Virtual Courseware
As part of a collaborative project between faculty members at the CaliforniaState University-Los Angeles and the National Science Foundation, theVirtual Courseware website brings together a number of thematicinstructional resources for science educators. Some of the resources includeactivities that deal with earthquakes and global warming. Within eachmodule, visitors will find a number of self-guided tutorials and explanatorymaterials for instructors to use in their classrooms. One real gem here is the 'Virtual Dating' section, as students and educators will get theopportunity to learn how geologists and archaeologists determine the ages ofrocks and ancient artifacts. The site also makes the module on earthquakesavailable in Spanish, titled “Terremoto”. With a mix of activities,assessment exercises, and instructor materials, this website will be a greatfind for science teachers working with college or high school students.
The Consultative Group to Assist the Poor
With offices in Paris and Washington, DC, The Consultative Group to Assistthe Poor (CGAP) is a consortium of 33 public and private developmentagencies working together to expand access to a variety of financialservices for the poor in the developing world. The agencies involved withthis project include The World Bank, the European Commission, and the Billand Melinda Gates Foundation. For those who are less well versed in theworld of microfinance, the “About Microfinance” section is a great place tobegin, as is its counterpart, “Key Principles of Microfinance”. Included inthe other sections (such as “Financial Transparency” and “Poverty Outreach”)are well-written briefs and reports that explain a wide range of relatedmatters, including their poverty assessment tools, microfinance regulation,and documents on how to train people in the nuances of microfinance lending.Rounding out the site is a link where visitors can offer feedback or alsojust ask questions.
Ending Oil Dependence
Concerns about the United States’ dependence on oil are nothing new, andvarious policy solutions have been around for decades. A number of scholarsand experts have been attempting to address the subject, and one recentpaper from The Brookings Institution offers a number of thoughtful ideas onthis important concern. Released in January 2007, this 25-page paper writtenby David B. Sandalow offers a number of ambitious proposals aimed atreducing oil dependency in the US. Some of his proposals will soundfamiliar, as he includes references to the inherent possibilities inwidespread adoption of biofuels, the adoption of smart growth policies, andthe potential benefits of plug-in hybrid engines. Sandalow also offers somemore specific details on how the auto fleet might be transformed over time,and also how the fuel supply might be transformed as well. It’s a thoughtfulwork, and one that will be of interest to policy analysts and others who areconcerned with this vexing issue.
Showing posts with label environment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label environment. Show all posts
From this week's Internet Scout Report
World Water Council: "In 1997, the World Water Council had its first official forum in Marrakech, and since then they have continued their work on 'critical water issues at all levels.' Some of these issues include efficient water conservation, water use management, and other relevant matters. With its compelling visual images and design, the homepage contains sections that provide information on upcoming World Water Forums and some very helpful overviews of their work. One such general overview may be found in the 'Water at a Glance' area, which provides information on the nature of freshwater resources around the globe. Persons involved in water policy and international affairs may wish to look over their online library, which includes their annual reports, synopses of materials covered in the Water Forum meetings, and papers such as 'The Right to Water: From Concept To Implementation'. It is also worth noting that many of the materials on the site are available in French and Spanish."
Links for the Day
Did Al get the science right? Salon News
"Draft Gore. He has participated in a lampoon of his defeat, has at least one web forum devoted to what might have been and may yet be, has his own web site, his own Wiki page, is an Academy Award winner, is encouraged to run by at least one major newspaper , and has numerous web sites devoted to encouraging him to run. His competion? Jeb Bush, (if there is any justice in this world, please let it be the Jeb miester), Rudy Giuliani, and John McCain. I predict a landslide of unprecedented proportions. Metafilter before ." (via Metafilter)
Cult of Personality
Vote Different?
"Draft Gore. He has participated in a lampoon of his defeat, has at least one web forum devoted to what might have been and may yet be, has his own web site, his own Wiki page, is an Academy Award winner, is encouraged to run by at least one major newspaper , and has numerous web sites devoted to encouraging him to run. His competion? Jeb Bush, (if there is any justice in this world, please let it be the Jeb miester), Rudy Giuliani, and John McCain. I predict a landslide of unprecedented proportions. Metafilter before ." (via Metafilter)
Cult of Personality
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6h3G-lMZxjo
Vote Different?
Running the Numbers
"Running the Numbers is a look at contemporary American culture through the austere lens of statistics. Each image portrays a specific quantity of something: fifteen million sheets of office paper; 106,000 aluminum cans and so on.This project visually examines the vast and bizarre measures of our society, in large intricately detailed prints assembled from tens-of-thousands of smaller photographs."
For example, above "depicts 60,000 plastic bags, the number used in the US every five seconds."
UPDATED: Newspapers in Trouble? Optimus Prime to the Rescue!
"So the NAA -- that's the Newspaper Association of America... decides it needs a literacy campaign. And what's a literacy campaign without a celebrity spokesman? Nothing! So who[m] do they pick? Optimus Prime. No, seriously. I officially declare this the end of media irony. [via]"
Talk about demographics... As far as I can tell, this ad campaign is aimed at just one age group: Tim Ryley! ;-)
UPDATED: After our discussion last night, I can't help but think that this is the one last, desperate stand of a team made up of two formerly-beloved icons of American culture, now has-beens (newspapers & transformers, that is!)
Re: "Sticky Power," plus other miscellaneous class links
- Re: Global Urbanization - "The Sound of the City"
"This year, for the first time in human history, more people will live in urban areas than rural areas. Some of the quantitative statistics are staggering. Every day in the world, 200,000 people migrate to cities. Half the new buildings in the world in the next 10 years will be built in China. Mexico City has gone from three million to 20 million. In 1950 50 million people a year crossed national borders mainly from cities - last year it was 840 million." (via Linkfilter)
- Re: Global Warming - Cool the Globe!
- Re: Bottled Water's Global "Footprint" - "The True Cost of Bottled Water"
"In summary, the manufacture and transport of that one kilogram bottle of Fiji water consumed... 849 Kilograms of fossil fuel (one litre or .26 gal) and emitted 562 grams of Greenhouse Gases (1.2 pounds). [Plus. uses] nearly seven times as much water used to make it than you actually drink! Staggering is an understatement..."
- Re: World Poverty (about recently released global poverty map)
Re: World population - KQED You Decide: Overpopulation & Chinese one-child laws produce scary results
- Re: World Diet - "Hungry Planet" - A photographer visited 24 countries and photographed what 30 different families eat during the course of a typical week... (via Yahoo! Link of the Day) At left, the US. At right, Chad.
- Re: Garrett - "Convince Me" Debate online, all the time!
:-)
"Yahoo! News" of the Day!
First of all... 3 million Muslims join mass prayer in Bangladesh seeking peace - USATODAY.com
Can't wait to see 3 million Christians do the same! :-)
Next, yesterday was a big newsday for global warming!
Can't wait to see 3 million Christians do the same! :-)
Next, yesterday was a big newsday for global warming!
- Virgin's Branson offers $25 mln global warming prize
- Pelosi: Expect House global-warming bill by July
- 'Doomsday vault' to resist global warming effects
- Exxon Says Action Needed Now to Combat Global Warming
- China says global warming in hands of wealthy nations
- Inuit accuse US of destroying their way of life with global warming
- Researchers Examining Effects of Global Warming in Antarctica
- Dutch May Build Offshore Breaker Islands in Response to Global Warming
- Dutch scientist says software can cut car fuel use
- FOX News Poll: Most Americans Believe in Global Warming
And, last but not least,
- U.S. companies prepare for bird flu pandemic
- Poll shows Arabs dislike Bush (surprise, eh?)
- and (horrors!) Students use chat lingo in class
For Jackie... finally, the end of civilization as we know it? :-)
News of the Day!
China says global warming in hands of wealthy nations
And, regarding "brain drain," Germany Agonizes Over a Brain Drain !
And, regarding "brain drain," Germany Agonizes Over a Brain Drain !
UPDATED: Lots of Global Warming in Today's "Yahoo! News" (and More Language Fun!)
- U.N. climate panel blames people for global warming
- Seas rising faster than U.N. predicts: study
- US thinktank offering cash to dispute UN climate panel: report
- White House rejects mandatory CO2 caps
- UPDATED: Global warming to continue for centuries
- UPDATED: Reports from a Warming Planet - Yahoo! Picks for January 30, 2007
And more "English Police" fun: 100 Most Often Mispronounced Words & Phrases!
UPDATED: Class-Related News of the Day
- NATO, U.S. neglect "psychological warfare": report - Yahoo! News
- Panel hears climate 'spin' allegations - Yahoo! News
- UPDATED: Regarding Homeland Security, hoaxes and bridges...
More than 10 blinking electronic devices planted at bridges and other spots in Boston threw a scare into the city Wednesday in what turned out to be a publicity campaign for a late-night cable cartoon... Highways, bridges and a section of the Charles River were shut down and bomb squads were sent in before authorities declared the devices were harmless... (more at Boston cops make arrest in devices ploy - Yahoo! News)
And from last night's discussion... My bad, there were only 6 imams thrown off the plane: 6 imams removed from Twin Cities flight - Boston.com
Other Links from Today's Topics
Johnson & I both were very pleased with ya'll's great work tonight! In addition, I think particular kudos are in order for the well-moderated discussion, and for those great moments when you took an angle from the article and then fully developed it with your own spin toward your own personal interests and expertise. I look forward to seeing even more of that!!
Here are some additional links that you might also find interesting...
- KQED You Decide: Ethnic Profiling: An interactive debate! (Garrett should love it... It automatically argues the opposite of whatever position you take!!)
- The Ziggurat of Zealotry - New York Times: A new model for Islamic militarism?
- Bird Flu Monitor: Up-to-the-minute news on developments related to Avian Flu.
- Doctors without Borders: This Nobel-Peace-Prize-winning organization may be doing a lot to address the AIDS epidemic in Africa, but they also do many things besides! Like, for example...
Also in the news today... Millions to go hungry, waterless: climate report - Yahoo! News.
Stormy Weather!
"A Special Moment in History" talked about "Stormy Weather." Speaking of which...
ExtremeInstability.com discovers YouTube: Clouds darker than any I've ever seen, except in my worst nightmares... (and I've lived in a semi-tropical climate!) As one commenter put it, there's just "something about man meeting nature, and nature kicking his sorry ass."
(Personally, I like the odd moments of the local dog the storm chasers have to rescue at the beginning of the first video, the surreal birds singing and crickets chirping in the second, and the short-lived rainbow with a tornado in one of the last ones...)
NOTE: They're not kidding about the language in the last two videos!
Plus, in the "Gross News of the Day," Huge python makes a meal of 11 guard dogs! (Blech!!)
News: "Affluenza - Rampant consumerism erodes us"
Not that 240 people necessarily constitute a scientific sample, but here's some food for thought in today's news anyway... :-)Plus... (speaking of consumerism!) at right, a t-shirt for Jackie (and Johnson!)
:-)
Personally, I like the one at left myself!
Then, in environment news, talk about run-off: Sex-change chemicals in river that runs through US capital!
Lastly but not leastly, "WHAT DO WE CARE ABOUT? On a day when 55 people were killed by bombs in Iraq, the most read story on BBC news was news of a duck who survived gunshot wounds and two days in the fridge. The story was also more popular than Hillary Clinton's announcement to run for President in 2008."
State of the Planet
State of the Planet: "A graphical look at what we've done and where we're going..."
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