Using “An Inconvenient Truth” to improve students’ critical thinking skills <Worksheets>

(A) Activities before watching the film:

1. a) Brainstorming about the concepts of “global warming” in groups of 4. Record them below.

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Using “An Inconvenient Truth” to improve students’ critical thinking skills <Worksheets>

(A) Activities before watching the film:

1. Study the information in the column “Arguments of the skeptics and objectors” of Table 2 (P.14-18). Collect relevant information and jot down key points in the following box.

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Using “An Inconvenient Truth” to improve students’ critical thinking skills <Worksheets>

Arguments of the Skeptics or Objectors Arguments of Gore in “An Inconvenient Truth” Your Personal View

Temperature is not increasing continuously

We should investigate the pattern and the speed of temperature rise. In fact, increase in temperature in the 20th century was not continuous. It rose mainly in two periods - 1910 to 1945 and 1976 to 2000. All those studies which show an increase in global temperature are not representative and have bias because most of the measurements are taken at weather stations in urban areas. Normally, they are warmer than rural areas. These weather stations are also located primarily on land, and most are in the Northern Hemisphere.

Temperature is increasing

Rising amount of CO 2 may notcause temperature increase

In the past 135 years, carbon dioxide increased only 20 percent. This increase coincides with the start of the industrial revolution. As a result, some scientists claimed that human beings should be responsible for the rising amount of CO2. According to Kenneth Watt of the University of California at Davis, increasing level of carbon dioxide will cause increase in temperature. This will increase the evaporation of tropical oceans and lead to an increase in condensation of clouds at high elevations. Cloud cover then blocks sunlight from heating the earth with a cooler globe as a result.

Human beings should bare the responsibility of global warming

B io d iversity in regions of high elevations and latitude s is higher than before

Peter M. Vitousek’s research discovered that the biodiversity in regions of high elevations and latitudes were higher than those in the past under the effect of global warming. Well-publicized examples are the migration of robins to Alaska and the dog salmons to the Arctic Ocean. In the past, these regions were too cold. They turn to be better habitats for creatures with the effect of global warming. Thus, global warming increases the number of species and habitats of living things

Global w arming leads to lower biodiversity

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Using “An Inconvenient Truth” to improve students’ critical thinking skills <Worksheets>

Arguments of the Skeptics or Objectors Arguments of Gore in “An Inconvenient Truth” Your Personal View

in these regions which enhances biodiversity and reducing the risks of species extinction.

I ncreasing amount of glaciers in some regions

Although some researches show glaciers are melting, Ola Johannessen (a scholar in Norway) pointed out in his research that glaciers at the inland of Greenland were growing.

Global warming has led to the melting ofglaciers in the Arctic and Antarctic a

Increasing amount of solar radi ation leads to global climate change

A study by Swiss and German scientists suggested that increasing amount of solar radiation was responsible for global climate change. Dr Sami Solanki, the director of the renowned Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Gottingen of Germany, discovered that the Sun was at its strongest over the past 60 years. More solar radiation is released and affects global temperature. The Sun is now in a changing state. It is brighter than it was a few hundred years ago and this brightening started relatively recently - in the last 100 to 150 years.

Human beings should be responsible for global warming

Large-scale increase of pest after using pesticides for a long period of time

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FA0) discovered the massive increase of antibiotic pest after using pesticides for long term. The research showed there was an increase from 50 types of antibiotic harmful insects in the 1950s to 552 types in the beginning of 1990s. In the late 90s, the number increased to 900.

G lobal warming leads to large-scale increase of pest

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Using “An Inconvenient Truth” to improve students’ critical thinking skills <Worksheets>

Arguments of the Skeptics or Objectors Arguments of Gore in “An Inconvenient Truth” Your Personal View

In addition, changes of land uses also increase the number of harmful insects.

No change in the frequency of cyclones globally over the past thirty - five years

Peter Webster found that there was no change in the frequency of all tropical storms and hurricanes over the past 35 years globally. Although he discovered an increase in the frequency of Category 4 and 5 hurricanes, there was no proven link between global warming and hurricanes.

Ris ing ocean temperature causes stronger hurricanes

Altering d ry and wet periods periodically

Analysis of climate data from Africa, Asia, and Europe fails to prove the linkage between global warming and drought. Dry and wet periods have changed during periods of warming and cooling for centuries.

Global warming makes droughtsmore severe and frequent

Increasing number of p olar b ear s in e astern part of Arctic

Polar Bears are at risk of extinction

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Using “An Inconvenient Truth” to improve students’ critical thinking skills <Worksheets>

Arguments of the Skeptics or Objectors Arguments of Gore in “An Inconvenient Truth” Your Personal View

Hmmm. So (a biologist) discovered that global warming did not lead to the reduction in the population of polar bears at the Arctic Circle adjacent to east Canada. Studies showed that in the Davis Strait area (the part of Arctic Circle near east Canada), the size of one group of polar bears had grown from about 850 in the mid-1980s to about 2,100 now.

Table 2

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Two Properties of Gore:A 10,000-square-foot, 20-room, eight-bathroom house, with a swimming pool in Nashville, TennesseeA 4,000-square-foot house in Arlington, Virginia.

Using “An Inconvenient Truth” to improve students’ critical thinking skills <Worksheets>

(B) Activities when watching the film:

1. With reference to column one of Table 2, summarise briefly in column 2 what Al Gore claims in the film about each of these issues.

(C) Activities after watching the film:

1. After watching the film, evaluate the arguments of both sides about the issues in Table 2 and then express your own views on the issues. Complete column 3 of Table 2.

2. Some people have uploaded many comics related to Al Gore onto the Internet after he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 so as to express their opinions. Search about Al Gore. How do you interpret the following comics? Think and share with your classmates.

Comic A

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An inconvenient house

You’re feelingwarmer

£50,000-£85,000 per speechHold stock options of Google (worth £15 m)Earn £4m by selling books

&

Using “An Inconvenient Truth” to improve students’ critical thinking skills <Worksheets>

Comic B

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Forgive me for buying a private car, please!

Band Itinerary:

-Private jet to London-Received at airport by four Hummer limos

-Perform at Live Earth Concert to increase public awareness of global warming

Using “An Inconvenient Truth” to improve students’ critical thinking skills <Worksheets>

Comic C

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