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.