1) In preparation for next week, read about what New York City and Central Park looked like during the Pleistocene the last Ice Age). Write a brief summary about the climate was like and this location’s history. Then conduct independent research on what New York might look like in 2050. Given what you have learned in this class and based on your research, what do you think New York’s climate will be like in 2050?
New York City is the southernmost tip of the American glacier, and many years ago New York City was also a valley that was flooded with glaciers. Glacier lobes surged down the Connecticut and Hudson river valleys in tens of thousands of years ago, then the moraine deposits formed today’s long island.
Because of the impact of global climate change, New York City’s coastline will be fully covered by flood dike dams, the Big U may have been renovated several times, and perhaps new flood control systems will be built on the original basis of the Big U. New York City’s subway transport system is likely to be completed (or soon to begin …), the government decided not to build underground transport system and began to develop and produce the bridge rail transit system on the ground. More on the platform of the city public areas like the High Line has been built well. The city’s sewer system will be considered to be fully updated, more tall buildings are built up, and many low buildings are being renovated because of the old facilities.
The future climate in New York may continue to deteriorate, and the climate will become more volatile, severe weather will continue to increase. Because climate change is a global problem, if most countries around the world cannot reach a unified solution, I think the climate will continue to deteriorate. Further changes in the climate will lead to a more unstable coastline in New York City. Four seasons will also be affected, the winter may be gradually shortened, and more warm winter phenomenon will appear, the summer will be slightly longer, the summer rainfall will be more or less.
The resource of research: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/qkkd9d/new-york-in-2050-will-be-wetter-warmer-and-more-dangerous
2) Read the following article, “Short Answers to Hard Questions About Climate Change” and write a response describing which question surprised you the most. What other, new information did you learn? Do you feel encouraged by this article? How aware do you think your friends and family are of this information?
I am surprised that a large number of people still choose not to believe in climate change, and this kind of mistrust is made under their own interests. It is like people know that a wrong behavior, but because the change will lose the benefits, so they choose to continue the error. It means that many people are concerned only with immediate interests but are ignorant of the future, which is very selfish.
I learned that climate change and human activities are inseparable, these human activities and climate formed a cycle, and changing the behavior of these activities will make people’s lives severely affected, which led to people do not want to make a change. If it does not change, climate change will continue to deteriorate; it is like a vicious circle.
I did not feel article encouraged me; these questions make me more worried contrast between humans and the climate in the future will be in what kind of state.
I do not think my family and friends know these information because we all focus on our own lives.
3 Research and read an introduction to the Sixth Extinction then visit artist Maya Lin’s project: What’s Missing : whatismissing.net. After reviewing the “About page” on this site, what is one species that you learned about on this site that has gone extinct? What did you learn on the “what you can do” page? What do you think of this site — as an artist’s project?
I found the Harlequin Frog Species in central and South America has gone extinct in 2017. There are two main reasons, the first is the destruction of human activities by habitat, and the other is because of today’s global warming and the outbreak of fungal diseases, which this disease is fatal to Harlequin Frog Species.
In the “what you can do” page, the author lists in great detail the natural and human factors that lead to the extinction of species. Such as species invasions, environmental warming, overuse of resources. This page gives me enough information to think about how people or who should I do to reduce the impact on species survival. Such as eating less meat, reducing cross-border activities, buying environmentally friendly products. This site also makes me aware of the current situation of the current species of survival, the current species extinction speed is 100 times the normal speed or more. I think I should do something to promote the diversity of protected species.
This site is designed to be very interesting and very clear. It shows the audience with a variety of information and creates a depressing and heavy atmosphere that allows people to reflect on their behavior while browsing the site. This site has successfully affected people’s psychological environment and has a positive impact, and I think this site is a very successful artwork.
