Over the semester compare the recorded readings to data from past years. Your students should be able to determine climate changes for their area. They might even be able to infer what the local climate will be like in future years, if current weather conditions persist. A Cruel Fuel Brew Carbon dioxide, the most important greenhouse gas, is emitted when fossil fuels are burned and when forests are cleared for agriculture. Forests and agriculture are easy enough to understand.
Fossil fuels are the fossilized remains of prehistoric animals and plants.
More commonly known as oil, coal, and natural gas the burning of these fossil fuels create the energy necessary to run power plants, factories, vehicles, and even our household appliances. Air pollution eats away paint, rubber, concrete, and us. Air pollution can cause everything from fatigue and chest pain to respiratory disease and lung damage. Then using either your school s media lab or video camcorder, have your students develop and produce an investigative news program like the numerous ones on television. The overall theme of the program will be global warming with special investigative student reports on the causes of the Greenhouse Effect and its impact, the burning of fossil fuels and its impacts on human health, and new technologies and other actions that can help to reduce air pollution.