Climate Change Debate Instructions
Section 302: Debate on March 11, Write-Up due March 25
Section 304: Debate on March 13, Write-Up due March 27
In recent years, surface temperatures around the globe have been steadily increasing. The
reasons for this warming have been a contentious issue in the field of meteorology for
decades. While most climate scientists believe that this warming can be attributed to
manmade (anthropogenic) causes, namely the drastic increase in greenhouse gases since
1850, some still believe that global warming is the result of natural variability.
However, with recent natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina and films like An
Inconvenient Truth, the argument on climate change and what to do about it has spread to
the general public. In class, we will examine the differing viewpoints on global warming
and its effects on human life. Since solutions to halt global warming would have drastic
impacts on business, industry, economies and daily life, most of the debate will focus on
the policy debate on what, if anything, can be done to prevent climate change and
whether it is worth pursuing such measures.
Debate Instructions
The class will be divided into groups of two or three with each group presenting a
potential impact of global warming. Each group should find potential impacts of global
warming on their particular area, the potential cost if nothing is done about global
warming, and the potential cost of a solution for that area. At the end, each group should
decide if the problems caused by global warming on their particular area facilitate a
change in current climate policy, or if the cost of such policies exceeds the benefit.
GROUPS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Urban: coastal cities, infrastructure, quality of life.
Public Health: heat waves, airborne diseases.
Agriculture/Nat. Resources: food production, land use, droughts.
Industry/Manufacturing/Energy: cost of emission standards, renewable energy.
World Politics: likelihood of treaties (e.g. Kyoto), impact on developing nations.
Weather/Climate: extreme weather, natural disasters.
Global economy: financial cost of impacts, cost of mitigation.
Ecosystems: animal/plant life, forests, pollution.
The amount of collaboration between groups is up to you. However, each person must
prepare to talk about three points on their chosen area. During the debate, each person
will then talk about one of their points for two to three minutes. Ideas for arguments are:
 Potential impact(s) of global warming on the area you are representing.
 The expense of adapting to the impact caused by global warming.
 How a solution (or doing nothing) could improve the area you are representing.
 Whether or not something should be done about global warming.
At the end, if time allows, the floor will be open to questions from other students or me.
Write-up Instructions
After the debate, write a two-page (typed, double-spaced) report answering the following
questions:
 What were your preconceived notions on GW before the debate?
 What area were you representing for the debate? Briefly summarize your three
points.
 Briefly describe what some of the other groups said during the debate. Did you
find anything shocking? Or particularly interesting?
 After the debate, how have your opinions changed? In your own opinion, should
we do anything about global warming? What are some of your solutions?
A note on sources: The material presented in class and in the report should be
researched. I would like you to find two quality/primary sources. By quality sources I
mean newspaper/magazine articles or webpage material that is not obviously biased.
Remember to consider the validity of a source by who is writing it and what ulterior
motives they might have.
List sources at the end of the paper, the citation should include: Author, Article title,
Magazine/Book Title/Website Name, Web address.
Grading
Debate (25 points):
Report (25 points):
Accuracy and quality of material (20)
Presentation (5)
Accuracy and quality of material (15)
Writing quality (5)
Validity of sources (5)