Background Information
In this warm island of Singapore, many people have the habit of having the air-conditioners in their homes switched on for the whole day. However, they might not have realised that they are actually making the Earth even warmer as it is a vicious cycle. Waste of energy consumes more fossil fuels and leads to an increase of carbon dioxide emission which eventually enhances greenhouse effect and increases the temperature of the Earth.
Global climate change has become one of the most popular among the many environmental topics in recent years. It has even won the film “An Inconvenient Truth” by Al Gore the award of Oscar’s best documentary film.
To account for the global climate change, there are quite a few indirect and observational evidences. Using the Antarctic ice core data, it reflects temperature condition through inclusion of air bubble in the ice when it is formed. The current data shows that the earth is now most likely in the interglacial warm period which happen about once every 100 000 years. The temperature trend for the last millennium and century shows that the current climate is probably the warmest that it has been for at least 1 000 years and temperature has been increasing in an accelerating rate respectively. Other indicators of climate change include the rise of sea level by about 200 mm since 1880 and the decrease in Artic sea ice by 2.7% per decade.
The reasons behind climate change can be based on both natural and man-made phenomena. Several suggested natural causes of climate change include the influence of plate tectonics, orbital variability, solar variability and the change in composition of the atmosphere. However the main cause of most of the warming in the past 50 years is highly attributable to human major activities, such as industrialization and deforestation, which greatly increase atmospheric carbon dioxide and enhance greenhouse effect.
Identification of Problem
The current warming of the globe is unusual as it has been shown that Earth’s major systems are changing more rapidly than at any time in the last half million years at least. Furthermore, if warming continues unabated, the resulting climate change within this century would be unusual in geological terms. Thus this topic should be of a major concern to all Earthlings. In Singapore, people still enjoy having air-conditioners switched on, travelling in private cars, consuming huge amount of paper and plastic. Are they aware that they are contributing to the problem of global warming?
Research Questions
Are students in local universities aware of the problem of global warming and how do they respond to it? Will it be effective to inculcate the values of saving the Earth in their everyday lives?
Problem Statement
The objectives of this study are to investigate the awareness of students in local universities toward the problem of global warming and what are their views and actions to it, and explore the effectiveness of inculcating the values of saving the Earth in their everyday lives?
Purpose Statement
The objectives of this report are to inform the relevant authorities (National Environment Agency and Singapore Environment Council) of the awareness of the problem of global warming among people and their responses to it, and the likely effectiveness of inculcating the values of saving the Earth in their everyday lives.
Reasons for conducting a survey
Through the survey, people's awareness and response to global warming can be observed. It will also find out how many people are willing to contribute to saving the Earth in their everyday lives, if a proper guideline is set out. Gaining these information will allow the authorities to take relevant actions towards climate change.
Edited on 7 September 2008.
3 comments:
Dear Angel,
I can see that you have put the geography knowledge we have acquired to good use! (^.^) I will certainly say yes to your query. Yes, our Earth is dying. Although it is very sad but it is definitely true.
I guess the research question in this case is to find out to what extent do people know about the impact of their actions on climate change? It is certainly a major concern to me as an 'Earthling'. I feel that this is an interesting topic to study. People may know the consequences of overconsumption of energy but they do not consciously practice conserving energy. We can make use of this research report to find out the reasons behind the lack of efforts in saving energy consumption as well.
I have one suggestion and that is to include the objective of the report by identifying the target readers. We can discuss more in class next week!
Dear Angeline,
Yes, you have pinpointed an interesting topic, but you have yet to put it in a framework (I guess you missed my e-mail).
I'd like to see this topic refined, and then positioned within a general research question and a problem statement. You also need to elaborate on the value of the survey in your research.
Thanks!
Brad: I missed your email! Anyway, I've edited the post. It became a super long post. Hahaa.. :)
Joyce: Yeps, we can discuss more in class! And I think it would be better to not be diversified in our study. :)
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