Week 8

1. What are the most important themes you have learned? Anthropocene is the epoch when humans have changed earth's geology.
2. What aspect(s) did you find difficult? Understanding what exacerbates urban heat islands. I thought building height, drainage, light-colored paved areas, and air conditioning. But, maybe light-colored paved areas reflect heat?
3. What did you find most interesting? And why? The Anthropocene because it's simply staggering that humans are the only species that could create its own geological epoch.
4. Was there something that you learned that prompted you to do your own research? I looked into the snowball earth a bit more.
5. Are there any web sites or other online resource that you found particularly useful in furthering your knowledge and understanding? The IPCC website, NASA, and EPA were all useful.

Week 7

1. What are the most important themes you have learned this week? Energy efficiency in buildings can have  a big impact on carbon emissions. NIMBY people are motivated by place attachment and procedural justice. 
2. What aspect of this week did you find difficult? Fairly easy to understand.
3. What did you find most interesting? And why? NIMBYism motivations. At least there could be solutions if looked at in a positive way instead of pejoratively.
4. Was there something that you learned this week that prompted you to do your own research?
5. Are there any web sites or other online resource that you found particularly useful in furthering your knowledge and understanding? NYT and ThinkProgress on the NIMBY issue.

Week 6

1. What are the most important themes you have learned this week? Food security, food waste, population growth,
2. What aspect of this week did you find difficult?
3. What did you find most interesting? And why? Food waste is so large that it could make a big impact on food that would need to be  produced, if addressed. 
4. Was there something that you learned this week that prompted you to do your own research? After hearing that so much food was wasted (I had heard it before but was hazy on the numbers) I researched food waste at a couple of sites and used that in my comments. 
5. Are there any web sites or other online resource that you found particularly useful in furthering your knowledge and understanding?Mainly, the Global Food Security website and blog. 

Week 5

1. What are the most important themes you have learned this week?  Acidification can affect ocean marine systems that will can an impact on humans. The Antarctic ice sheets are buttressed and these may be weakening. However, melting there isn't necessarily due to AGW it may be because of changes in wind patterns, for example, or El Non/La Nina.
2. What aspect of this week did you find difficult? The mechanism for the melting of Antarctic ice sheets.
3. What did you find most interesting? And why? The Antarctic ice sheet issue, because I was a little less clear on that before this week, whereas I was a little better informed on acidification.
4. Was there something that you learned this week that prompted you to do your own research? Marine species extinction prompted me to look at earlier mass extinction.
5. Are there any web sites or other online resource that you found particularly useful in furthering your knowledge and understanding? The Abrupt Impacts of Climate Change by White, Alley et al which is online. 

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Week 4

1. What are the most important themes you have learned this week? Modeling accuracy. CDR v. CCS.
2. What aspect of this week did you find difficult? Remembering the difference between CDR and CCS.
3. What did you find most interesting? And why? IPCC climate modeling has been accurate within ranges.
4. Was there something that you learned this week that prompted you to do your own research? I researched the IPCC models and their accuracy.
5. Are there any web sites or other online resource that you found particularly useful in furthering your knowledge and understanding? SkS.

Week 3

What are the most important themes you have learned this week? This would include the fact that climate change is impacting weather although it's difficult to say exactly which weather events are a result of global warming. We do know there's a trend though in extreme weather events, even though that was unclear in the course video.

What aspect of this week did you find difficult? Trying to figure out which part of the world had warmed the most from 1980-2004.

What did you find most interesting? And why? The emissions graph. Even though I already and a pretty good idea of which of the major countries emitted the most and least.

Was there something that you learned this week that prompted you to do your own research? Looking more into the impact of climate change on Washington,DC.

Are there any web sites or other online resource that you found particularly useful in furthering your knowledge and understanding? Some on lie articles about heat waves and SLR impacts.

Antarctica

Sea ice increased in Antarctica in Sep 2012:

Scientists largely attribute the increase in Antarctic sea ice extent to stronger circumpolar winds, which blow the sea ice outward, increasing extent.

NSIDC scientist Ted Scambos said, "Antarctica's changes—in winter, in the sea ice—are due more to wind than to warmth, because the warming does not take much of the sea ice area above the freezing point during winter. Instead, the winds that blow around the continent, the "westerlies," have gotten stronger in response to a stubbornly cold continent, and the warming ocean and land to the north."http://nsidc.org/news/press/20121002_MinimumPR.html