Download Energy Literacy

Toward Energy Geoscience
Literacy Principles
Bill Witherspoon
Fernbank Science Center
Dekalb County, GA School System
Michael Wysession
Washington University
Energy Literacy
•
•
•
•
•
•
Why do fuel prices rise (and fall)?
Is “energy independence” a realistic goal?
Will we run out of oil (natural gas, uranium…)?
How big a threat is climate change?
How serious are other energy pollution problems?
Can pollutants (CO2, nuclear waste) be safely
disposed of underground?
Energy Geoscience Literacy
Energy
Literacy
Geoscience
Expertise
Three Mile Island - March 1979
“solar more dangerous than nuclear”
Energy Geoscience Literacy
Capture
(Extraction)
Conversion
and Delivery
for Use
Use
Disposition
of Waste
Energy Geoscience Literacy
Impacts onImpacts
Earth System
on Earth
(Context
SystemOver Time)
Capture
(Extraction)
Conversion
and Delivery
for Use
Material Inputs
Use
Disposition
of Waste
Earth Science Literacy:
Building Community Consensus
Michael Wysession, Chair - Washington University
David Budd - University of Colorado
Karen Campbell - National Center for Earth-surface Dynamics
Martha Conklin - University of California, Merced
Nicole LaDue, Jill Karsten, Lina Patino - NSF
Gary Lewis - GSA
Robert Raynolds - Denver Museum of Science and Nature
Robert W. Ridky - USGS
Robert Ross - PRI
John Taber - IRIS
Barbara Tewksbury - Hamilton College
Peter Tuddenham, Tina Bishop, William Bragg - College of Exploration
Process
May - Two-week asynchronous online workshop
May 11-23, 2008
~150 invited scientist participants
~200 scientist and educator observers
Process
May - Two-week asynchronous online workshop
May 11-23, 2008
~150 invited scientist participants
~200 scientist and educator observers
July - Writing Workshop
July 21-23, 2008
Washington University, St. Louis MO
35 scientists and educators from academia, K-12, agencies
August / September – Committee/July participants comment on draft document
October - November - Presentation at GSA; Community comment on draft document;
Incorporation of 1st-round comments
December - Presentation at AGU; Community comment on 2nd draft document
Process of Earth Science
Earth is Old
Earth = Complex Systems
1. Earth Science explores
our planet
2. Earth is 4.6
billion years old
3. Earth is a complex system
of interactions between rock,
water, air and life
Ocean
Climate
Changing “Geosphere”
Atmosphere
Others?
4. Earth is a continuously
changing planet
Water <--> Earth
Life <--> Earth
5. Earth is the water planet
6. Life evolves on a dynamic planet
and continuously modifies Earth
Humans <--> Earth
Humans <-- Earth
Humans --> Earth
7. Humans depend on Earth for resources
9. Humans have become a
significant agent of change
on Earth
8. Humans are threatened by Earth’s Natural
Hazards
Process of Earth Science
Earth is Old
Earth = Complex Systems
1. Earth Science explores
our planet
2. Earth is 4.6
billion years old
3. Earth is a complex system
of interactions between rock,
water, air and life
Ocean
Climate
Changing “Geosphere”
Atmosphere
Others?
4. Earth is a continuously
changing planet
Water <--> Earth
Life <--> Earth
5. Earth is the water planet
6. Life evolves on a dynamic planet
and continuously modifies Earth
Humans <--> Earth
Humans <-- Earth
Humans --> Earth
7. Humans depend on Earth for resources
9. Humans have become a
significant agent of change
on Earth
8. Humans are threatened by Earth’s Natural
Hazards
Big Idea #7: Humans depend on Earth for resources.
Big Idea #7: Humans depend on Earth for resources.
Supporting Concepts
•
•
•
•
•
7.3 Natural resources are finite.
7.4 Resources are distributed unevenly around the planet.
7.7 Fossil fuels and uranium currently provide most of our energy
resources.
7.8 Oil and natural gas are unique resources that are central to modern life
in many different ways.
7.9 Earth scientists develop new technologies to extract resources while
reducing the pollution, waste, and ecosystem degradation caused by
extraction.
Big Idea #9: Humans have become a significant
agent of change on Earth.
Big Idea #9: Humans have become a significant
agent of change on Earth.
Supporting Concepts
• 9.1 Human activities significantly change the rates of many Earth
processes.
• 9.2 The geologic record distinguishes natural and human
influences on Earth’s systems, providing the basis for
understanding rates of global change over time.
• 9.4 Humans cause global climate change through fossil fuel
combustion, land-use changes, agricultural practices, and
industrial processes.
• 9.5 Humans affect the quality, availability, and distribution of
Earth's water through the modification of streams, lakes, and
groundwater.
• 9.9 Earth scientists document and seek to understand the impacts
of humans on global change involving the land, water, and air
over short and long time spans.
• Why do fuel prices rise (and fall)?
• Is “energy independence” a realistic goal?
• Will we run out of oil (natural gas, uranium…)?
7.4 Resources are distributed unevenly around the planet. This is a result of
how and where geologic processes have occurred in the past, and has extremely
important social, economic and political implications.
•
•
•
•
Although resources are finite, reserve estimates are often revised upward. This
can result from new discoveries, improved extraction techniques, and higher
commodity prices.
Oil and natural gas occur in sedimentary basins, locations where sedimentary
rocks are thousands of feet thick. These vary greatly in oil and gas potential.
Oil and natural gas resources can be proven only by drilling, after extensive
study. Complex geologic circumstances determine whether a well will be a discovery
or a dry hole.
Much of Earth’s remaining oil will be expensive to recover. Oil in depleted fields,
oil shale, and tar sands will require significant energy to extract, and most new areas
for exploration are in difficult environments such as the Arctic or deep water.
• How big a threat is climate change?
9.2 The geologic record distinguishes natural and human influences on
Earth’s systems, providing the basis for understanding rates of global
change over time. Evidence for human influences on global changes is found in
fossil distributions, ice cores, lake and ocean sediments, and soils.
•
•
•
The geologic record documents that variables including global temperature,
greenhouse gas levels, ocean chemistry, and sea level are interrelated as
predicted by physical models. Each variable has reached much higher and
lower levels than today; however, since the industrial revolution, several variables
have undergone unusually rapid change.
The geologic record contains examples of tipping points, in which gradual
change in one variable may have caused sudden major shifts in the Earth
system.
Changes in the Earth system drive the evolution of life. Although life as a
whole has been resilient, many groups have disappeared due to mass extinction
as conditions changed.
• How serious are other energy pollution problems?
• Can pollutants (CO2, nuclear waste) be safely
disposed of underground?
• 9.5 Humans affect the quality, availability, and distribution of
Earth's water through the modification of streams, lakes, and
groundwater. … Pollution from sewage runoff, agricultural practices, and
industrial processes, reduce water quality, and overuse reduces water
availability.
• Waste disposed of underground may resurface, for example in the
water supply. The risk varies greatly depending upon geologic conditions.
In general, fractures in rock make movement more difficult to predict.
• Over time spans greater than hundreds of years, the risk of waste
returning to the surface becomes more difficult to predict. Predictive
models are only as good as the quality of data concerning slow processes
and infrequent events (for example, slow chemical reactions, thousand-year
floods, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions).
Energy Geoscience Literacy
Discussion