ENVIRON 89S TOPICS
IMPACTS
CLIMATE SCIENCE
Habitat/biodiversity loss
Ecosystems
Ocean Acidification
Hydrosphere/Cryosphere
Human Health
Developing Countries
Global Warming
Greenhouse Effect
Carbon Cycle
Past and Future Climate
Sea Level Rise
Extreme Weather
ENERGY
SOLUTIONS
Population Drivers
Per-Capita Consumption
Energy Sectors
Fossil Fuels
Clean Energy Sources
Targets
Climate Economics
National/Int’l Policies
Inflation Reduction Act
Duke Climate Commitment
OTHER
Hysteria vs Reality
Communication
Eutrophication
Air & Water Pollution
Ozone Hole
Microplastics
CLIMATE SCIENCE
•
What have the most notable discoveries been in the past 20 years relating to climate change?
•
When will sea level rise start affecting coastal cities?
•
How have human activities affected the carbon cycle?
•
What are the harmful effects of interfering in the carbon cycle?
•
What communities are the most at risk from extreme weather changes?
•
What are surprising factors that contribute to the greenhouse effect?
•
How is climate change affecting agricultural communities?
•
How can an understanding of carbon sinks be used to increase the amount of stored carbon
and other greenhouse gases?
•
How are greenhouse gas emissions measured and reported?
•
Have there been instances where emissions statistics have been falsely reported?
•
Has the Earth ever experienced a time as severe as this rate of warming?
IMPACTS
1. What type of pollution(respiration/consumption) is the worst for our health?
2. Which ecosystem is the most at risk?
3. Why is biodiversity important and how are we losing it?
4. Why are developing countries more impacted than 1st world countries?
5. How do microplastic get in our food and how do they affect us long term?
6. What is the connection between acidification and huma/animal health?
7. How does climate change affect hydrosphere/cryosphere?
8. What is the atmospheric impact of the melting of permafrost?
9. What species are most at risk of being extinct due to climate change?
10. What are the consequences of mass extinctions?
11. How does the warming of earth affect the rate of diseases?
12. Is climate change facilitating adaptations?
13. How are the cancer rates increasing due to pollution/ affects of climate
change?
ENERGY
• How can we manipulate clean energy sources to make us more
energy-efficient?
• How do you assess the utility of clean energy sources (costbenefit analysis)?
• How can we foster widespread access to clean-energy
sources?
• How can we convince countries/people to use clean-energy
sources?
• How can we incentivize corporations to utilize clean-energy
sources?
ENERGY
• How can we analyze the different age groups and properly
target them to be more open/ambivalent towards cleaner
energy resources?
• How does an increasing population impact the different energyforms we use?
• Can cleaner energy resources accommodate/sustain a rapidly
growing population?
• How can humans be more efficient in utilizing various energy
sources to power the functions of their daily lives?
• What are the various types of energy sectors and how can we
ENERGY
• What are the various types of energy sectors and how can we
most effectively incorporate them into our society?
• How does cultural, geographical, and economic circumstances
of a person/country impact the types of energy used, and how
can we manipulate this information to foster a cleaner Earth?
• How does energy consumption vary between per-capita
individuals/families and larger corporations?
• How can be find the fine balance between the utilization of
fossil fuels and cleaner energy resources?
SOLUTIONS
Targets
Climate Economics
National/Int’l Policies
Inflation Reduction Act
Duke Climate Commitment
•
What specific policies are currently in place to limit climate change?
•
What are the components of the Duke Climate Commitment? What is the process for implementing this?
•
What are the components of the Inflation Reduction Act?
•
What policies are currently being debated? At Duke? At the state level? National level?
•
How can climate policies be made more appealing to opposition?
•
What measures should we use to calculate the effect of our solutions?
•
Which countries have implemented the most effective policies? Why has it worked? How can we imitate this
on a global level?
•
What are the economic benefits and drawbacks of certain climate policies?
•
How can students help further the Duke Climate Commitment?
•
Are there any climate policies that have had a negative effect? Should any policies be discarded?
•
What does the Inflation Reduction Act mean for families who can’t afford clean energy?
•
How does the Inflation Reduction Act impact businesses?
•
How much improvement do these climate solutions create? Can we quantify this?
•
How difficult is it for policies to get passed? How long does it take?
•
What is the effect of politics on policies? Is there a history of successful political lobbying? If not, how can we
contribute to the creation of new policies?
•
How can businesses switch to more sustainable processes without raising operation costs?