I-Search+by+Safiya

by Safiya Noel Part I - What I Know** At this very moment, we are wasting another millions of dollars burning fuel. Somewhere along the way, another iceberg in The Arctic has cracked and fallen into the water that was once frozen. Somewhere along the melting ice, a polar bear didn't make it and another generation is lost. Somewhere around the world, another country is flooded with the freezing water.Global warming has become a very interesting topic over the years. It connects to politics, economy, and science, so we all have something to do with this crisis. Movies, documents, and even some newspaper articles talk about the horror of the melting icebergs, and the always zoom in on the Arctic because that is where the water is rising. Over the last 150 years, the human population has been growing and so has the amount of pollution. This is causing the temperature to rise at a degree that isn't normal for places like the Arctic. Because of the population, we have risen the temperature of the planet higher than it "should" be, and that effects the inside and out.
 * It's Melting! It's Flooding! It's Global Warming! **

There has been small downfalls in The Arctic when it came down to temeprature, but many scientists are worried because the Arctic is having a lot of trouble coping the rising temperature that only seems to be getting worse. The earth can only take so much heat and when it comes to be too hot- like any other cold thing- the ice shelves will begin to melt. What's worse is that the consequences are unfolding right before our eyes and many people still leave it be. Animals, such as polar bears and penguins, can no longer find shelter because the ice is melting. They cannot stay in water forever and keep swimming, especially the polar bears.Without the ice, their lives are shortened and the lives of the future generations may not even come at all. Because of our actions, polar bears are now on the verge of extinction. And because of the ice shelves melting, the water will begin to rise. The Earth and dams that were built to hold hold off water can only keep so much water in place. Eventually, the water will have to spread somewhere and it will come on land. Even now, places already have started to flood or the land is dry.

Why is it that we cannot use a fuel other than fossil fuels to help us with our daily lives? Do we choose to use fossil fuels because they run 24/7? But since alternatives can store natural energy, why can't we use those? What was the first thing we did that made us a threat to this planet? Did we ruin the nature and ozone layer first? Or did we put hundreds of species to extinction first? What will we do when are consequences cannot be changed? Will we blame someone in a high seat of power like we do all the time? Or will we finally look in the mirror and ask ourselves what we did individually? Which among the damages we have done will come back to bite us the worst? Will it be the fact that sooner or later we will break the ozone layer and the sun will burn all that we know and love? Or will it be when all plants and trees wither away and we all crowd in the hospital by shortness of breath? All these questions of consequences lead up to one big one: Can we learn from our mistakes before the results hurt- not only the Earth- but us, as well?
 * Part II--What I Want to Find Out **

In this part of my story, I will begin to investigate what causes our glaciers to melt and how long we have to change. The reason I chose this topic was because it varies different ideas. It could all end in a thousand years or maybe the day after tomorrow. Either way, it will be our future generations who will have to pay the price in the end. The best part about this topic is that there are different opinions about global warming. Some want the world to change, some don't care, and others think it's a total myth. So I have a lot of aspects to cover if I want to get every part of the story of this crisis. This is only the beginning of the story, so I haven't gotten a book on the Arctic, but I can say that I want a book that will not only tell the past and present, but also predict the future. I want a book that will send me a warning that the Earth is growing the with patience and adjustment. I will soon find that book, but I was able to find a very interesting article on the Arctic. "NRDC: Global Warming puts the Arctic on thin ice." //nrdc.org//. Natural Resources Defense Council, 11.22.05. Web. 20 Apr 2010. . I actually chose this article above all others because it was a great starter to get me thinking. It let me know what was going on with the glaciers today and was predicting the future by telling me what I could do to help. I will admit, I was looking for something a bit more precise, but I thought about it and I didn't want to jump in right away. So I settled on this article; and it got me thinking of how to get deeper to the core and learn more about the details of the past, present, and future. Today, in class, I was looking through my Diigo to see if I can find any juicy info before moving to further references. I looked at an online magazine article that talks about general facts about the temperature rising: E.J, Steig. "Global Warming hitting Anartica hard." //COSMOS// January 22 2009: 1-2. Web. 21 Apr 2010. . What caught my attention was that the author of this article was predicting the future in a way that I like. The article says that, "//Any significant thaw of Antarctica could drown many coastal cities and delta regions. Bigger than Australia, Antarctica holds enough ice to raise global sea levels by 57 meters".// This quote was the key to my imagination of my game. Thought I dislike a game over, its the perfect way to end the world if the player loses. Another online magazine that I read about the Arctic on Diigo was more specific about the truth and that's why Iike it :Klein, Spencer. "Nuetrino Hunting In Anartica." //Blog spot// Feb 8 2010: 1. Web. 25 Apr 2010. . It states the fact that global warming is the human race's fault and no one else's. It hasn't only happening in the Arctic, but other places around the world. This statement helped me learn that to get the deeper story about global warming ,my future interview can be with anyone around the world, as long as the have witnessed or felt the effects of global warming. I went to the library ans was able to get 2 books and global warming and all it's glory. The first one I looked through was about viewpoints and how they are compared and contrasted, Company, H.W., Anne Price, Juliette Yaakov, John Gillespie, Catherine Barr, and James Haley. //El-Hi Textbooks & Serials in Print, 2006: Subject index, author index//. Greenhaven Press, Incorporated, 2006. 224. Print. The first thing that caught my eye was the cover; it didn't have an authors name. I looked it up by typing in the ISBN number and found out that there were multiple authors. It was one of those books that had different famous experts and they put their ideas together in one big book. I guess this was because there were different views on the issues. So, I picked up this book because part of what I need for my interview(s) is to know they different aspects I can pursue and interview people to cover those aspects. By reading this book, I can learn the different views which could, possibly, either change my view or let me see more than just the Arctic. The second book I picked up was by a famous man, Al Gore, Price, Anne, H.W. Company, H.W. Company, Information Inc, and Albert Gore. //The Horn book guide to children//. Viking Childrens Books, 2007. 191. Print. I watched his movie "An Inconvenient Truth", and I was fascinated by the amount of research he had done to figure out the present and predict the future. It wasn't until I went to the library that I realized that it was a book as well. I loved Al Gore's movie because it spoke the truth with facts, evidence, and I was able to get the message of what was happening to our world. It's because of that movie that global warming is my topic. I chose the book because I thought that if the movie was interesting, I should try the book. Also, the book had pictures to understand the facts of this global issue: the cycle in which global warming goes and how it connects to man. I haven't read these books yet, but just by looking at them, I can tell that I'm going to learn and earn a lot from them. While going through my Diigo and other website, I found a third online magazine about the effects of global warming and people's views on it. Many people have different views of this issue and global warming is like 2 people debating on the same topic. This is evidence to support __and__ go against it, as well. The article I found gave me a sense of the different reasons why people think of global warming as a serious issue, but also just a myth. There's many different sides to take as evidence for global warming and why people are for and/or against it. And if I can interview enough people to cover all those view, I can somehow combine them to make my game a lot more interesting and futuristic. The article I found was: Pielke, Jr, Roger, and Daniel Sarewitz. "Winning and Losing the Global Warming Debate." //sciencepolicy// 2010: 1. Web. 25 Apr 2010. . I liked this article because it wasn't only showing both sides of the picture, they had reasons for why they felt that way. It was a very nice article, but what was very extraordinary that the winning side still was debated. Just like global warming, it depended on how looked at it from an angle in which the side could win. It helped my learn that when I create my game, I cannot make it seem like you defeated an act of nature, but that you won by rescuing lives. I've just finished my two books about global warming and I took them back to the library. After I read these two books, I tried comparing them and the one thing I found similar was that both books started out with fossil fuels. I don't mean just star out with a sentence about fossil fuels, but they also explained what it was and what effect it had on global warming. It was almost like fossil fuels were the roots of a tree and all the effect branches out from that, problem on top of problem. After thinking it over, it came to mind that these might the perfect idea for 3 design plans because there was so many effects from that one problem alone and they were all related to global warming. But i wanted to be sure, so I got a little bit deeper in to the story of fossil fuels, which is where my interviews first came in. I knew that there were different views of global warming, those who were for it and those who were against it. It was hard to find an expert on a crisis that really had to definite answer or solution, so I decided to compare views. I first interviewed my mother, who believed that global warming was a big crisis. I chose her because she works with HRA, which is a company for domestic violence. In other words, she works with big problems in society. I asked her how she felt about global warming and the first thing that was said was that it was all of cause of fossil fuels. We have been using to much and our Earth can only reproduce and take so much of it. On the side, she talked about the effects of fossil fuels, the ozone layer, and the radioactivity that comes off of technology because that is also hurting our planet. Next, I interviewed my far, who thought that global warming wasn't true. I chose him because he never was a big talker on global warming, whenever it did come up. Usually when that happens, he doesn't really like to talk about it. I asked him how he felt and he thought it was a myth. He feels that we have being going on using fossil fuels for a while and nothing has happened to us yet, so why should we believe the scientists now? After comparing the results, I realized that they both used fossil fuels as their topic sentence, so that's when I decided that fossil fuels was the best choice for my game.
 * Part III--The Search **
 * 4-20-10**
 * 4-21-10**
 * 4-24-10**
 * 4-25-10**
 * 5-15-10**

After doing this process of investigation, I learned that there's more to global warming than what meets the eye. After interviewing people with different views of global warming, I understand why some people believe that its a myth. Even though the effects of global warming are all around us, scientists have predicted the future of parts of the earth in a matter of certain years**,** but it never happened. After hearing what both sides had to say about this crisis, even I'm thinking, why should we believe them now? The world hasn't flooded yet. But another part of my mind says that we are holding to the edge of the cliff for dear life. This crisis has a lot of different views which was why the investigation was perhaps the most fun part of the I-Search. The most significant thing that seemed to stand out in all my research was fossil fuels, which was why I decided to make my games about that. Global warming is a long,confusing chain, but somewhere along the way, we run into fossil fuels and that basically sets off most of the effects of global warming. With fossil fuels, we have pollution, and pollution equals a lot of melting and a destroyed ozone layer and a destroyed ozone layer sets off a lot of things. That's why I decided to choose fossil fuels for my game, because out of all the research I've done, the roots of the crisis are fossil fuels.  **WORK CITED** __**Internet Sources**__ __**Books**__
 * Part IV--What I Learned **
 * .**"NRDC: Global Warming puts the Arctic on thin ice." //nrdc.org//. Natural Resources Defense Council, 11.22.05. Web. 20 Apr 2010. .
 * .**E.J, Steig. "Global Warming hitting Anartica hard." //COSMOS// January 22 2009: 1-2. Web. 21 Apr 2010. 
 * .**Klein, Spencer. "Nuetrino Hunting In Anartica." //Blog spot// Feb 8 2010: 1. Web. 25 Apr 2010. 
 * .**Pielke, Jr, Roger, and Daniel Sarewitz. "Winning and Losing the Global Warming Debate." //sciencepolicy// 2010: 1. Web. 25 Apr 2010. 
 * .**Company, H.W., Anne Price, Juliette Yaakov, John Gillespie, Catherine Barr, and James Haley. //El-Hi Textbooks & Serials in Print, 2006: Subject index, author index//. Greenhaven Press, Incorporated, 2006. 224. Print
 * .**Al Gore, Price, Anne, H.W. Company, H.W. Company, Information Inc, and Albert Gore. //The Horn book guide to children//. Viking Childrens Books, 2007. 191. Print