I just emailed George Evatt this lesson, and I also found a really interesting YouTube video called "Earth 100 Million Year From Now."

I put some of my own opinion into the "Effects and Consequences" page.

I hope to get my focus question formulated soon.

Last Thursday, we had George Evatt come to speak to us about oceans and marine life. He was really interesting and I was rather influenced by his talk. I'm glad I went. He had a lot of facts about the effect of Climate Change on the oceans and sea life too.

Some statisticfrom the presentation:
-Weight-wise, 97% of earth's life lives in the ocean
-The oceans harbour 99% of earth's life-sustaining environment
-An estimated 90% of ocean life is yet to be discovered

I hope to get his email, so I could have a chat with him on some more effects. This could be helpful for my GIP in providing a wider range of resources to use.

I went on a search for news articles today and found a couple on countries that have already disapperead in Africa because of rising sea levels. I also added some more information onto my "Prevention" sub-question page.

I'm a little stuck on how to link the Climate Change topic into rising sea levels. I'm thinking it would be good to link it in through the idea of consequences. But if I did that then I would probably have to do other consequences too. Maybe I could shift my topic area to the consequences of Climate Change?! In this, I could explore about three major effects that climate change has had, is having and will have on society.

After reading through the marking criteria, other ideas I'm planning on researching would be prespectives of individuals as well as groups.

I found a heap of information on World Book Online; it's really helpful. I'm going to research the effects/consequences of Climate Change and focus in on rising sea levels.

(Later) So, after researching the effects of climate change, I've come up with another new idea for my focus question of discussing the consequences climate change has on oceans. I still need to work out how to word the question though...

Today, I worked on a second sub-question based around prevention of climate change. Next lesson I'm hoping to start a sub-question that links to rising sea levels.

I have also thought of an interesting point I would like to include but I'm not too sure where I will place it yet:
The countries that are the major producers of carbon emissions, like the US and China are not exactly the ones most threatened by this issue. It is, in fact, the countries that produce some of the least carbon emissions that are being most affected. This is a rather controversial point.

I will be working on the research for the GIP for the next couple of weeks, both at home and in class. I also hope to have my big focus question before the holidays. :)

Ok, so.... I've given my topic a bit more thought and taking into account Miss Perrett's suggestion, I will do a little bit of research before I decide on my final question. I will base my research off the sub-questions that I put in Post 1.

Today we went through a few sheets that would help us formulate our question.

I've given my focus question a bit more thought since yesterday, these are two choices:
-Discuss the roles that different countries play regarding the issue of climate change and rising sea levels (I like this focus question since it encompases both the roles of the larger countries somewhat in fault, and the smaller countries somewhat the victims of this issue)
-Discuss the effects that climate change and rising sea levels has on [low-lying] coastal regions

I still want to find a better phrase that would replace "climate change and rising sea levels". This is because of many reasons. If I just said "climate change" then that would also encompas pollution and other issues caused by our ever-developing society. Whereas, if I just said "rising sea levels", then that would be too narrow a question and would really only encompas the smaller victim countries with the potentials of flooding.

Today, I published my Weebly and started my process blog. I am still deciding on my focus question but I have a few thoughts/options:
-Discuss the effects of climate change [and rising sea levels] on nations throughout the world (I am unsure on this one since it isn't a 'question'. However, I have heaps of ideas about concepts to explore in it: how not just island nations are affected, large countries are too; why it is more important than past threats; etc.)
-How do rising sea levels affect island nations?
-How does climate change affect island nations?

I also have smaller fact-like questions that I may refer to for ideas:
-What is global warming and climate change?
-What is the greenhouse effect?
-What issues does global warming cause? Why is it an issue?
-What are the consequences of melting ice?
-Which countries will go under? How many?
-What is being done to prevent it?
-Can it be prevented? Why/Why not?
-How is climate change any different if it has varied so much in the past?
-Why must we act if we're not threatened? What roles do larger countries play in this?
-How quickly will it take for the islands to flood?

I'm also thinking of doing a survey, to find out about others' views on climate change and rising sea levels and the role they play in all of it.