does include technology into the classroom. It also helps the community and environment, making not only the students but the people around them aware of how we treat out community.

I could then challenge them to continue doing things to help our environment along with me. Such as.....

• Move your thermostat down 2° in winter and up 2° in summer
• Clean or replace filters on your furnace and air conditioner
• Choose energy efficient appliances when making new purchases
• Recycle at home
• Cover your pots while cooking
• Use the washing machine or dishwasher only when they are full
• Take a shower instead of a bath and use less hot water

Doing all of these activities produces a chain reaction, informing others and promoting the right actions to take to help keep our environment a clean place.