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Lauer: Social Problems and the Quality of Life
Social Problems and the Quality of Life, 8/e
Robert H. Lauer, U.S. International University
Jeanette C. Lauer, U.S. International University
The Environment

Internet Exercises

  1. Visit the Solstice: Center for Renewable Energy and Sustainable Technology (CREST) Website. (http://solstice.crest.org/) From the homepage, under "Documents and Databases," select "Environment." From the index that appears, select "Global Change." In the new display, under "A Review of Climate Change & Ozone Depletion," select "Global Change Archives (July 1995 to Present) by Month." You will now be at "Global Change: Electronic Edition: Archives." In the boxed table, select "2000: JAN-MAR" (yellow background). Then on the next screen, click on "Opinions & Commentaries." From the resulting list of articles, select "Winning and Losing the Global Warming Debate," by Roger A. Pielke, Jr. and Daniel Sarewitz. Read the article.
    1. Explain and contrast the positions of "Cassandras" and "Dorothies" in the global climate change debate.
    2. Summarize the third perspective proposed by the authors.
  2. For a contrasting point of view on global climate change, one that Pielke and Sarawitz might classify as of the "Cassandra" variety, access the Greenpeace Website. (http://www.greenpeace.org/) Explore the site to get a general sense of its perspective and resources. From the colored strip at the bottom of the homepage, select "climate." Look over the articles (and their topics) you find; then select "Reports." From this new page, scroll down to "The Arctic," and select "The western arctic, including Alaska and northwestern Canada, is warming at a rate three to five times faster than the Earth as a whole." Read through the "Factsheets" section and click on the link to "Polar Meltdown" (Feb. 2000). Read what you find.
    1. Summarize some of the evidence for an arctic polar meltdown over the last 40 years.
    2. What are some of the possible implications of this arctic melting.
    3. Regarding the mechanisms that appear to account for arctic climate change, explain the Arctic Oscillation Index and the effects it seems to have been having in recent years.








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