SGC Excursion Reports Fall 2023

Excursion 1:
This excursion is on a video by the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center titled Global Warming, Rising Seas, and Extreme Weather, which is part of the series Making Sense of Climate Change: link. Bert Drake introduced some issues which will be associated with global warming as temperatures continue to rise over the next several decades or centuries. Drake explains how we know that carbon dioxide is what is causing warming, and shows examples of warming throughout the past few centuries using graphs, maps and other stats, then explains how some positive feedback loops, such as lowering albedo caused by a decrease in arctic ice cover, cause more solar intake and more rapid warming. The second half of the lecture focuses on sea level rise, where he begins by talking about Greenland’s melting glaciers, then declining snow cover, and predictions of expected sea level rise and how rising sea levels will have an effect on certain regions, highlighting that some areas are better prepared for rising sea levels than others. Drake then talks about increasing extreme weather events as a result of global warming, and notes that slowing the warming of the oceans is a priority because of their ability to retain heat. I agree with all of the points made by Drake because they reflect things that have also been taught in SGC colloquiums, and Drake presented evidence of the claims he made, citing sources like the Union of Concerned Scientists, and other highly credible sources. I assume his audience consisted of many people who weren’t previously well informed on climate change so his explanations of how we know carbon dioxide is the largest catalyst for climate change helps give his audience a basic understanding of what was to follow in the lecture, and made other points more believable. Drake’s presentation of charts, maps, graphs, and other visual aids also helped to supplement my understanding while watching, and it built credibility because they were graphs produced by accredited scientists. The way in which Drake presented his lecture reminded me of the SGC colloquium lectures in the way that the lecturer presents some information and uses visual aids and such to support the claims they make, which I found to support my learning. Drake’s presentation didn’t suffer from any logical fallacies that I could notice, because the information he was presenting was all based on research and figures that have been shown by scientists by use of the hypothetico-deductive method.

Excursion 2:
This excursion is on the video Controlling Carbon Dioxide, which is part of the Making Sense of Climate Change series by the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center: link. The lecturer Bert Drake first begins with describing some frameworks that are already in place to limit carbon release such as the Paris Agreement, then lays out the largest sources of carbon dioxide emissions, energy production, transportation, and households, and discusses a few ways that these sources could be changed to produce less carbon dioxide emissions. Drake talks about how electric vehicles have the potential to colossally lower transport emissions, and that coal plants are the largest contributors of carbon emissions in the energy production process, but highlights that coal is declining and slow introductions to renewable energy like solar and wind have been going on. Then, renewable energy production is discussed– Drake talked about how nuclear will be a necessary source of energy in the future, citing sources of skepticism but also its benefits and near zero CO2 output, then talked about other sources like wind and how wind is being acted on in Maryland, and new innovations in solar like printed solar panels. Drake also talks about biofuels as a source of energy, and how using them to produce electricity to later be used to power vehicles is a better alternative to using biofuel like ethanol to directly fuel combustion engines in vehicles. Drake ends off with carbon capture and sequestration, different ways it can be utilized, its efficiency, and examples of it already being used. I found Drake’s points convincing because they are all points that have been discussed in the SGC colloquium lectures, and he provides sources for all the data he presented, using graphs and charts to support his points. We have gone over in lecture how the largest sources of carbon emissions are energy production and industrial, and have also considered ways these sources could be accounted for, such as switches to renewable energy like those that Drake presents. Drake doesn’t suffer from any logical fallacies or failures of critical thinking, as his presentation is well put together and consists of information which is all researched and credible. Like the other lectures in this series by Drake, the format of his presentations share much resemblance to those from colloquium and the familiar format helped me understand the material better. The presentation was also structured in a way that questions that I had were answered later on in the presentation so there was no need to try and seek out the answers myself. The structure of the presentation held it together, first talking about the problem and its sources, then talking about ways that all of these things can be accounted for to help the audience understand the topic as a whole.

Last modified: 9 December 2023