Download Unit 1 Lesson 8 Inconvenient Truth

Grade 9 Geography – Unit 1 Lesson 8
Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth
Humanity is sitting on a ticking time bomb. If the vast majority of the world's scientists
are right, we have just ten years to avert a major environmental catastrophe that could
include involving extreme weather, floods, droughts, epidemics and killer heat waves.
An Inconvenient Truth is the crusade by former USA Vice-President Al Gore to save
Earth. His “traveling road show” is about Global Climate Warming. Gore reviews the
scientific opinion on climate change, discusses the politics and economics of global
warming and describes the consequences that global climate change may produce if the
amount of human-generated greenhouse gases are not significantly reduced in the very
near future. A focus of the film is his examination of the annual temperature and CO2
levels for the past 650,000 years in Antarctic ice core samples.
For his actions, Gore was awarded a 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.
Task
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Watch the DVD
Answer the questions
1. Identify five (5) new things about Global Climate Warming that you learned from
watching the DVD.
2. Do you think Global Climate Warming can be stopped? How? Provide three
ideas with your answer.
3. What do you promise to change in your life tomorrow to help save the planet?
Name one promise you will make and keep.
Question Sheet for the movie
1. When was the first picture of Earth, called “Earthrise” taken?
2. Why is the 11 December 1972 picture of Earth the most commonly published
photograph of the Earth?
3. What did Roger Revelle and Charles David Keeling recommend measuring in the
Earth’s atmosphere?
4. Why did they choose the middle of the Pacific Ocean to make their initial
measurements?
5. Name a warm cycle in Earth’s climate that occurred in the last 1000 years.
6. Scientist use ice cores from Antarctica to model Earth’s historic atmospheric CO 2
levels. How far back does this CO2 record go?
7. What is the relationship between atmospheric CO2 and air temperatures?
8. When have the ten hottest years on record occurred?
9. What year was the hottest on record?
10. What do your answers for Question 8 and Question 9 suggest about Global Warming
and Climate Change?
11. An extreme heat wave occurred in Europe and parts of Asia in the 2003 summer.
How hot did India get?
12. How many cities in the Western Hemisphere recorded all-time high temperatures
during the same period?
13. Thirty-five years ago, you could drive on the Arctic permafrost for 225 days in each
year. In 2006, how many days can you drive on the permafrost? Why is this
important to know? Provide one reason with your explanation.
14. The Arctic sea ice extent and thickness has decreased significantly over the last 40
years. What is the percentage change?
15. Scientist predict the Arctic sea ice could entirely disappear during the Arctic
summers. How soon could that event occur?
16. What did you learn about the impacts of Global Warming in the Arctic from Questions
13-15?
17. Gore suggested that is an “alarm bell” for Global Warming. What is it?
18. During which year did the Larsen B Ice Shelf break up?
19. How much would ocean levels rise is West Antarctica melted?
20. How many people in Calcutta and Bangladesh would be displaced as Environmental
Refugees if Greenland of West Antarctic melted?
21. What did you learn about the human and social costs of Global Warming from
Questions 17-20?
22. What percentage of recent scientific articles disagree with Global Warming?
23. What percentage of news articles in the popular press disagree with Global
Warming?
24. What do your answers for Question 22 and Question 23 suggest about researching
and reporting Global Warming?
25. We have the technical ability to reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions below the 1970
emission levels. Why do we hesitate? Provide three reasons with your answer.
26. What are the three factors leading to the “collision between civilization and natural
Earth?”
Question Sheet for Inconvenient Truth - Teacher Answer Sheet
1. When was the first picture of Earth, called “Earthrise” taken?
24 December 1968
2. Why is the 11 December 1972 picture of Earth the most commonly published
photograph of the Earth?
It is the only photograph of the Earth fully lit. The space ship is between the
Sun and the Earth.
3. What did Roger Revelle and Charles David Keeling recommend measuring in the
Earth’s atmosphere?
Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2)
4. Why did they choose the middle of the Pacific Ocean to make their initial
measurements?
An isolated region where the only CO2 measured should be the CO2 in the
atmosphere. The isolation controlled eliminated other possible input sources.
They would only be measuring the background levels.
5. Name a warm cycle in Earth’s climate that occurred in the last 1000 years.
Medieval Warming Period
6. Scientist use ice cores from Antarctica to model Earth’s historic atmospheric CO 2
levels. How far back does this CO2 record go?
650,000 years
7. What is the relationship between atmospheric CO2 and air temperatures?
As CO2 levels increases, the air temperature increases proportionally.
8. When have the ten hottest years on record occurred?
Last 14 years
9. What year was the hottest on record?
2005
10. What do your answers for Question 8 and Question 9 suggest about Global Warming
and Climate Change?
11. An extreme heat wave occurred in Europe and parts of Asia in the 2003 summer.
How hot did India get?
50OC
12. How many cities in the Western Hemisphere recorded all-time high temperatures
during the same period?
200
13. Thirty-five years ago, you could drive on the Arctic permafrost for 225 days in each
year. In 2006, how many days can you drive on the permafrost? Why is this
important to know? Provide one reason with your explanation.
Less than 75 days
14. The Arctic sea ice extent and thickness has decreased significantly over the last 40
years. What is the percentage change?
40%
15. Scientist predict the Arctic sea ice could entirely disappear during the Arctic
summers. How soon could that event occur?
Between 40 and 70 years
16. What did you learn about the impacts of Global Warming in the Arctic from Questions
13-15?
17. Gore suggested that is an “alarm bell” for Global Warming. What is it?
Break up of the ice shelves in Antarctica
18. During which year did the Larsen B Ice Shelf break up?
2002
19. How much would ocean levels rise is West Antarctica melted?
About 6 metres
20. How many people in Calcutta and Bangladesh would be displaced as Environmental
Refugees if Greenland of West Antarctic melted?
60 million
21. What did you learn about the human and social costs of Global Warming from
Questions 17-20?
22. What percentage of recent scientific articles disagree with Global Warming?
0%
23. What percentage of news articles in the popular press disagree with Global
Warming?
53%
24. What do your answers for Question 22 and Question 23 suggest about researching
and reporting Global Warming?
25. We have the technical ability to reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions below the 1970
emission levels. Why do we hesitate? Provide three reasons with your answer.
Too costly, not practical, seek more effective solution, do not recognize the
severity of the issue, no political will, may not solve problem, hoping for
alternative solution
26. What are the three factors leading to the “collision between civilization and natural
Earth?”
Population increases, technical changes, present way of thinking about Earth
and the environment, developing world modernization, present resource
consumption, lack of feasible alternatives