FLOODING IN NYC BECAUSE OF GLOBAL WARMING

Naresh C Osti

Earth Science 9 th Grade

Rice High School

nosti@ricehighschool.com

INTRODUCTION

Global warming increases the atmospheric temperature by decomposing the earth’s layers. NYC buildings are constructed of materials like glass, iron, concrete, and lots of hard matter that reflect more light and heat. Therefore, NYC is very likely to experience an increase in temperature. Global warming lead to a less reliable supply of drinking water as precipitation patterns shift, more smog, shortages of electricity and flooding. The NYC tends to be 3 to 5 degrees hotter, on average, than surrounding areas during the summer.

TASK

Many NYC buildings are made of iron, glass, concrete materials that attract heat and reflect light from the buildings. Beside that some of the industries that are continuously producing the CFCs and other pollutants are decreasing the ozone level in the atmosphere and causing global warming which ultimately increase the sea level and make city susceptible for flooding. The mayor of New York needs your help to that he can plan for the future of New York City. Working in groups of four your task is to identify the cause of global warming that leads to flooding, consequences of flooding, existing policy to prevent global warming and long term solution for the prevention of flooding in NYC. Develop a power point presentation of your findings. Determine which material reflects the least amount of heat that contributes to the coolest types of buildings and identify the chemicals that prevent the ozone layer from its depletion so reduce the greenhouse effect. In order to get your result, you will follow the steps of the Public Policy Analyst in the Process section below.

Process

Working in groups of four, you will complete the Public Policy Analyst handouts to complete the task. Your teacher will place you in groups of four. You may split up the work anyway you’d like. Just make sure that all the PPA handouts are completed.

You must print out each of the six worksheets and answer ALL questions as a group. When you hand in your final research paper (4-6 pages), and you must all hand in the completed worksheet. You will work on the handouts in class and complete the final paper after school.

Each member of the group will have to play a role as follows:

Group Leader: would be responsible for making sure that all members work together and stay on task

PPA Leader: responsible for making sure that all of the worksheets are completed

Paper Writer: You will be responsible for the final paper for the group

Presenter: Will present the findings of the group to the entire class

1. Defining the problem. In this task, you have to find the social problem related to the flooding because of the global warming in NYC. For this task you can follow the following link: https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/select.html

http://www.nrdc.org/globalWarming/fcons.asp

2. Gathering evidence in support of your problems

Collect the evidences as much as possible to support your problems. The evidences are the signs that are seen due to the problem. You can use the followings link to go through this task.

https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/gather.html

3. Identifying the Causes of the Problem

In this section, your task is to find the causes which are responsible to bring the problem in the NYC.The given link is useful to find the causes of your selected problem.

https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/identify.html

http://www.ecobridge.org/content/g_cse.htm

4. Evaluating Existing Public Policies

Here, You have to go through the present public policies and find out whether the current policies are working or not to reduce the global warming in the NYC or it need to modify or need to bring totally new policies to overcome the problem. You can use the given link to do this task.

https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/existing.html

5. Developing Public Policy Solutions

In order to solve the problem, you have to propose some public policies that can solve the existing problem of the global warming in NYC. Use the following link to get the best public policy.

https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/solutions.html

6. Selecting the Best Public Policy Solution

When you propose some of the possible public policies then you have select one of them which is best to solve the problem. You can go through this link to select best public policy.

https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/solutions.html

Resources

Use the following on line resource to get the thing about this problem.

Global warming and resulting rising sea levels have the potential to put much of New York City and other low-lying areas at risk of severe flooding, according to a study conducted by Columbia University researchers.

http://www.cnn.com/EARTH/9804/07/global.warming/

http://partners.nytimes.com/library/national/120197york.html

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1525/is_4_88/ai_104682142

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/pr/96_99/19278.html

http://www.climateark.org/articles/reader.asp?linkid=27200

Evaluation

Criteria	Exemplary 4	Accomplished 2-3	Beginning 1	Total Score
Participation in Research Paper	Had a good understanding of topic and gave viewpoint.	Somewhat understood topic and offered viewpoint only when asked.	Didn't understand topic and could not offer viewpoint when asked.
Summary of findings	Included important facts about Global Warming and flooding.	Included most important facts but left out one or two important facts.	Had one or two important facts but left most facts out of summary.
Graphic Appeal	Had appropriate graphics that enhanced project.	Had some graphics but did not necessarily enhance project.	Did not have graphics or graphics were inappropriate for topic.
Persuasiveness	Was able to persuade others in to his/her way of thinking.	Tried to persuade only when prompted.	Although prompted, did not try to persuade.
Presentation	Used appropriate presentation skills most of the time.	Used appropriate presentation skills some of the time.	Did not use appropriate presentation skills.
References cited	Cited references	Had most references cited	Had some references cited
Understanding of Role	Showed a clear understanding of their group's point of view.	Showed some understanding of their group's point of view.	Showed no real understanding of their group's point of view.
Group participation	Were helpful and participated in-group activities.	When prompted participated in-group activities.	Did not participate in-group unless prompted several times.
TOTAL

STANDARDS

The present Web Quest focuses on the following Science Performance Standards:

S5 Scientific Thinking

S5d: Proposes, recognizes, analyzes, considers, and critiques alternative explanations; and distinguishes between fact and opinion.

S5e: Identifies problems; proposes and implements solutions; and evaluates the accuracy, design, and outcomes of investigations.

S6 Scientific Tools and Technologies

S6d: Acquires information from multiple sources.

S7: Scientific Communication

S7a: Represents data and results in multiple ways.

S7b: Argues from evidence.

This web quest also focuses on the following English Language Arts Performance Standards:

E1c: Read and comprehend informational materials.

E2a: Produce a report of information.

E3c: Prepare and deliver an individual presentation.

E4b: Analyze and subsequently revise work to improve its clarity and effectiveness.

CONCLUSION

From this scientific study of the problem, your group understands that there is high risk of flooding in New York. Global warming is the cause of flooding. We have to protect our atmosphere in order to save the life of living beings in this great city. You have thoroughly researched this issue using the Internet. You have worked in groups and have written a 4-6 page research paper that will help the Mayor with his plan for the City of New York. You have learned the six steps of the Public Policy Analyst that you can use in solving any social problem.