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Place-based Activities: Engaging educational projects for community and school
  • Place-based activities
    • Educational research on placed-based activities >
      • Educational research related to integrated activities
      • Educational research related to meaningful activity
      • Educational research on learning through experiential activities
      • Educational research related to learning in social environments
      • Educational research on problem based approaches
      • Educational research related to Active Citizenship
    • How to include examples of your place-based activity
  • How to get started
    • Establishing community relationships
    • Examples of schools that have started community projects
    • Examples of schools that have worked with large scale projects
    • Start-up resources: people, information and tools
  • Types of Place-Based Activities
    • Do It Yourself school projects >
      • School projects centred on social justice and meeting community needs >
        • Examples of projects related to community housing
      • Building community gardens >
        • Garden links to community
        • Garden: Your school location considerations >
          • The climate of your school garden
        • Composting organic materials >
          • Building a school composter for a school garden
        • The resources you have for your school garden
      • Building Shelters to Meet Community Needs >
        • Housing for humanity projects
      • Making a Community Video
    • Activities that monitor environments >
      • Monitoring Natural Environments >
        • Terrestrial environments >
          • MUC Key
          • Forest structure analysis
          • Tree studies
          • Ground Cover Analysis
          • Fine and Course Woody Debris Analysis
          • Dendrochronology
          • Carbon Sequestering
          • Analysis of Forest Soils
          • wildlife habitat, wildlife trees
          • Forestry Field Notes
        • Aquatic environments >
          • Hydrology Studies >
            • Rivers and Streams
            • Lakes and Wetlands
            • Ground Water and Springs
          • Water quality studies >
            • Aquatic invertebrates
            • Paleoliminology
            • Water Chemistry >
              • Water temperature
              • Water Turbidity
              • Water pH
              • Water Dissolved Oxygen
              • Nitrates in water
              • Water conductivity
        • Marine environments >
          • Intertidal monitoring >
            • Intertidal monitoring >
              • Intertidal data sheets
          • Intertidal populations
          • Sub tidal monitoring
        • Soil environments >
          • Soil Analysis
        • Snow and Ice environments
        • Wildlife Studies >
          • GPS Eco-Cache
          • Wildlife Scavenger Hunt
        • Invasive plants and animals
        • Human impacts
      • Monitoring built environments >
        • Monitoring the urban landscape
        • Monitoring urban waste management
        • Monitoring urban transportation
        • Monitoring urban encroachment on natural environments
    • Community Action projects >
      • School projects that reduce barriers
      • A comprehensive community planning process
      • Involvement in specific community issues
      • Involvement in a "big" community topic
      • Examples of schools leading a community action
      • Schools encourage community consensus
    • Activities that resonate with community culture >
      • Reinforcing cultural values and traditions
      • Activities that explore cultural roots
      • Exploring cultural ties to the land
    • Arts and Community Activities >
      • Community Activity through Performance
      • Community Activity through Visual Arts
      • Community Activity through the Written Word
    • Place-based activities that explore big picture topics >
      • Activities Studying Ocean Health
      • Energy and Our Ecological Footprint
      • Activities that examine sources of energy
      • Activities that explore climate change
      • Activities that examine human health
      • Activities that examine global distribution of wealth
  • Resources and tools
    • Resources and tools that schools use in a variety of DIY projects >
      • Resources for school gardening
    • Tools and resources needed for monitoring natural environments
    • Tools and resources needed for monitoring built environments
    • Resources and tools that help schools start community projects
    • Tools and resources that can be used in generating a community involvement
    • Tools and resources that help schools encourage community consensus
    • Resources and tools that help schools take a lead in community action
  • Contact us and comments
    • Blog for Placebased Basics

Climate Change

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was created in 1988 at the request of the UN member governments. Thousands of scientists and other experts contribute to publishing special reports on topics relevant to the implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. These collectively recognized a human role in climate change largely through the emission of four greenhouse gases. This led to an international treaty that acknowledges the possibility of harmful climate change. Implementation of the UNFCCC led eventually to the Kyoto Protocol.  The Kyoto Protocol was adopted on 11 December 1997 and was bought into force on 16 February 2005. As of September 2011, 191 states have signed and ratified the protocol. The United States signed but did not ratify the Protocol and Canada withdrew from it in 2011. Other United Nations member states which did not ratify the protocol are Afghanistan, Andorra and South Sudan.
Under the Kyoto Protocol, 37 industrialized countries and the European Community, made up of 15 states, commit themselves to limit or reduce their emissions of four greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulphur hexafluoride) and two groups of gases (hydrofluorocarbons and perfluorocarbons).


The United States Environmental Protection Agency provides a broad description of climate change.  This may be a good starting point for discussion. T
he following AMS ( American Meteorological Society) provides a balanced description of global climate changes.