Teach
In
Environmental Sciences Green House Gases to Kids:
This year again, I had
the opportunity to teach environmental sciences and information technology to
fourth graders.
My topic was Green House Gases. I started with the atmospheric
layers and talked about the lower layers:
Stratosphere: 12 to 50 km (7 to 31 miles),
Troposphere: 0 to 12 km (0 to
7 miles).
Took a small car and globe model and compared them to explain the Green
House Effect by showing how the car gets heated when parked in Sun. Explained to them that similar
to the car, Earth gets warmer because of these GHGs acting like a windshield in the
car.
Then I started to show them the box model. I created a beach environment
with sand and water (added blue color to make it look like ocean). In middle of
the ocean I created a small island. I placed some small buildings made of Lego
pieces on the coast and on the island. In one end of the box apposite to the beach I packed frozen ice (to
simulate the Arctic frozen Tundra).
Box Model - Frozen Area, Ocean, Island and Coastal Area
I closed the box with a glass lid and left a
space to heat the ice using a hair dryer acting as a heat source (Sun). Ice started
melting; water level rose and at one stage Whole Island was under the Ocean,
Lego buildings were under water and beach area resided. Now they understood the
greenhouse effect clearly and the damage it can cause.
Then I talked about the Green House Gases and their sources:
Carbon dioxide (CO2)
, Methane (CH4), Nitrous oxide (N2O), Ozone (O3), and CFCs
CO2
- Burning
Fossil Fuels – Energy Uses – Fuel used for Electricity Generations, Petroleum
and Natural gas emissions.
CH4 - Landfills, Coal Mines, Oil and Gas production, and Agriculture
N2O - Agriculture, Transportation and Industries
O3 - Fuel combustion
CFCs - Paints, aerosol sprays, cleaning solvents
and coolants
Told them about
the Environmental, Human Health and Economic impacts of GHGs
As the overall average
annual temperatures of the globe are expected to increase:
Snow, Sea Ice and Glacier areas
will decrease by melting, which will cause
Sea levels to rise,
coastal flooding to increase and climatic condition changes.
Storms and heat waves will occur more along
with dreadful disease, famine and increase in invasive species.
Dehydration, heat
stroke, respiratory, cardiovascular, skin problems and diseases such as cancers, and diseases from water, food, and
rodent-borne will increase. Human health effects will not only affect health
and social support systems, but also cause economic stress.
Agriculture, forestry,
tourism and recreation and events including sporting events will be affected. Damage to human
made structures such as roads, buildings, bridges will happen from extreme
weather conditions.
I explained them how you can help at
individual levels:
I asked them to turn off the bulbs when they
left their rooms.
Tell their parents to combine trips when they
go out.
I asked them to conserve water.
I told them to reduce the use of polluting
materials, reuse and recycle as much as you can.
Also, told them to plant trees and plants
whenever they are able to do.
These are some of the small steps they could take to contribute towards protecting our planet. I told them how I analyze data that
we acquire from the environment to model and predict after effects. To do our part we created EA Farms and planted so many trees.
This is how as an environmental scientist and as an information technologist, I
contributed and still contributing to the benefit of the Globe and future generations to come.
Collaborating Environmental Scientists
I know there are several people including some
scientists who do not believe in GHGs causing these effects. But as an
environmental scientist, I believe they contribute to some extent, at least.
However, deforestation makes the effects grow more exponentially.
At the end of the teach in section, all the
kids were worried about the effects of GHGs, effects of Climate change on islands, coastal areas, its inhabitants, people who
will be affected by storms, hurricanes, cyclones, typhoons, tornadoes, heat and
drought. They all immediately wanted to contribute to protect the planet, our
Mother EARTH.
I felt like I achieved something as an
Environmentalist.
Latest GHG gas founded by researchers - That can contribute to GHG effect at an alarming rate - PerFluoroTriButylAmine (PFTBA) from fossil fuel burning.
