Summary of the Tragedy of Commons Take Home Exam
Science
Choose A or B and everyone do C and D
A) 1) Find your own choice of website that gives CO2 or H2O footprint
information for some type(s) of industrial or agricultural goods, give the
URL,and 2) summarize the info on it, 3) say what info surprised you and 4)
compare the gms/$ or liters/$ multipliers you get from the info (you may have
to compute this from info on the site, including getting a price for the
products from somewhere) to ones you get from my Reader data tables for the
Gross Approximation used in making your footprints. 1-2 pages
OR
B) Summarize Garret Harden?s arguments in his article in our Reader, The
Tragedy of the Commons, and support or argue with his conclusions. Compare his
major points to those of Malthus, also in our Readers. 2 to 4 pages
AND EVERYONE
C) On the graphic page is presented information on the history of climate over
the last 400,000 years. This comes from ice cores drilled out of the Antarctic
Icecap. 1) Please examine the curves carefully and from the curves for CO2 and
Methane write down the maximum concentration values these gases have reached in
previous natural climate cycles (pay attention to the units, which are given
along the vertical axes; 2) what values have these reached in the very recent
past, and what dates are listed for those? How do they compare to the previous
peaks? 3) Have temperature, carbon dioxide and methane concentrations changed
faster in the rise of temperature or in the fall of it?
D) Various alternative explanations to human-caused global warming have been
offered. Choose two from the list below and explain what evidence allows them
to be confirmed or denied, and how the evidence is acquired.
a) The Sun varies in brightness and that is going on now
Takehome Pg 2
b) The shape and orientation of the Earth?s orbit varies
c) Cycles in volcanism are changing the CO2 content of the atmosphere
d) There is no global warming; the data are faked by scientists anxious for
more grant money for their research
1-2 pages. Start with this site: http://www.skepticalscience.co
references.
