Download Environmental Ecology - Oregon State University

Introduction to Climate Change
SUS 103
Spring Term 2016
Dr. Jillian Gregg
4 credits
Office: ALS 3057, [email protected]
Office hours T/R, 1:20 – 2:20 or email to set up a separate meeting time
One 3 hour lab each week, 2 lectures T/R 12:00 – 1:20
Textbooks
The textbooks for the class will be “Climate Change Science: A Modern Synthesis: Volume 1 The Physical Climate” by G. Thomas Farmer and John Cook. Springer ISBN-13: 9789400757561.
Additional reading material will come from popular magazines and the primary literature and
will be posted on Canvas.
Lab activities, PowerPoint lecture slides, required weekly quizzes, and extra readings (with
optional extra credit writing assignments) will be posted on Canvas each week.
General Description
This course is an introduction to the principles of climate change science with an emphasis on
the empirical evidence for human-caused climate change. Students will learn critical thinking
skills to assess such questions as: how do we apply physical science principles to understand the
drivers of global warming? How do we predict trends in climate change? How do we calculate
and understand uncertainty in these predictions? What is valid science in the global warming
debate? This course satisfies the Physical Science requirement of the Baccalaureate Core.
The course includes a weekly laboratory where students will attain hands-on experience with
earth system climate change principles. Laboratory data exercises will explore the nature, value,
and limitations of scientific methods and will focus on science as a way of knowing and the
meaning of uncertainty. Field trips will provide hands on experience seeing actual climate
change research in action. For example, we will visit a field-based climate change experiment at
the EPA where students will evaluate experimental design and replication, and will manipulate
real-time data to develop hypotheses that can be tested through analysis and graphic visualization
of the data. Students will also access national databases such as NOAA's Sea Ice Melt and
Temperature databases to evaluate uncertainty and error, develop questions and hypotheses that
can be answered through analysis and synthesis of the data, and work in small groups to test
hypotheses and develop conclusions.
The course will start by providing an overview of the physical principles of climate change
including the greenhouse effect and causes of CO2 rise. We will focus on questions such as, how
do we know if CO2 rise is linked to temperature change? Is the earth experiencing temperature
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change outside normal variability, and how do we know if this is caused by human activities?
We will then discuss potential effects on terrestrial and ocean systems from elevated CO2 and
explore such questions as: What are the cascading effects of elevated CO2? Do we need to worry
about glacier and sea ice melt? Sea level rise? Ocean warming? Ocean acidification? Students
will be exposed to ongoing research efforts throughout the US, Oregon and the world. We
discuss the Nobel Peace Prize winning effort of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
and the impacts this effort has made on coming to scientific agreement. Students will learn the
details of how Vostok Ice Core and tree-ring data are obtained and how these data are useful.
We will examine the global carbon budget and calculate personal and country-wide carbon
footprints. We will consider what level of scientific evidence we need before we act to limit
climate change, and how this response is tempered by social and economic concerns.
Examples of environmental problems that humans have addressed and mitigated over the last
few decades, including the stratospheric ozone hole, acid rain, and tropospheric ozone, will be
presented as examples for how addressing environmental problems is NOT BEYOND OUR
CAPACITY. An overview of the history of the global warming debate, including mitigation
strategies (alternative energy, carbon trading and beyond) and policies (Kyoto and beyond), will
be presented. This class will provide students from all disciplines the baseline information
needed to formulate and articulate arguments that form the basis for how they will discuss,
interact, and vote on this issue as it prevails throughout their business, economic, and personal
decisions.
Grading
The class is graded out of 100 points, although if you do all the extra credit activities, you can
receive up to 120 points. The idea behind this is that students learn material in different ways,
and thus will be allowed to show mastery of the subject in different ways. If you don’t like tests,
but prefer writing essays (attention English majors!), then you can earn as many points writing
extra credit essays as you can by taking an exam. If you are a student who simply wants to learn
the material, take the tests and quizzes, and not do a lot of writing and research, then you don’t
have to do the extra credit writing. This works especially if you attend lecture regularly – as we
have group activities in lecture times that are worth a lot of points. Lab is not optional, and for
every lab missed, 2 points are subtracted from your total class grade (in addition to not getting
the 4 points for the lab report added to your total score). Don’t miss lab! If you miss a lab due to
illness, we will try to accommodate you in a different lab, but there is no guarantee.
Total points possible from:
Weekly Canvas quizzes (8 quizzes, 3 points each)
In class group activities (9 activities, 1 point each)
Midterm
Final
Laboratory writing and participation (9 labs, 3 points each)
Extra credit research essays (5 activities, 4 points each)
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20
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27
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Grades: 95+ = A, 90+ = A-, 87+ = B+, 82+ = B, 80+ = B-, 77+ = C+, 72+ = C, 70+ = C-, 65+
=D, <65 = F
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Prerequisites
None, class is open to all OSU students.
Category Learning Outcomes of the Baccalaureate Core in Biological and Physical
Sciences
Students taking this course will:
 Recognize and apply concepts and theories of basic physical science.
o Concepts and theories of basic physical science will be the foundation of lectures
1 – 14, with application of these physical principles to the climate system integral
to every lecture.
o Students’ ability to apply these concepts to new situations will be assessed in the
weekly quizzes, midterm, final, and labs 1, 2, 3 and 7.

Apply scientific methodology and demonstrate the ability to draw conclusions based on
observation, analysis, and synthesis.
o The scientific methodology including: observations to generate questions,
consulting literature, developing hypothesis and making a testable prediction, data
collection and analysis, and drawing conclusions based on analysis of initial
hypotheses, will be outlined in lecture 1 and inherent in all lectures where we
draw conclusions based on climate change data. Students will practice this
methodology in labs 1, 2, 3 and 5 with lab 5 archived for long term assessment.

Demonstrate connections with other subject areas.
o Because climate change science is inherently interdisciplinary, connections
among atmospheric science, hydrology and biology will be inherent in most
lectures. Interactions with biology will be the focus in lectures 5, 11, 12 and 13;
interactions with engineering and alternative energy systems the focus in lectures
18 and 19; and interactions with Policy the focus in Lectures 17 and 18. Students
will demonstrate their ability to form these connections in labs 5, 6, 8 and 9.
Learning outcomes specific to this class
Upon completion of this course students should have the ability to:
 Effectively debate and evaluate scientific arguments regarding climate change;
o Practiced in labs 7 and 8,
o Assessed in the midterm and final, and lab 8 which will be archived for longterm programmatic assessment.
 Interpret data critically, and understand uncertainty in scientific data and model
predictions for global climate change;
o Uncertainty will be discussed in lecture 1, explored extensively in lecture 14
with global models, and practiced and assessed in labs 5 and 6.
 Calculate carbon footprints of human activities;
o Carbon footprints will be calculated in lab 4.
 Recognize the range of ecosystem services that are impacted by climate change;
o This will be discussed in lectures 13, 18 and 19,
 Understand the importance for more than just scientists to be involved in this debate.
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o This will be the focus of lecture 18 by an invited speaker who is an applied
economist. It will also be a focus of labs 7, 8, and 9.
Laboratory and in-class small-group discussion outcomes:
Because scientific reasoning and science literacy are key components of this class, lecture,
laboratory, and small-group discussions will emphasize 3 components of literacy:
1. climate literacy (scientific and social facets of climate change)
2. science literacy (how science is performed, the nature of experiments and evidence, and
how conclusions are reported)
3. information literacy (how to find and critically evaluate information)
Accommodations for Students with Disabilities:
Accommodations for students with disabilities are collaborative efforts between students, faculty
and Disability Access Services (DAS). Students with accommodations approved through DAS
are responsible for contacting the faculty member in charge of the course prior to or during the
first week of the term to discuss accommodations. Students that think they are eligible for
accommodations but who have not yet obtained approval through DAS should contact DAS
immediately at (541) 737-4098 (http://ds.oregonstate.edu/).
Statement of Expectations for Student Conduct:
The primary purpose of the Student Conduct Code is to establish community standards and
procedures necessary to maintain and protect an environment conducive to learning, in keeping
with the educational objectives of Oregon State University. This code is based on the assumption
that all persons must treat one another with dignity and respect in order for scholarship to thrive.
See Student Conduct and Community Standards:
http://studentlife.oregonstate.edu/studentconduct/offenses-0.
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OUTLINE
Week
Lecture
L1. Introduction to Earth's climate
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system and SUS 103
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3
Readings/Activities
Ch 1, 2
Ch 3
L2. Earth's energy budget: radiation
and heat and the climate system.
Global radiation budget, ozone shield,
greenhouse effect
L3. Introduction to Earth's
Ch 8, 11
atmosphere: Global atmospheric
circulation, wind, pressure systems
L4. Earth's surface temperature and
climate change trends
Ch 5, 6; IPCC
Summary for Policy
Makers (on Canvas)
L5. Greenhouse gasses and the
carbon cycle
Ch 9
L6. Water in the climate system:
Readings posted on
properties of water, global water
Canvas
cycle, water in the atmosphere, clouds
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5
L7. The world ocean: oceanatmospheric relationships including
ENSO, El Nino, La Nina
Ch 12
L8. Ocean heat content and rising sea
levels: Ocean warming and oceans as
a carbon sink
Ch 13
L9. Glaciers and the latest Ice Age
Ch 14
L10. Ancient climates and proxies:
Proxies, historical records and direct
lines of evidence
Ch 19
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Lab
No lab this week
Lab 1. CO2 and
water vapor in a
Jar. Warming of air
in the presence of
greenhouse gases.
Hypothesis
development/testing,
data collection/
analyses, write-up.
Lab 2. Virtual Field
trip to Study Ice
Cores and Tree
Rings. Analyze and
evaluate ice core CO2
data and tree-ring
data. Hypothesis
development/testing,
data collection/
analyses, write-up.
Lab 3. Ice in a Jar.
Sea level rise and
ocean warming. Plot
and analyze sea ice
melt data from
NOAA. Ocean pH in
a Jar. Demonstration
of decalcification of
marine organisms.
Lab 4: Develop and
assess Personal C
footprint. Compare
in different countries/
continents.
Week
MIDTERM
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7
8
9
10
OUTLINE (CONTINUED)
Lecture
Readings/Activities
L11. Natural and anthropogentic
drivers: Milankovich cycles, sun
spots, greenhouse gasses
L12. How do we know the Earth is
warming? Climate change trends;
trends in ET, frequency of storms,
melting glaciers, melting permafrost
and methane
Readings posted on
Canvas
Ch 5
L13. Feedbacks to and from the biotic Ch 15 and readings
world: permafrost, methane,
posted on Canvas
terrestrial vegetation, soils
L14. Global models: types, limits and Ch 18 and 22
uncertainty, projections and future
climate
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Lab 6: OSU Solar
Array field trip:
calculation of energy
gained from solar
array, what array
would be needed to
power OSU.
Lab 7. Climate
Change Myths.
Small group
exploration and
Ch 23, 24,
analysis of climate
skepticalscience.com, change myths from
and climate science
skepticalscience.com
debate video1 (on
Canvas)
Watch Video on
Lab 8: Global
resolution of the
Warming Literacy
stratospheric O3 hole2 and Carbon
Mitigation Town
Hall Summit
L15. Understanding climate change
denial: Using scientific reasoning,
science knowledge, and identification
of logical fallacies to address climate
myths
L16. NOT BEYOND OUR
CAPACITY Examples of
environmental catastrophes that
humans have addressed –
Stratospheric ozone hole, acid rain,
air pollution, others
Readings posted on
Canvas
L17. Mitigation - Strategies – what to
do? Carbon sequestration, C trading
and beyond
L18. Policy Responses: Kyoto,
current, and beyond. Guest Lecture
Susan Capalbo, Applied Economics
Readings posted on
Canvas
L19. Our energy future: Alternative
energy and the movie "Switch"
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Lab
Lab 5: Field Trip to
EPA Global Climate
Change Terracosm
Research Facility
Lab 9: Policy
Options. Read and
learn about different
policy options and
present the different
options in a ‘Public
Square’ debate at the
end of lab.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=potLQR7-_Tg (1 hour, week 8 activity)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiiHFoTLBn8 (1 hour, week 9 activity)
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Overview of Laboratory Exercises
Lab 1. CO2 and Water Vapor in a Jar
Students will learn basic climate change principles from a series of hands-on exercises
demonstrating the impacts of altered CO2 on air temperature in paired jar experiments. The basic
climate concept for the first of these labs is the role of CO2 as a greenhouse gas that thus warms
the planet. Introductory material will provide an overview of atmospheric gases, the greenhouse
effect, and historic trends in atmospheric CO2 and temperature rise. Students will be asked to
develop a hypothesis as to which jar would warm faster; one with ambient atmosphere or one
that has a higher concentration of greenhouse gases. Student pairs will then fill one of their jars
with fresh air from outside and seal it rapidly, then breathe heavily into the other jar and seal it
rapidly. They will then shine a heat lamp on both jars and record the changes in air temperature
and the rate of ice melting inside each jar over the next 30 minutes (measured by weighing the
ice before and after). Students will then graph their data and assess whether it supports or refutes
their original hypothesis. This hypothesis-based inquiry provides an opportunity for students to
connect the increased CO2 concentrations in the Earth’s atmosphere to changes in temperature.
Variations of this experiment will be performed with some groups adding CO2 via moistened
Alka-Seltzer tablets using different numbers to attain medium or high CO2 levels. These
comparisons will not have the elevated water vapor from the simpler breath comparisons. CO2
concentrations in these jars will be calculated and compared with samples injected into an
infrared gas analyzer (IRGA) to assess the CO2 and water vapor concentrations in each jar. Data
from each student pair will be made available to all students to assess and include in their lab
reports. Learning from this investigation will be facilitated by using resources such as Myth
busters, which has an on-line video that shows a well-controlled demonstration of the
experiment.
Lab 2. Virtual Field Trip to Study Ice Cores and Tree-Rings
Video of ice core collection and curation. Students will plot NOAA data on past CO2
concentrations that have been obtained by these cores. An overview of how tree-ring data are
collected; tree cross sections and cores in lab will be analyzed under a microscope to see past
high and low growth years. Students will plot data collected from these tree cores and compare
them to climate alterations over the past century. They will then assess archived data from much
older trees to see how past climates are inferred from ancient tree-rings. This lab will be used to
practice hypothesis development, hypothesis testing, and the drawing of conclusions.
Lab 3. Ocean warming, sea level rise, and ocean acidification
1) ‘Earth-system-in-a-Jar’ experiments will be performed to determine: the effect of temperature
on water volume, the effect of melting land ice versus sea ice on sea level rise, and the effect of
lost sea ice albedo on ocean warming. These experiments will be based on modules developed
and tested by NASA:
http://pmm.nasa.gov/education/sites/default/files/lesson_plan_files/climate%20change%20inquir
y/Climate%20Change%20Inquiry%20TG.pdf
While the experiments are running students will watch videos of melting glaciers at:
http://climate.nasa.gov/interactives/global-ice-viewer/#/
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2) Students will also perform experiments to assess the effect of elevated CO2 on land versus sea
water pH and the effect of increased ocean acidity on calcifying organisms. This part of the lab
will be based on modules developed and tested by the European Project on Ocean Acidification
http://www.carboeurope.org/education/CS_Materials/BufferingCapacity.pdf and
http://www.carboeurope.org/education/CS_Materials/seawater_pH.pdf, also see
http://www.epoca-project.eu/index.php/what-do-we-do/education/educational-activities/handsonexperiments.html.
Lab 4. Carbon Footprints and Information Literacy
(1) Students will develop and assess their personal C footprints, examine the C footprint of
individuals in different countries, and share their results in small groups. We will discuss the
assumptions behind the many different C footprint calculators that are available. Footprint
analyses will follow the format presented on The Nature Conservancy website:
http://www.nature.org/greenliving/carboncalculator/. These footprints will also be compared
with the global C budget to assess which changes could have the greatest impact.
(2) Evaluating web site objectivity. For the second part of this lab students will be led through
assessing the objectivity of various web sites with contrasting views on the climate change
debate and learn how to evaluate and cite various information sources. Example contrasting web
sites for comparison include:
http://www.globalclimatescam.com/
http://www.friendsofscience.org/
http://www3.epa.gov/climatechange/science/
http://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/
This exercise will lay the foundation for research needed in preparation for Lab 7 on climate
change myths, and Lab 8 on carbon mitigation literacy town hall meeting (see below). Students
will learn to use the CRAAP test (Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose)
developed by the librarians at Chico State University:
http://www.csuchico.edu/lins/handouts/eval_websites.pdf
They will also learn to use the OSU Library DIY tool:
http://diy.library.oregonstate.edu/
for help with citing sources including websites, books, and articles.
Lab 5. Field Trip: EPA Global Climate Change Terracosm Facility
Students will tour the US EPA’s Global Climate Change Terracosm Research Facility located
across the street from the OSU campus. Once back in the classroom, students will examine
datasets from the asymmetric warming experiment from the EPA terracosms showing changes in
grassland season length and flowering times, and alterations in ecosystem water budgets (soil
moisture, evapotranspiration, and ground water stores). These data will be used to determine if
vegetation might help to sequester some of the excess CO2 flux to the atmosphere. Student
groups will graph portions of these datasets and discuss their conclusions with the class.
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Lab 6. OSU Solar Arrays Field Trip
Students will tour one of OSU’s solar array fields to attain an understanding of efforts that OSU
is making to offset their C footprint. Upon returning to the classroom, students will be provided
a real-life example of how to reduce the electric costs for the EPA’s global warming terracosm
experiment and calculate the number of solar panels and roof area that would be needed to offset
the cost of running the experiment.
Lab 7. Climate Change Myths
Students will break into small groups and be assigned to one of the most popular climate myths
from skepticalscience.com. Working as a team they will be asked to use physical science
principles, knowledge of the drivers of the earth’s climate system, and the most common logical
fallacies used in the popular press to address the climate myth for their group. Groups will
present their results to the rest of the class and modify their analysis based on input and
discussion with the rest of the class.
Lab 8. Carbon Mitigation Town Hall Summit
In this lab/recitation exercise the class will be divided into five groups, each of which will
approach carbon mitigation through a stakeholder approach. Each student will take on the role
of a stakeholder, and there will always be one scientist in the group. As a group, students will do
research to explore different sides of the issue and present a 15-20 minute mock debate to the
rest of the class. Topics for debate include:
Deforestation: Can a permit be issued to clear a pristine tropical rainforest in Ecuador for
cattle production to provide beef to McDonalds?
Stakeholders: Ecuadorian farmer, McDonalds, IPCC scientist, dietician, ecologist,
American mom, policy analyst.
Car manufacturer: Can a permit be issued for a car company to develop a new car that gets
only 10 miles to the gallon?
Stakeholders: Automobile company, gas company, IPCC scientist, educated college
student, truck enthusiast.
OSU parking: Should Oregon State University (OSU) impose a “no parking on campus”
rule, thereby encouraging students and employees to use Corvallis’ free busing system?
Stakeholders: car company, gas company, OSU employee with a child, IPCC
scientist, educated college student.
Air travel restrictions: Should air travel be minimized to two flights/person/year with all
flights beyond this charged for C offsets (exceptions available for health/bereavement)?
Stakeholders: airline company, gas company, international business, avid vacationer,
IPCC scientist, educated college student, Vegas casino owner.
C offsets for shipping: Should the US demand that C offsets be paid for shipping of goods
within the US or internationally?
Stakeholders: dietician, shipping company, gas company, international business, avid
vacationer, IPCC scientist, economist, policy analyst.
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Lab 9. Policy Options
This lab will draw from the policy options presented by Mathew Nissbet
http://thebreakthrough.org/index.php/voices/the-public-square/pathways-to-progress-on-climatechange-pt-4-diversifying-policy-options-and and policy modules developed at Carlton college
http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/roleplaying/examples/gwdebate.html
Students will read and learn about different policy options and present the different options in a
‘Public Square’ debate at the end of lab.
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