Part II: Assessment of Class

2. Do you feel this class enabled you to explore an aspect of global warming that was of particular interest to you? If so, what topic was of interest to you and how did this class allow you to explore this topic? If not, what aspect of global warming would you have liked to explore?

Like I said before alternative energy is my passion, but I worked on methane, and it turned out to be quite an interesting subject. In fact there turns out to be a number of ways to collect this gas, and it's a much cleaner way of producing energy than coal and oil. I think there is a huge potential for this gas, and we should use it, because if we don't it becomes a greenhouse gas. Maybe I am not answering the question though. This class had a lab that was perfect for obtaining the information I needed to do my presentations. Also by pairing us up in groups we were able to gather more info, because other people had different ideas on how to search the web.

2. This class did let me explore things that I am interested in personally. I have a personal interest in plants, their distribution and contribution to the global environment. This class gave me the opportunity to explore some of those interests further.

2. Yes, definitely. I was interested in examining the issue of global warming due to all greenhouse gases, and I felt that Kyoto didn't address this. Because the class was organized in the way that it was, we were allowed to bring the issues that concerned us into it we could present them to the entire class. This allowed for more feedback and to spark an interest in others and request their support. This brought people together that were form different countries, and from this connection there became a stronger influence that these issues could get addressed in the protocol. I think that we were successful in including non-CO2 gases, and making it in a way that it would benefit my country.

This class opened itself to exploration. I became an expert on the Clean Development Mechanism which proved very influential in Africa's standpoint in the protocol. I felt it was a key development in the relations between Annex I and non Annex I countries.

Yes. This class allowed me to look into the social and political elements behind global warming. Each of the countries have these sorts of issues to bear in mind when making decisions such as the one we made to ratify the protocol. By studying emission credit trading I gained an understanding of the economic situations of the nations represented in our summit. I found the critical thinking involved in establishing our group principles, determining what information to present to the class and creating the article for the protocol to be very educational. Since our group worked with representative of all nations, we encountered, on a lesser scale, the political dynamic that was evident during the final summit. In general, I was excited about sharing all the information I found out about with others ...some people probably heard too much about it.

2. I didn't really have a particular interest, but after learning and researching black carbon I became very interested. I learned that there is much more to global warming than CO2 emissions.

The aspect of global warming that was of interest to me was the methane emission production around the globe. While working in the research for methane I was able to better understand how it was produced and what might be the ways to reduce it being emitted to the atmosphere.

My most enjoyable aspect of global warming was the economist side; the side that didn't jump to conclusions, but looked at a more realistic and practical approach. The class did not hold me back from this. It was extremely liberal and gave us a lot of freedom to move around the subject.

2. I really enjoyed exploring my own area of interest of global climate change. I definitely felt the freedom to explore my own interests. I explored the deforestation and carbon sink component to global climate change. I was lucky to realize the importance of this aspect of global warming and take it upon myself to research it. I found more than enough relevant information on this topic to global warming and understand global impacts of its demise. This helped push my desire to take this information beyond class and utilize my knowledge outside of the classroom. I have more desire to get involved with activist organizations etc.