Mission Blue- Dr. Sylvia Earle and Her TED Prize Wish

CBGS loves TED.  On TED, we can explore every aspect of our inherent nerdiness  from science to the arts and everyone thinks it’s cool.  My personal hero is Dr. Sylvia Earle and in 2009 she won a TED prize. 

             “The TED Prize is awarded to an extraordinary individual with a creative and bold vision to spark global change. By leveraging the TED community’s resources and investing $1 million into a powerful idea, the TED Prize supports one wish to inspire the world”. 

You can view Dr. Earle’s talk about her prize and her TED wish at the link below. 

http://www.ted.com/talks/sylvia_earle_s_ted_prize_wish_to_protect_our_oceans

On November 25^th, we will be watching the culmination of Dr. Earle’s TED prize wish, manifest in the new documentary “Mission Blue” which you can now find on Netflix.  But don't watch it yet!  wait for the 25^th!

            I would like for you to watch Dr. Earle’s TED talk first and understand where she is coming from, and I want you to learn a bit about my hero as well. 

Dr. Sylvia Alice Earle, formally known as “Her Deepness”,  was born in 1935 in New Jersey (she is 79 for you non-mathematicians) and was raised as a regular middle class kid attending public school etc.  She attended Florida State University for her undergraduate degree, and received her Master’s and Doctorate from Duke University.  She has been a National Geographic Explorer in Residence, she was Time magazine’s first “Hero for the Planet” and former Director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.  More impressive though, is that she has her own LEGO figure and she was tapped as a Knight of the Golden Ark in the Netherlands.  I do not have enough space to outline all of her fame here.  The most amazing thing I feel about Dr. Earle, is that she is utterly fearless in the face of all scary things.  She holds a record for the deepest solo dive to 381m (1250ft) and has faced innumerable sharks, killer whales, bone crushing pressures, angry fisherman, and gavel wielding politicians all with indomitable style.  This tiny soft-spoken woman has changed the way we look at the ocean.   I invite you now to learn all that you can about her, to be inspired and to think about the idea that one regular person CAN make a difference when they abandon fear and follow their passion. 

I hope that you enjoy learning about Dr. Earle and her quest and if you do, pay her back by sharing this knowledge with others.   

King Tides and High Water

Coastal Flooding the New Normal

In ME II we have been studying the effects of storm surge flooding and have been graphing predicted and observed tides to see how hurricanes can flood our region.  Hurricanes are more acute phenomena that we really don't face too often.  The tide, however, is a relentless daily force that is a chronic stressor on coastal communities especially in our region with anomolously high sea level rise rates.  The current news is all about so-called "King Tides", which are the result of the superposition of multiple factors increasing water levels to extreme heights.  Read the article to see what scientists are concerned about for our future, it is becoming a critical issue in our region and one that will cost our communities millions (probably billions) to respond to eventually.

Cool Marine Science

Okeanos Explorer Current Mission

Check out the cool live video of the current Okeanos Explorer Mission!  Cool sea creatures!

Continental Drift History

Continental Drift was a great advance in geologic thinking of the dynamic nature of Earth.  It was also widely dismissed and its author, Alfred Wegener, died before he was vindicated as one of the fathers of modern geology.  Read the article linked below from NASA's Earth Obervatory to enhance your understanding of the history of this seminal idea in Earth geophysics.
Alfred Wegener and Continental Drift

Earth Day! America the Beautiful?

       In 1970, Senator Gaylord Nelson proposed that April 22nd be set aside as a day to celebrate the planet we rely on.  The first Earth Day was a massive movement of American citizens young and old who were fed up with dirty air, polluted water and generally trashed America.  The outpouring of enthusiasm for Earth Day and the public disgust with the sad state of the American environment resulted in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) being created shortly thereafter, by Republican President Richard Nixon.
      Today Earth Day is a global day of action and education  celebrated in 192 countries by 100's of millions of people that calls to awareness our dependence on our Earth, and our responsibilities as stewards of the environment.
      What will you do today for Earth Day?  Will you celebrate for one day, or will everyday be an Earth day in your life?  I am going to share Earth Day with the 3rd graders at Middlesex Elementary, where we are going to think about how kids affect the environment, what we can do smarter and better to be more sustainable.  Here are some of the ideas I am sharing today:
1.  DON'T LITTER- There is an epidemic of trash on our roadsides right now, go pick it up!!!  Don't put it there in the first place!
2.  REDUCE- Buy products with limited packaging, recyclable packaging, or best- no packaging.  Buy less in general, studies show it is not stuff that makes people happy, it is doing and being together.
3.  REUSE- Buy products that have multiple uses, tupperware instead of plastic bags, resusable grocery bags, a steel water bottle, a travel coffee mug- all of these things cut down on waste production!  Send unwanted clothes, toys, household items to a thrift store.
4.  RECYCLE- When you do use stuff, recycle it!  Newspapers, old school papers, soda cans/bottles, milk jugs, cardboard, and on and on.   Please recycle batteries appropriately!
5.  BUY GREEN PRODUCTS- My favorite green product are our rechargeable batteries!!!  You can literally use them for years!  This saves tons of money and the toxic chemicals that go into batteries don't end up in landfills.
6.  FIND GREEN OPTIONS- Our family buys green energy from the electric company for just a little extra each month.
7.  BE CONSERVATIVE- Turn off the lights!  Take short showers!  Always do a full load of laundry!
8.  START A COMPOST PILE-  This is so easy and reduces the number of trips to the dump.  Place veggie scraps, coffee grounds, stale bread, leaves, grass clippings in a compost pile for great soil.
9.  EAT LOCAL & SUSTAINABLE- Food is our greatest environmental threat because we all eat and we eat so much.  Buy local and support your farmers, when you can buy organic.  Eat low on the food chain- veggies and fruit keep you and the planet healthy.  Avoid foods from harmful, unsustainable sources like PALM OIL and farmed shrimp.
10.  CARE- The simple act of caring will make you a better citizen of Planet Earth.  When you care, you act, you think about your choices, their impacts and your responsibility as a steward of this Earth.

Oyster Immigration?

Crassostrea ariakensis

Please read.

Water Quality and the Chesapeake Bay

Chesapeake Bay Water Quality reading

Please read this article carefully and take notes on the topics included.

When you have finished the first, go onto the next page to learn about the other important estuaries in the U.S. and the threats to water quality that exist pretty much everywhere in America.

Chesapeake Sisters
Please read this article carefully and take notes on the topics included.

What is Dioxin?

What are PCB's?

What is Kepone?

The Monster in the James

Arduino Intro sketch

Arduino Intro sketch

Ms. Beam's Arduino Drive Folder

Arduino notebook

Arduino notebook

Arduino info

Link to Ms. Beam's Drive

CRAB Instructions

Dear Seniors, I need you to submit your abstract to me for publication in the CRAB.  Follow the instructions below and submit asap electronically to my email.  Thanks!

***Each student should have a 1 pg (maximum) double spaced abstract.  Margins should be 1 inch on all sides.  Title should be centered and bold, underneath that the student's name with a superscript containing a BG, W, or G to signify campus.  Under that, the word "Abstract" in bold.  In the past I have either assigned abstracts to categories, or if you have a specific category the abstract should be listed under that is fine too.  Formatting gets difficult for getting these in, so it's probably just best to list the category next to the word "abstract" and I will move and abbreviate as necessary.  Also, I need an asterisk next to the student's name to signify they were a ribbon winner.  I will change that into the correct symbol when I format.

Each abstract should be saved individually with the following naming convention: LastName FirstInitial Campus, so mine would be Smith B Warsaw.  If you can drop these all into a single folder for your campus, that makes things easier for me in terms of organizing and alphabetizing the final product.  I've attached a sample of both a ribbon winner, and a non-ribbon winner for you to see formatting.  

21st Century Thinking

D.C. Cleaning Up Stormwater

One think I hope that students learn here is that there are many modern solutions to old problems, and that we do have the technology to solve many, if not most, of our really pressing environmental problems.  The issue we face more often now days is not "can we" but "will we".  If you could have better water quality, resulting in healthier fisheries, revitalized coastal communities, healthier families, and beautiful ecosystems- would you invest your tax dollars in those efforts?  My bet is that many would, if it were proposed to them in that way.  Sadly, much of what we do now is just repair and band-aid failing 1950's solutions which costs much more in the long run, when a large up front re-engineering is really the best course of action.  In the article attached, our Nation's Capitol is leading just such and effort to re-engineer the ante-bellum sewerage system into a state of the art storm water ready system, that will change the ecological course of the Potomac River, a major tributary of the Chesapeake Bay.  These efforts will have a real and meaningful impact on our water quality.  It will cost a lot of money, but the return on investment is a clean river, vital with life, invigorating the community and making it a better place to live.  Now who doesn't want that?

VCU Science Symposium Panel Discussion

Ethics of Animal Research article

Dear CBGS Students- This year at our annual VCU Science Symposium on March 15, we will be having a panelist discussion regarding the ethical issues surrounding research on live animals.  This is a very contentious issue in science and one about which pretty much everyone has an opinion.  Your teachers would like you to read the article linked above, and do some thinking about how you feel about this issue.  We would like for you to write one to two pages in your journal about the issues presented in the article and also to jot down 2-3 questions you would like to submit to the expert panel who will discuss some of the submissions at the Symposium.  Your journal article and questions will be graded and count in your Biology and Chemistry classes.  Seniors, we ask that you also read the article, but as you already have a lot to do for that day, you do not have to do the written assignment, feel free to submit questions if you wish.  Okay?  Questions are due no later than 2/14, entire assignment 2/28.

To submit your questions electronically click the link, then under the "File"menu, select "make a copy", after you have made a copy, save it as your last name, and then fill out the form.  To save as your name, just click on the file name at the top and overwrite the file name.  Good luck!!!
VCU Symposium Animal Research Question Submission

Why I HATE Palm Oil

Union of Concerned Scientists- Palm Oil Plea
It is really hard to describe how I feel about palm oil.  There do not seem to be appropriate adjectives for my utter disgust and disdain for this horrific product.  Palm oil to me is the embodiment of all that is horrible about man's disregard for nature.  Palm oil itself is an incredible substance that makes food taste great and a good source for biofuel, it enables mega-corporations to reap massive profits and hook the public on a new source of addictive fat.  The bottom line is that we have sold out Mother Nature and some of Earth's most magnificent forests and creatures so that we can have margarine that is solid at room temperature and cookies that have a rich, moist fat that is cheap.  Are all of our ethics for sale to our taste buds?
    The important thing to remember in this epic fat struggle is that it was not always this way.  Prior to WWII, lard was the saturated fat of choice.  If you study the nutritional analysis, you will find that lard has a lot of positive nutritional qualities and if eaten in moderation, as with all fats, can be part of a healthy diet.  During WWII, lard was commandeered by governments for the manufacture of glycerin for munitions and became so expensive that an alternative- hydrogenated vegetable oil was born.  Really it was the combination of history, food science, and 1970's diet fads that discredited lard and promoted Crisco and oleo margarine type products instead.  (McDonalds used to fry their french fries in lard until the late 70's!)  Enter the 21st century, when it is discovered that hydrogenated oils lead to the formation of free radicals in the body, so called "trans fats" are bad for you.  Another hysteria ensues and trans fats are banned.  What replaces them?  Palm oil.  True palm oil is not a trans fat, it is a saturated fat, plant lard, I like to call it.  This is the kind of fat that clogs your arteries and gives you heart disease, but I guess that's okay.  At the end of the day, my hope is that we can return to our traditional lard, butter and old time fats, which we produce anyway and we know their ills, and renounce palm oil altogether.  THE ONLY WAY this can happen, is an educated consumer outright rejecting this "blood" oil and a decision on the part of the public to hold corporations accountable for their impact  on the environment globally. What will you decide?    Here endeth the lesson.

Sophomores- Sea Level Rise- So Many Questions!

Rising Waters, How fast, How far?
In our study of sea level rise, it is really important for us to acknowledge what we DO NOT know.  Very often science is taught as a series of laws, truths, facts and unquestionables (gravity IS holding you in your seat right now, we needn't worry about that one), but it is really what we DO NOT know, that drives scientific inquiry.  Sea level undoubtedly does change, and it changes dramatically.  Water becomes sequestered in glacial ice and sea level lowers by many meters, and when those glaciers give up their water through melting, the water re-enters the hydrologic cycle and ultimately gets deposited in the ocean.  Adding mass to the ocean increases its volume which in turn increases its level relative to land.  Easy right?  Why then, do we not all agree that this is occurring nor can we agree on the rate?  The short answer is- it's not that simple.
     Please read the linked article above from Yale 360, and think about the debate that is raging among scientists, and then think about how the non-scientists might react to this lack of certainty.  In a 1-2 page essay, summarize the main points of the article, be specific, and then think about a few questions.  Are there people who might exploit this scientific uncertainty?  Are there people who need to convince the public to believe the future projections to protect their life and property?  What should our government do to prepare and protect us in light of an uncertain future or should we just let homes fall in the sea and not prepare?  Finally, how does the knowledge that you have gained affect your perception and decision making- are you a better prepared citizen of future Earth than most?

POLAR VORTEX! Brrrrrrrr!

Dear Students,  Contrary to popular belief, this is not an impromptu winter break!  Rather, I think it is a great time to get caught up on all of that back work that has been piling up :)   To that end, I would like to remind you of what you could/should be doing in some of your free snow day time, when you are not sledding, throwing snowballs or sleeping.

Seniors- My friends your senior project is here and it is soon due.  The VJAS deadline is the end of February and your paper needs to be perfect way before then.  You should right now be graphing, writing and sending me drafts that I can edit, I welcome you to call me at home and discuss any issues you have, we can get a lot done in this down time.

Juniors- You have several projects you should be working on:
I.  Research project proposal.  I gave you a short page to fill in with the big picture idea, proposed method, hypotheses, etc.  GET THIS DONE!!!
II.  Mr Hudson's ENSO project- this was not a big project, remember 3 slides, quick discussion of global regional impacts of the El Nino Southern Oscillation.
III.  NOSB movie contest on Ocean Acidification- make your teacher ecstatically happy and enter this contest! :)

Sophomores- Hey guys!  You have it easy, enjoy it while you can!  I would like for you to go to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's periodical Oceanus, Oceanus Online magazine and do a science literacy article on something you read in there.  If you want to get ahead of the game, you can choose another article from another source and do two!

I appreciate how hard you guys always work, and you can use this time to get some stuff done in a more leisurely, thoughtful way and still relax and catch up on your Dr. Phil episodes.  Hope you are all warm and cozy- SB

Mr. Hudson's ENSO Class Links

http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/enso/
http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tao/elnino/impacts.html
http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/enso/enso.html
http://www.elnino.noaa.gov/impacts.html
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/ensostuff/ensofaq.shtml#GLOBALimpacts
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/ensostuff/states/states.html
http://www.nc-climate.ncsu.edu/climate/patterns/ENSO.html
http://iri.columbia.edu/climate/ENSO/societal/impact/

ENSO Physics

ENSO Really cool physics
Even though I am lousy at the math, I really love Physics.  I especially love physical oceanography, and I think everyone who learns about it just has to agree that it is cool.  In our study of global ocean surface circulation and ocean/atmosphere interaction, we have seen lots of relationships on very large scales.  In our study of the El Nino Southern Oscillation it is key for you to get a little lesson in the global physics of Rossby and Kelvin waves.  Please go to the link above and read through this website, more instruction will follow.....

ENSO video   here's a video, that always helps :)