A Climate Change Application

Milestone #3: Earth Science Unit

Severe Weather Event Analysis – A Climate Change Application

Milestone Summary: You will choose a severe weather event to analyze. You will act as a climate scientist, describing the science of your weather event, its possible connection to climate change, THE EARTH SCIENCE OF OUR ATMOSPHERE, factors impacting weather, the greenhouse effect, climate change, and the impacts on local communities. You will then give suggestions on how to prepare for and survive further events.

Milestone Purpose: Our atmosphere is literally all around us! This milestone will allow you to apply your course content to a real-world event that affects people in the community you chose. You will analyze and explain the earth science behind your event. In so doing, you will strengthen your knowledge base, critical thinking, and problem solving skills.

Milestone Topic: You can choose from the following categories of events to analyze. NOTE: it needs to be a real event that occurred, so you can research it and gather facts, data, and statistics on it.

· A specific hurricane (ex. Katrina, Andrew, Harvey, Mitch, etc.)

· A specific tornado (ex. The Tri-State Tornado)

· A specific heavy rain event (that could have caused flooding)

· A specific winter storm, blizzard, or polar vortex

· A specific severe thunderstorm, lightning strike, or wind event

· A specific hail storm (usually, but not always, associated with tornados)

· A specific sandstorm, fire tornado, or other unusual weather event

NOTE: do NOT pick a geological event (like an earthquake). Also, be sure you bring in discussion on the connection to climate change and the environmental justice aspect of your event (ex. with Hurricane Katrina, the people in Louisiana that were the most impacted lived in the poorest parishes that had the worst emergency preparations, aid, and access to relief funds).

Structure: Students will create a 4-5 page research paper OR a 12-15 slide PowerPoint. Follow the Formatting Guide Provided in D2L.

Make sure your project adheres to the following criteria:

· Separate title and references pages (doesn’t count in length)

· Length = NO LESS THAN 4 PAGES OR 12 SLIDES (not including title, refs, pics)!

· References = No LESS than 3 outside professional references (cited in APA style)

· Use your own words = No large quotes or cutting/pasting of text will be acceptable!

· Papers = default font types and sizes, with 1-inch margins, and double spaced.

· PowerPoint = slide text should be at least 18 font size and presentation should be professional quality.