I am doing lesson plans and am looking for examples of environmental claims that do not stand up to close scrutiny.
There are more than enough examples of this related to climate change...so no climate change discussion needed, thank you though.
The idea is that I will give my class a faulty environmental claim and they have to find the weakness in the claim as a homework assignment.
For example, here is claim that does not stand up:
"The lead dust found in the soil of Gotham City can get into the groundwater and pose a human health risk through drinking water."
What is wrong with this claim? The lead dust is most certainly harmful and may have leached into the ground-water, but five minutes on the city water department web page will show that the drinking water comes from a reservoir miles away. So the route of exposure is the reason this claim is faulty, and if we want to protect people, we need to worry about airborne dust and skin contact with soil.
In another case, I encountered a claim from a chapter of the REDACTED ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANIZATION that Carbon Dioxide is linked to asthma.
Carbon dioxide is of course linked to climate change and in confined spaces can be deadly. But the claim is faulty because asthma is linked to nitrous oxides, ozone, and particulates.
Do you have any other examples?
Please let me know
Kevin
El Niño and La Niña are complex weather patterns resulting from variations in ocean temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific that are a good example of natural weather variability. Glaciations are another example of climatic variation that occurs naturally and is not related to current climate change.
El Niño and La Niña are complex weather patterns resulting from variations in ocean temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific that are a good example of natural weather variability. Glaciations are another example of climatic variation that occurs naturally and is not related to current climate change.
I assume you are suggesting that claims that the climate is NOT changing due to anthropogenic activities are readily disproven. I agree that is too easy even for undergraduates. In any event, one topic that is worth considering for your class is the impacts of certain pesticides on environment and society. For instance, it is very easy for to argue from an environmental perspective that DDT is one of the worst chemicals ever invented due to its persistence, bioaccumulation and negative effects on eggshells, etc. However, the ability of DDT to control malaria in third world countries has saved literally millions of human lives. There are many examples of this nature, which are not "dishonest claims" but represent more complex views of environment and society. This is a little different than what you seek (outright overexaggerations), but in the same vein I think and very thought provoking for undergraduates.
There is a politician in Kenya who said rains comes from God and so people should not be chased from water towers as the one who has control on the rain is God. So we got enough rains that year without the forest. I do understand that weather patterns is a global phenomenon.
What I mean that weather is global is due to movement of pressures happens globally, the warming of Indian ocean, pacific among other areas have an effect on weather in my place and your place. I think you have heard of ITCZ, the moon and the rest are not localized phenomenon. So I still think Okeyo Fred, that weather is global.
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