UCSB Al Gore Ted Talk & Documentary About New Technologies Discussion

I’m working on a environmental science question and need guidance to help me study.

Hello everyone,

For this class activity you can choose to either watch the “Merchants of Doubts” movie, or watch two short documentaries on Youtube. This will give everyone an opportunity to choose if you would like to pay for the video or not.

We will not have Zoom class on this day.

Option 1:

In this class activity, you will watch the documentary called “Merchants of Doubts”. Due to the copyright issue, we cannot show this movie on ZOOM. You will need to purchase this movie on Amazon.com:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B00YO2IC3W/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r (Links to an external site.)

You can rent it for 3.99 or buy it for 12.99 (the price may change a little in different weeks).

Answer the questions below:

1. In the movie, they mentioned about the case on whether or not “nicotine” is addictive, and the law suits with tobacco companies, please explain how this is related to the current issue of climate change.

2. What do you learn from the movie, about scientists that claim that global warming is not real, or about warming is beneficial?

3. What is the analogy of “watermelon” referring to?

4. What did you learn about the “climate debate” that TV channels usually host?

5. Anything you want to comment about this movie? What is the most unforgettable part in your opinion?

Option 2 (Please complete BOTH videos below):

You will be watching a TED talk and a short documentary in this seminar. Links to videos are included below. Both videos are free to watch on Youtube.

PART I: Questions on Al Gore Ted Talk

1. What happened to the Arctic Sea Ice from 1980 to 2005? Can you describe the change based on the what Al Gore said? (1 point)

2. Al Gore talked about the temperatures on Venus and Earth. Remember in previous classes, we also compared the temperature between Venus and Earth. Which planet has higher surface temperature? Could you explain why? (2 point)

3. How does Al Gore describe about the view from the politicians on remediating climate change in United States? (1 point)

4. For the very famous graph of atmospheric CO2 measurements, do you remember where it is taken (what location)? (1 point)

TED: Al Gore (2008): New thinking on the climate crisis (480p) (Links to an external site.)

PART II: Questions on a documentary about new technologies

5. Which one is more cost effective for producing ethanol: corn or sugar cane?

6. Using ethanol produced from sugar cane, one can reduce the total CARBON FOOTPRTINT by up to ______ than using gasoline.

7. What new technology are scientists developing at NOKIA to help drivers select more efficient driving routes in the future?

8. What do scientists learn from “school of fish” to save energy for long-haul trucks?

9. How does the “Sun Beam Down” prototype system work at Abu Dhabi?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ki5fX9M7JY (Links to an external site.)