Melendez, Destiny

Mr. Wisner
World History
MW 4th Period
09-08-16 to 10-06-16

Global Temperatures Are on Course for Another Record

This Year
*Your Task

Link to article
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/20/science/nasa-global-temperatures-2016.html?actio
n=click&contentCollection=earth&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&co
ntentPlacement=6&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0

Key Vocabulary from the Article (Define at least 4).

o Celsius - the scale of temperature in which water freezes at 0 and boils at
100 under standard conditions.
o Climate - the weather conditions prevailing in an area in general or over a
long period.
o Greenhouse Gas - a gas that contributes to the greenhouse effect by
absorbing infrared radiation, e.g., carbon dioxide and chlorofluorocarbons.
o Temperature - the degree or intensity of heat present in a substance or object,
especially as expressed according to a comparative scale and shown by a
thermometer or perceived by touch.
o Fahrenheit - a scale of temperature on which water freezes at 32 and boils at
212 under standard conditions.
o El Nio - an irregularly occurring and complex series of climatic changes affecting the
equatorial Pacific region and beyond every few years, characterized by the appearance
of unusually warm, nutrient-poor water off northern Peru and Ecuador, typically in late
December.
 Summary of the Event (at least 3 major points; each point will have its
own paragraph)

A. Temperatures seem to keep increasing with each year that passes. The year
of 2016, becoming the third year in a row to set record for these high
temperatures, superpasses the first six months of 2015, which was recorded as
the hottest half-year ever recorded. According to NASAs Director, Gavin
Schmidt, his calculations state that there is a 99% probability that the year of
2016, will in fact be hotter than 2015.

B. Dr. Schmidt places responsibility for part of the rise in temperatures this year
on El Nio, due to the fact that warming waters in the equatorial Pacific Ocean
pump a lot of heat into the atmosphere. Even with El Nio coming to an end,
which will cause water temperatures in the Pacific to drop, it is predicted that the
year of 2017 will still comprise of historically high temperatures, despite them
being lower than 2016s. However, even though El Nio may have had some
impact on the rise of temperatures, almost all the increases since the 1960s has
been because of human-caused emissions, like carbon dioxide and other
greenhouse gasses. This led to January 2016 to become the hottest January
since 1880.

C. The average temperatures for the first six months of 2016 were above the
average in 1880, by 1.3 degrees Celsius. This left a strong impact on the Arctic's
ice coverage in the sea. According to a scientist at NASAs Goddard Space Flight
Center, the geographical extent of the Arctic Ice this year, has been the lowest
for any half-year since 1979, when they began keeping record. Because of this,
the world has come up with the Paris Climate Treaty, in which the world has
agreed to aim to limit the increase in average global temperatures to that amount
above preindustrial levels. However up until now, no improvements have been
noted.
Your Opinion of the Event (at least 3 sentences).

In my opinion, this is something that shouldnt be as overlooked as it is. Our

world is being severely impacted because the temperatures keep rising; icebergs have
been and are melting quicker than usual, which is is putting many arctic animals, like
the polar bear, the arctic fox, etc, at risk of extinction. Although El Nio may hold some
of the responsibility for the rise in our temperatures, humans overall hold the majority of
the blame due to our production of too many greenhouse gases and other pollutants
that are harming our earth. Hopefully for the sake of our future, we are able to figure out
ways to reduce the production of pollution and find a more resourceful replacement for
fossil fuels, which happen to be one of the big reasons why so much pollution is in our
atmosphere.

Relate your Event to a Historical Event (compare and contrast with current
event). http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/earth/cause-ice-age.html

While reading the article about the rise in our global temperatures, I couldnt help
but stop thinking and relating it to the melting of the last ice age. Maybe its because the
reason due to the melting of the last ice age is because of climate change, and that is
something that our world is experiencing right now, the statistics show that as the years
continue to go on, our temperatures only get higher. Along with that, because our
temperatures are rising, they are having a huge impact in our world, especially is our
Arctic areas, where icebergs and glaciers are currently melting at a rapid pace.

Something that makes the Ice Age era and present time, not so similar, was that
the difference in temperatures between the equator and the pole was not as big as it is
today.

Relate your Event to the a Theme (at least 3 sentences). SEE BACK FOR
THEMES
 The event that I have chosen to research would fall under Science and
Technology, (and could also fall under belief systems) which falls under the Political
Structures theme. Climate change is one of the biggest issues in which our two biggest
political parties disagree on, some can acknowledge that it is a major problem, while
others refuse to look at the facts and want to increase the production of pollutants that
are drastically affecting our temperatures. And because the meteorologists use tools
like thermometers, anemometers, and barometers, that puts it under the Science and
Technology category.

Questions You Have About the Event

How can we decrease the production of human emissions, that
have played a role in the increasement of temperatures?
Is there anything that we can do about El Nio, in order to prevent
such high temperatures from having an impact in our Artics?
Since it is predicted for the temperatures of the year of 2017 to not
be as high as 2016s, will this continue to be a progression for the
years to come?
How can people contribute to the Paris Climate Treaty?

THEMES:
1.Cultural Interaction
2.Political Structures
o Religions
o State-building, expansion, and conflict
o Belief systems, philosophies, and ideologies o Empires o Science and technology o Nations
and nationalism
o The arts and architecture o Revolts and revolutions
3.Economic Structures
4.Social Structures
o Agricultural and pastoral production o Gender roles and relations o Trade and commerce
o Family and kinship
o Labor systems
o Racial and ethnic constructions
o Industrialization
o Social and economic classes
o Economic theories
5.Human-Environment Interaction
o Disease
o Migration & patterns of settlement o Population growth
o Technology

1/3