natural resources

Mitigating Climate Change

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Learn about the relationship between carbon dioxide emissions and climate change in this video segment adapted from Navajo Technical College. Meet Patricia Palmer, a chemistry professor, who explains that coal power plants (such as those found on and around the Navajo Nation) contribute to increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. See a visual representation of how global surface temperatures have increased during the 20th century. In addition, learn how people can use less energy to help reduce their carbon footprint and mitigate the effects of climate change.

Aviation: The Limited Sky

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This episode looks at new technologies and policies that could offset the aviation industry's substantial greenhouse gas emissions, such as Amyris Biotechnologies' new synthetic jet fuels, and Hybrid Air Vehicles' second generation of dirigible airship. To reduce fuel emissions, industry leaders like Boeing are also advocating towing planes on runways and implementing smarter air traffic control systems.

Harvesting the Wind

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In this video, discover how wind farms may be the salvation of small-town America. In the southwest corner of Minnesota - the Buffalo Ridge region - there is a productive and progressive wind industry that is not only providing clean energy, but also economic opportunity and prosperity to the local community. Dan Juhl, president of Woodstock Wind Farm, will describe the process by which he leased land to create a wind farm in the Buffalo Ridge region of Minnesota.

Measuring and Saving Water | Cyberchase

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Students learn ways to conserve water, an important natural resource, in this STEM activity from Cyberchase. In the accompanying classroom activity, they calculate how much water is wasted from a leaky faucet over time and brainstorm different ways to save water.

Extend the learning with the related Cyberchase at-home activity Create a Family Water Conservation Plan.

Follow the Water

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Ella and her dad, Mike, track the path of melting snow on a warm winter day, in this video from PLUM LANDING. They follow it out of their driveway, to a small brook, through a tunnel, and eventually all the way to the ocean. On their journey, they discover how water carries trash and pollution with it.

Sustainable Gardening | Think Garden

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This video from KET's Think Garden collection examines methods of practicing sustainable gardening. Examples explored include plant choice, companion planting, composting, water conservation, and more. Also, learn about things not to do in a sustainable garden like tilling or using pesticides or commercial fertilizers.

Yield of the Colorado

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One of the things that the Basin Project Act in '68 required was for the Secretary of the Interior to do a study. The conclusions were very interesting and they're as applicable then, as they are now. There isn't going to be enough water to go around.

Water Quality - Activism

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Individual responsibility for water quality is the key to solving the puzzle of water quality. Awareness of the problem isn't enough. It's only when that new knowledge is put into Action, that we''ll begin to see a difference in our water's quality. Change a personal practice, monitor a stream, educate a neighbor. It's up to you. You are the most important piece, when it comes to solving the water quality puzzle.

15 Years of Drought

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The West is really at the forefront of water problems in the country. A number of factors coming together. One is drought. The Colorado is now in the 15th year of drought and what we don't know is whether this is the 15th year of a 15 year drought or the 15th year of a 50 year drought. Add into that, climate change. The scientists are pretty well agreed that that's gonna have adverse consequences for the Colorado River in particular. And, population growth.

Climate Change is Shrinking the Sierra Nevada Snowpack

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Learn how climate change is shrinking the Sierra Nevada snowpack in this video from NATURE: Yosemite. The video follows members of the California Cooperative Snow Survey as they measure snow levels and discuss trends they’ve observed in 34 years of living in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. In the accompanying classroom activity, students use the engineering design process to design tools to study snowfall themselves. The teaching tips suggest that students analyze data from the California Cooperative Snow Survey.

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