1.  Post your definition of Global Change on the D2L DISCUSSION BOARD -- discuss and comment on each other's definitions and/or refine your own.

2. Read through Spencer Weart's:
THE DISCOVERY OF GLOBAL WARMING page

3.  Class Contest:  Search for the earliest reference to the term / concept of  "global change science" you can find in the literature -- Winner gets a prize!
Clarification:  what you are looking for is the earliest reference of  "global change science" (or something referred to as "earth system science", "global environmental change", etc. as it is more or less understood in the GC science community today.  See what you can come up with!

1. On Being A (Global Change) Scientist

  Read On Being A Scientist, Responsible Conduct in Research
NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS Washington, D.C. 1995

Be sure you read the case studies scattered throughout the article -- they are really interesting and many can transfer over into some aspect of your own graduate work.  There's also an APPENDIX that provides some discussion and food for thought about each case study.

Also, as you are reading, think about what aspects of the article apply especially well to "Being a Global Change Scientist" (natural or social) and what aspects do not seem to apply as well.  Be ready to share some of your thoughts on this (or one of the case studies that resonated with you) at our next class.

2.  GC Faculty Look-Up

(a)   Click HERE to read through the brief backgrounds on the 5-8 GC Minor Faculty you "drew" from the bag at the end of class. 

(b) Next, browse through the entire list of GC Faculty to see if there are one or two particular faculty members that would be good for you to meet in order to advance your own research or career interests.  To assist in identifying faculty with your specific interests, you can also search the ISPE faculty Database by research theme. 

(Note: all GC Minor Faculty (aka Committee on Global Change) are also  ISPE faculty, but not all ISPE faculty are GC Minor Faculty.  Some ISPE research faculty have opted not to join the academic/degree-granting Committee on Global Change -- others have just not yet sent in their paperwork to do so.)

(c)  Come to class next week with suggestions on what our "interview questionnaire" should include, and the names of two faculty you would like to interview.  (If it's not a faculty member you "drew" you can swap with the student who drew that person's name.)

(a) EPA's Glossary of Climate Change Terms

(b)  IPCC Climate Change 2001 Working Group I: The Scientific Basis: Appendix 1 Glossary

(c) IPCC Working Group I "The Physical Science Basis" (to be released Friday Feb 2) Chapter 1 Appendix:  Glossary of Terms NOTE: The full Working Group I Report (presumably with glossary) will not be online until May 07, so ignore this part for now.  Here's The Summary for Policymakers [pdf] which was released 2-2-07 -- no glossary!

(d)  IPCC Climate Change 2001 The Synthesis Report: Annex B Glossary of Terms

1. Make a list of any terms for which you would like further clarification in any of the lists (print out to turn in)
2. Compare and contrast the EPA list with the IPCC glossaries (Is there any particular emphasis in one list vs. the other?)
3. Compare and contrast the IPCC 2001 and 2007 Working Group 1 glossaries with each other  (Are there any new terms that have emerged?  Are there any terms that have been dropped in the newer report?) (2007 WG I glossary not yet released; ignore this part for now) 
4. Compare and contrast the IPCC 2001 Synthesis Report glossary with the others  (What different types of terms appear that are not addressed in the "scientific/physical"  basis glossaries?)  

2.  Begin your interviews with your selected GC Minor Faculty.  The interview template is HERE .  You should have your interviews with 2 faculty completed by the end of February to report on at the March 6th class.

1.  Complete the CREATING & RUNNING A VERY SIMPLE MODEL assignment, including creating and running the model in STELLA.

2.  The second part of your assignment which you should bring to class in hard copy next week is to sketch out the Stella Diagram for a simple radiation (energy) balance at the Earth’s surface which can also be used to compute the Earth’s mean surface temperature. Your model will consist of an incoming solar radiation (inflow) and an outgoing terrestrial radiation (outflow) with energy accumulating in, and being released from, the Earth’s “stock” or reservoir of stored surface energy. (see hints on handout).  You may sketch this out by hand or actually create the model diagram in STELLA and print it out.

3.  LINK to other models

1.  MODELING FOLLOW-UP:  Go to this LINK to find several saved STELLA models that you can run, adjust, re-run and explore. Be sure you try running the energy balance models we discussed in class, using the handout distributed at the end of class on Feb 13th to guide you.  Also available are some STELLA models that illustrate other global change processes and different types of model behavior.

2.  Read: Bice, D. M. (2001) Using STELLA models to explore the dynamics of Earth Systems: experimenting with Earth's climate system using a simple computer model.  Journal of Geoscience Education, v. 49, n. 2, pp 170-181.  which presents and discusses a variation of the energy balance model we discussed in class.  [article suggested by Christine Hallman]

3.  Watch the Feb 8, 2007 Congressional Hearing webcast (referred to in class by Chris Castro) on "The Findings of the Fourth Assessment Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Working Group I Report"  (webcast link is in the upper right of screen.)   Southern Arizona is specifically addressed in the questioning, along with regional modeling, well into the proceedings beginning at 2:37:23.
 
 QUESTION: In the Congressional Hearing, who in your opinion, did the best job of communicating science to the the legislators both effectively and accurately?  What made the communication so effective? 
 

1. The class has been divided into 3 research tool groups: "Modelers", "Experimenters," and "Monitors."  Individual members of each group should create a single PowerPoint slide that:

1. illustrates the strengths and weaknesses of their assigned approach or tool for (i) studying global change processes (physical and/or human) and (ii) conducting a scientific investigation in general
    
2. gives an example of a global change scientific effort that is using this approach

Bring your slide to class  Feb 27th on a flash drive -- we'll group them by approach, go through them together, and look for communalities and differences. 

2.  Having trouble getting your interviews done?  If you need to choose a new faculty member to interview see the INTERVIEW LIST to find out who's already been selected.   [Note: please send me corrections or updates to this list if needed.]

2.  Be prepared to share what you learned and talked about during your GC Faculty interviews!  You will be asked to give a short intro/bio of your interviewee, then share how the questions in the template were answered, what else you talked about, and what one thing about the interview you found most interesting, surprising, inspiring, exciting, etc., etc.

In class on Tuesday March 27th our guest will be Dr. Kirsten Engel who will talk about the Supreme Court case re: Massachusetts v. EPA.  The following items (c/o Robert) will help to prepare you for the class:

1. Everyone in class should read the following article from the New York Times about Massachusetts v. EPA. to familiarize yourself with the subject of Kirsten Engel's presentation:    Justices’ First Brush With Global Warming  [pdf]

2. Read the actual amicus brief [pdf]  written by a number of climate scientists (including from UA), for the Massachusetts v. EPA case. 
               For a definition of the term amicus curiae / amicus brief click here.

3. Look over/skim the (long) transcript of arguments [pdf]  before the Supreme Court in Massachusetts v. EPA   NOTE: this link is now correct!

4. Look over/skim this long but interesting overview of "Global Warming in the Courts." [pdf]

ALSO:  here's another good site with a summary and links (from Northwestern University - Robert sent this link out via email over the weekend).
"On the Docket: Massachusetts, et al. v. Environmental Protection Agency, et al."
 

ASSIGNMENT PREPARATION FOR APRIL 3rd CLASS

In class on Tuesday April 3rd our guest will be Dr. Julie Cole who we will engage in a discussion of how to address "skeptics" and/or respond to some of the valid and bogus challenges to global change science. The following paper (c/o Eleonora) should be read in advance to get you thinking:

1. Read: Are observed changes in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere really dangerous? [pdf]

2.  Read about the author, Dr. Chris de Freitas

3. Review:  Christine's list of common skeptic questions [pdf]  and come with a few of your own.

FOLLOW-UP to Kirsten Engel's talk:  Here is the complete "Opinion of the Court" document for the April 2, 2007 Decision of the Supreme Court on Massachusetts v. EPA  [pdf]