23
Sep

Climate Change and the Maldives

Contributor :

Chrystal Oden

Action Plan

I will take photos/videos to document different ecosystems found on the islands.

Pre-Departure Preparation

The Life Science curriculum covers topics that includes classification of living things, ecosystems, and how humans have impacted the environment. In our current curriculum, when learning about photosynthesis and respiration, we discuss the effects of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and different processes that remove carbon. Students then work as a group to develop a novel invention or plan that aims to reduce carbon dioxide output or remove a carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. I plan to introduce the project by using my experiences/photographs from the Maldives to provide students an objective for their project: to save the country and its people from rising sea levels due to climate change. In our human impacts unit, we provide more detail on how increasing CO2 levels results in ocean acidification, which, in turn, damages coral and alters the coral reef ecosystem. I'd like to show students different organisms in the coral reefs and construct a food chain/web so students can observe how removing organisms from the primary/secondary trophic levels will affect the more well known organisms at the top of the food chain like sea turtles, dolphins, etc.

Preparation During Travel

I will research different aquatic organisms that can be found around Maldives.