Motivating Introduction
Ask them about the weather. Let them: compare past summers, observe whether it is getting hotter every year, and think of causes for such a change.
Objectives
To illustrate how to argue or support a stand or position by shooting down the arguments of the opposite side and presenting alternatives such as causes or effects other than those claimed by the other
Lesson Proper Vocabulary
1. Swindle – from German Schwindler, giddy person; akin to Old English swindan, to vanish
a. scam, fraud; defraud, gaff, gyp, to take money b. to obtain money or property by fraud or deceit c. first use: 1955
2. spurious[is Pyur i yus] – not genuine, sincere or authentic; based on false ideas or bad reasoning
a. bogus, fake, false, forged, counterfeit, inauthentic or unauthentic, phony, sham
b. of illegitimate birth: bastard
3. proxy –representative; authority or power to act for another
4. hype – deception, put-on publicity; especially: promotional publicity of an extravagant or contrived kind
5. pandemic – from Geek pandemos, pan all + demos people
a. occurring over a wide geographic area and affecting an exceptionally high proportion of the population
(meanings, etc. above adapted from Merriam-Webster Dictionary online)
6. Hockey – stick temperature (or hockey stick controversy) – “a plot of the past millennium’s temperature that shows the drastic influence of humans in the 20th century. Specifically, temperature remains essentially flat until
DEPED COPY
about 1900, then shoots up, like the upturned blade of a hockey stick”
[similar to a golf club, but used for playing ice hockey]
(from David Appell, “Sustainability: Behind the Hockey Stick,” March 1, 2005. www.scientificamerican.com)
Questions
Ask the following questions:
1. Describe the great global warming swindle.
2. Is S. Fred Singer’s position on the great global warming swindle positive (yes-it-is-a-swindle) or negative (no-it-is-not-a-swindle)?
3. How do you ascertain (make known, learn, find out with certainty, make certain, exact, or precise) his stand?
Consider, for example, the following:
a. the title
b. the introductory first paragraph, which mentions Singer’s inclusion, as a climate scientist, in interviews for the documentary film The Great Global Warming Swindle vs. “an emotion presentation” from a single politician of an earlier documentary film, An Inconvenient Truth
c. the concluding last paragraph, with his prediction about the attitude of future generations
4. Who are swindled? Who is the swindler? And what is the swindle itself?
5. Explain the hypothetical case in paragraph 5.
6. Explain the irony in paragraph 6 by reviewing the solutions to greenhouse gas reduction in the light of cutting fuel consumption.
7. According to the writer, is global warming beneficial or harmful? Has sea level risen due to human-caused global warming or to natural causes?
8. Are the rhetorical questions in paragraph 8 effective? Why?
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Concluding Activities
1. Contextualized Activities and Practice Exercises (enhancement/ writing assignment)
a. Academic: Write a position paper for or against mining/ golf parks/
rapid urbanization/other environmental concerns
b. Art and Design: Write a position paper arguing for the importance of using recycled materials in construction (e.g., plastic bottles)/ fashion (e.g., paper mache belts and wallets)/ etc.
c. Tech Voc: Write an essay arguing for environmental activism in planting trees, flowers, and vegetables everywhere: along streets, rivers, railways; in backyards and flowerpots; on school campuses, etc.
d. Sports: Write an essay arguing for the conscientization of certain sports (e.g., scuba diving, mountain climbing, surfing) so as to preserve and clean up nature.
e. IT and IA: Google the hockey-stick temperature chart and write a paragraph explaining the lines, colors, and trends.
2. Assessment Questions/Projects
a. State the argument against the claim that global warming is caused by greenhouse gases from human activity. Consider whether the claimed cause is the true cause or the only cause, and if not, what is the true cause of greenhouse gases?
b. Explain this true cause by writing a paraphrase of paragraph 3.
c. Is there proof that nature, and not human nature, causes global warming?
To answer this, consider writing a précis of paragraph 4.
d. Google one of the following:
1.) Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth
2.) David Appell, “Sustainability: Behind the Hockey Stick,” March 1, 2005.www.scientificamerican.com
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Feedback (for activities)/ Assessment Results
1. Tell them that in their paraphrase of paragraph 3, they should have rephrased, reworded, used their own words (synonyms, simpler words), retained the order of thought, and broken down long sentences into shorter ones.
2. Tell them that in their précis of paragraph 4, they should have summarized it by reducing it to one-fourth or one-fifth (25% or 20%) of the original length, retained the point of view (third person), used their own words, and retained the order of thought.
Reminder
In arguing, if the opponent –
a. resents: a purported sole or false cause (e.g., greenhouse gases) counter with: another or real cause (e.g., water vapor)
b. purports: an increase or rise (e.g., in temperature) counter with: cycle (increase to decrease to increase in temperature, e.g., warming to cooling to warming …)
c. sees: a negative impact (e.g., rising sea level) counter with: a positive impact (e.g., rising standards of living)
Summary
1. The great global warming is not caused solely and largely by greenhouse gases from human activity, but more often and largely by natural water vapor and cloudiness corresponding to solar activity.
2. Moreover, warming does not so much cause a rise in sea level, as seas have been wont to rise steadily since the ice age (10,000 years back). In fact, warming raises standards of living.
3. Warming is relatively no problem, compared to the real problems of hunger, disease, denial of human rights, threats of terrorism and nuclear war, natural disasters, pandemics, and asteroid impact.