Faced with Climate Change, Science Club Can Help Students Dream of a Better Future | KQED

This discussion is part of a larger study on developing technologies that reduce global warming pollution. The study was conducted by Kravitz, an assistant professor of earth and atmospheric science at Indiana University; colleague Paul Goddard; and Kirstin Milks, DeWayne Murphy science teacher at South Bloomington High School in Bloomington, Ind.

With heat waves and extreme weather becoming more common, Milks wants to empower her students with the information and creative freedom to dream up big ideas for a better climate future.

“The reality is that climate change is the story of these young people’s lives,” Milks says. “Our students not only need to know the challenging and difficult things that we hear about in the news, but they also need to see how change can happen. They need to feel like they understand and can make a difference. in our shared future.”

Milk teaches his students the basic truths about human-caused climate change: that burning fossil fuels – such as coal, oil and gas – is the biggest driver of the increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide warms the planet, causing frequent droughts, hurricanes, floods and extreme heat waves.

Kravitz says, “The only permanent solution to prevent that is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

Scientists already know of other technologies that can help. Solar and wind power combined with large batteries are helping the world move away from oil, coal and gas.

But Kravitz says the world isn’t moving fast enough. So he and other scientists are studying ways to temporarily change the Earth’s climate to reduce the effects of climate change. It is known as climate engineering, or geoengineering.

Climate engineering encompasses many strategies, including restoring sunlight to space and removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But these strategies can cause serious risks – such as disruption of rainfall patterns and impacts on global crops. Meanwhile, there is still little control over how these technologies can be used.

“People are going to choose whether they are [pursue climate engineering], or even leading, are sitting in high school classrooms right now,” says Kravitz. “So if they don’t know what this topic is, that’s a real problem. That is why we have developed the study. ”

Milks says he’s not trying to convince students to embrace climate engineering — instead, he wants to give them the knowledge they need to make informed decisions about it, if the time comes.

Students come up with wild ideas, like covering the desert in glitter

Creativity is at the heart of this learning, Milks explains. After students learn the basics of climate engineering, they are asked to “come up with wild, interesting ideas” to reduce global warming.

At first, there isn’t much feedback, says Goddard, an assistant research scientist at Indiana University who helped develop the study.

“As we progress through all the studies, we add more details, more constraints to their designs,” Goddard said.

In the first round of discussions, students thought about a solar-powered helicopter; artificial trees that store rainwater to help fight wildfires; and many ways to reflect light back into the sky, such as covering the desert with glitter.

Next, students are asked to think about the weaknesses and potential dangers in their ideas. Take glitter in the desert, for example:

“We’ll make sure the glitter doesn’t get eaten by the rock pocket mouse…or like snakes and things?” Masui asked.

The student proposes to make the glitter large and smooth enough to not be eaten or harmed by animals.

For their final assignments, students present their ideas — including the benefits and risks they anticipate — to Kravitz, Goddard and other scientists.

High school junior Campbell Brown has an idea for an air filter that absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and turns it into a harmless product.

When he gave a speech he explained: “It will reduce the greenhouse gases in the air. The risks would be that it doesn’t work the way I want it to.

Kravitz is impressed.

“So you want to know something? It works,” Brown tells. “The waste product you get from it is baking soda, basically. Well, it works, it just can’t be shipped around now because it’s too expensive.”

Promoting climate trust

Brown is excited that his idea is something that scientists are currently studying, especially since he didn’t know much about climate change before this study.

He was hurt when he learned how humans have contributed to climate change and its effects on the world, but he says he leaves the lesson with a new hope.

“Because instead of the old generation leaving something broken for us to fix, we also get help from that generation. So, in that way, we all help each other and fix what we caused,” he says.

Emerald Yee, a senior at Milks, has been concerned about climate change for a while. You have a family member with a chronic illness that is aggravated by heat.

“So for me, I’m mostly worried [their] security when it comes to climate change and global warming,” says Yee. He says that this study has given him the tools to “think more about climate change and how we can change it and improve it not only for our generation, but also the younger generations, our brothers and sisters, or our children and grandchildren.”

For Kravitz, promoting climate optimism is a big part of this lesson. And he says hearing students’ ideas for solutions always makes him feel better.

“The good thing about seeing all these ideas come out of the classroom is that it’s not like that I can’t do it. Must be we can do it. People, when they come together, can do amazing things. And that’s what gives me hope.”