Homework ( Biology Honors) on “Atmospheric pollution and Global warming”
The following questions cover the lectures and videos presented in class. Provide thorough and
complete answers for maximum credit. Submit completed assignment as a .doc file and hardcopy in class . Note
that diagrams or pictures can—and should—be used to answer many of the questions. Please scan any drawings
or diagrams in your answers, if possible. For problems involving calculations, if any, clearly label and provide
appropriate accompanying textual description for equations used.
1. What meteorological and geographic factors make cities in the Southwest part of the United States
susceptible to air pollution? What is the type of air pollution that is most prevalent in that region and how is it
formed?
2. Explain how the air pollutants from coal burning in the Ohio River Valley cause acid rain to occur in the
Mid-Atlantic States and New England? What are some of the environmental consequences of acid rain?
3. Why is stratospheric ozone beneficial to life on Earth, whereas tropospheric (ground level) ozone is not?
4. Explain the following:
a.)how the Antarctic “ozone hole” forms.
b.)What time of year is the ozone most apparent and
c.) why?
5. Based on three natural proxies ( not direct/present evidences), describe how these three sources of data are
used to determine the climate of the past before the existence of any meteorological instrumentation. What
type(s) of data do these proxies provide?
6. What are
a.) the principal factor(s) that explain the regular occurrence of ice ages on Earth?
b.)Should we be concerned about another ice age happening within our lifetimes?
c.)Why or why not?
7. The absolute amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is relatively small (less than 1%), so why should
we even worry about it?
8. Explain how global climate models, such as those used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
((IPCC), have been used to attribute recently observed climate change to human activity.
9. In what region(s) of the world
a.) has the climate changed most dramatically, according to the observational record of the late twentieth
century to the present?
b.)Do such changes provide a positive or negative feedback to global warming?
c.)Explain.
10. Quote from a newly elected member of the U.S. House of Representatives: “We have discovered that a good
portion of the science used to justify climate change was a hoax.”
a.) Do you agree or disagree with that statement?
b.) Support your opinion with at least three scientific facts. Do not include any political arguments in your
answer.
Recommended web sites
1. http://climatechangereconsidered.org/
2. http://www.globalclimatescam.com/
3. http://climateconference.heartland.org/
4. http://joannenova.com.au/
5. http://junkscience.com/about-steve-milloy/
6. http://www.masterresource.org/category/climate-change/
7. http://www.sepp.org/
8. http://www.cfact.org/2014/06/04/new-congress-must-rein-in-runaway-epa/
9. http://www.heritage.org/events/2013/09/climate-change-reconsidered
10. http://www.climatewiki.org/index.php?title=Main_Page
11. http://www.heritage.org/issues/energy-and-environment/climate-change
12. http://www.epa.gov/
13. http://www.weatherexplained.com/Vol-1/Air-and-Water-Pollution.html
14. http://www.climatescienceinternational.org
15. http://www.climatedepot.com/tag/global-warming/
16. http://icecap.us/
17. http://www.cato.org/research/global-warming
18. http://www.globalwarming.org/
19. http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/
20. http://www.theclimatebet.com/