Category: Global Systems Science
Online curriculum books for high school science pertinent to key societal issues
EC6C. 2002–2008 Carrying Capacity
Staying current for Chapter 6 Articles from 2002–2008 Stay current index page for Chapter 6 { Ecosystem Change Contents } 2008 Fall. Delta Blues. By Barry Yeoman, OnEarth. Excerpt: On this brisk, cloudless day, Tom Zuckerman and I are driving to his duck-hunting club on Rindge Tract, one of the low-slung rural islands that form the nucleus […]
EC5C. Stay Current—Carbon in the Biosphere
Staying current for Chapter 5 { Ecosystem Change Contents } 2025-06-04. Rivers are leaking ancient carbon back into the atmosphere. By Madeleine Cuff, New Scientist. Excerpt: Rivers around the world are leaking ancient carbon back into the atmosphere. The finding has taken scientists by surprise and suggests human activities are damaging the natural landscape far more […]
EC4C. Stay Current—Changes in the Global System
Staying current for Chapter 4 { Ecosystem Change Contents } See also Staying Current for: GSS Climate Change chapter 8, Losing Biodiversity chapters 5 (Soil, the Living Skin of the Earth), 7 (One Global Ocean), and 8 (Champions of a Sustainable World). 2025-12-08. Tree bark microbes for climate management. By Vincent Gauci, Science. Excerpt: For decades, soil was thought […]
EC3C. Stay Current—Studying Desert Ecosystems
Staying current for Chapter 3 { Ecosystem Change Contents } 2025-12-03. 98% of Gaza’s Tree Cropland Destroyed by Israel. By Kimberly M. S. Cartier, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: Maps based on remote sensing analysis could inform remediation efforts by identifying whether agricultural lands were damaged by bombs, debris, or forced displacement of its caretakers…. Full article at […]
EC2C. Stay Current—Energy Through the System
Staying current for Chapter 2 { Ecosystem Change Contents } SEE ALSO…Losing Biodiversity 2026-01-06. Earthquakes shake nutrients loose in the deep. By Science Adviser. Excerpt: Eighteen hundred meters below Antarctica’s Southern Ocean, a volcanic ridge lined by hydrothermal vents burbles in the dark. As these vents belch out scalding water rich with iron and other […]
EC1C. Stay Current—Earth Alive!
Staying current for Chapter 1 See Non-chronological resources for this chapter { Ecosystem Change Contents } 2025-10-30. Rocky Mountain National Park wants its beavers back. By Hank Lacey, SFgate. Excerpt: On Rocky Mountain National Park’s less-visited west side, the Kawuneeche Valley looks different than it used to. Where wetlands shimmered, the autumn light now bathes […]
EC7. Neighborhood and Global Stewardship
Chapter 7 { Ecosystem Change Contents } The citizens of the United States use more energy and resources per person than do people in other countries. What can we do to reduce our individual and collective impact on earth’s global system? On the pages that follow, we have described some actions taken by students to […]
EC6. Carrying Capacity
Chapter 6 { Ecosystem Change Contents } In an influential essay entitled, “Essay on the Principle of Population,” Thomas Malthus noted that the growth of population and what he thought should be the inevitable tidal wave of people that would eventually inhabit the Earth, hadn’t occurred and that somehow the human population must be kept […]
EC5. Carbon in the Biosphere
Chapter 5 { Ecosystem Change Contents } I. The Carbon Dioxide Cycle When we enjoy the beauty of a tree we probably aren’t thinking of this marvelous structure as a carbon-based system that transforms sunlight and gases into food. A single cell in a tree leaf is a tiny system that uses light energy plus […]
EC4. Changes in the Global System
Chapter 4 { Ecosystem Change Contents } Dr. Steven Schneider, climatologist with the National Center for Atmospheric Research, has been very vocal in alerting the public to the impending dangers of global climate change. In an interview for the TV documentary, “Race to Save the Planet,” he shares his sense of urgency…. “Fifteen thousand years […]