VIDEOS: NASA's Hansen and E350's Bill McKibben on Global Warming

[Ryan Goble]

Two excellent videos for classroom discussion esp. for those of you in states that have just been hammered by droughts. In addition to the science and sustainability issues, there is a nice math connection with the first clip as you can talk to students about bell curves, trends, averages and extremes. Economics and social studies classes could use the second video to talk about "ecosystem services" and enviornmental taxes.

From PBS Newshour:

"The probability of these unusually hot, hot spells, forest fires and extreme droughts has increased substantially over the last few decades. Now they are occurring about 10 percent of the time. And those are the things that have big economic impacts."

and from E350's Bill McKibben:

"We let coal and gas and oil barons use the atmosphere as an open sewer into which to dump carbon - their main waste project - FOR FREE. That is a sweetheart deal. Imagine you own a restaurant and the city let you shovel your waste into the center of the street each night instead of paying for it to be carted away. You'd make more profit too! But soon the streets would be overrun with toxins and trash. Well, that's what's going on in our atmosphere right now."