Google Earth Resources

Hey guys, make sure to download Google Earth and install it on your computers. We'll be using it during the class to look at different areas we'll be studying. Here is a link to a BIO 113 lab that uses Google Earth to look at deforestation in Earth's biodiversity hotspots. It has a lot of good resources for getting started with Google Earth and seeing what it can do. Check out the parts starting under "Democratization of GIS" and "Exercise 1". Enjoy!

Hi Folks, Here's a short note on models used to estimate global warming. We'll be discussing them later in the course. Jim Curran

http://info.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/hWhv0BfgYX0Ch0tje0EM

Easter Island and Basic Climate Change Resources

Hey guys, as we move forward into issues dealing with environmental change I thought it would be good for you to have access to the raw data. The NOAA Paleoclimate Program has a great site that gives overviews of all the kinds of proxies we use to infer past climates, as well as the data and reconstructions of past climate themselves, so you can look at them. A lot of the very same data that the scientists who Diamond talks about in Collapse used are housed on the site. There are also informational areas about issues like global warming, etc. I think you'll have fun learning about this stuff.

Check out this cool pollen viewer for past tree species distributions. You can see the glaciers, the old coastlines, and how the trees migrated in response to climate change.

Now, for Easter Island, PBS has a good general resource for exploring the island. And, here are the Google Earth KMZ files for Easter Island that you saw in class.

Welcome!

Hey guys, throughout the semester we'll use this blog to keep each other posted on interesting articles and ideas we come across. We'll all be able to share comments as well.