MAKING A DIFFERENCE ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING

ALL CLASS DOCUMENTS ARE AVAILABLE AT http://compasskidsforclimatechange.pbwiki.com/

Global Warming is likely to be the most important issue of your generation. Due partly to Al Gore’s movie, “Inconvenient Truth,” there is growing interest and concern for the need to address issues of climate change. Inconvenient Truth does a great job highlighting the problem and offering some degree of hope that we can prevent the worst effects of global warming if we act soon. Unfortunately, what the movie doesn’t do, nor does any book or resource I have seen, is tell individuals what they can do and the impact of their individual actions. For example:

What is better for the environment—using paper or plastic bags?

How much energy or CO2 emissions are saved by using compact fluorescent bulbs?

Why does Switzerland have a law requiring drivers to turn their cars off at red lights and wht would be the effect if this same law was in effect in the US?

If someone works really really hard, they can probably find the answers to these and other environmental questions. But nowhere are these answers brought together in one easy to access, clear, and convincing package. We will work together to try to address this need to help people make good “eco-choices” (and, perhaps, make a book that sells so well it can finance scholarships at Compass for many years to come). I am confident this book would sell well and serve to help people act to reduce the threats of global warming.

So this is our task for the next four weeks—to write a book on “Eco-choices” that is:

• easy to read and understand
• tells people what actions are more environmentally responsible
• explains the science of why a particular action is better for the environment
• shows clearly the savings or benefits of each action if taken by large numbers of Americans or people throughout the globe and helps readers know which is the most “impactful” actions they can take
• professional, complete, error free, and ready to submit to publishers for review or for self publishing

Ideally, I think we would have at least 25 Eco-choices that this book addresses. Attached is a list of example questions as a starting point. As a class we will develop a plan to generate other important questions worth exploring. And once we have our questions, we will develop a plan for how to organize ourselves and our time to assure we complete this project before the trimester ends in February.

This is an exciting and important project that has enormous real world significance. I hope you are as excited as I am about this idea that can really make a difference in the world and maybe make some money for the school in the process.

If you need to contact me for help, email rick@compass-school.org or call 869-6103

Some Eco-questions to research:

*Driving with your windows shut and air con on vs. windows open

*How long a car has to be stopped before it is more efficient to turn it off (in Switzerland it is the law that if more than 4 seconds at a light, you have to turn the car off!)

*How much it costs to drive an extra 10 or 20 or 30 miles to save x dollars shopping at a box store

*Savings for driving 5 or 10 mph slower

*Paper bags vs Plastic

*Whether it is more energy efficient to turn your heat down all night (or day) and then heat it back up vs leaving it at one heat continually

*Dishwasher vs. Handwashing

*The costs of every extra 100 sq ft of house space (often used to store hoards of toilet paper you buy to save money)

*Compact fluorescents vs Incandescent light bulbs

*Turning off refrigerator during vacation, turning off computers or vcrs or other “on call” appliances

*Clothes dryer vs line drying clothes

*Gas savings if everyone drove a Prius

*Hybrid SUV? Good or not?

*Zero emission vehicles and saving co2

*Clothes Washing in cold water

*Inflating tires on car appropriately, taking off rocket box and roof racks

*Turning heat down 1 degree/air con up or off

*Savings from Driving vs. walking or biking