Dinerman Blows Through Causes of Unusual Weather

by Rachel Zemel ’13

Just days before students swarmed into Sherwood for the first day of school, Hurricane Irene, a category three hurricane, attacked the local area, escalating teens’ interests in the various factors that result in different weather patterns. The AP Environmental Science curriculum provides an in-depth look into the causes of climatic patterns, including the causes of more or less active hurricane seasons.

“I open the year with a hurricane project. We track all the hurricanes for the entire season. We talk about why some hurricane seasons have more than others,” explained AP Environmental Science teacher Laura Dinerman.

Dinerman created her own syllabus and had it approved by College Board through a course audit. College Board’s required topics for an AP Environmental Science class include earth systems and resources, the living world, population, land and water use, energy resources and consumption, pollution and global change.

The topic of global change, when the students study the ozone layer, greenhouse gasses, endangered species and climate change, addresses the students’ interest in the factors that cause different meteorological patterns, including hurricane seasons. Global change is also extremely important because it relates to the other topics studied in the class.

“It impacts every other thing we talk about. It impacts weather. We talk about organisms and the environment. Clearly climate impacts which organisms can live where … We talk about disease, and climate impacts vectors of disease,” said Dinerman.

In the global change unit, the AP Environmental Science class also learns about how global warming influences ecosystems locally. The class studies the Chesapeake Bay, as it is a major example of a warmer climate’s influence on ecology. Dinerman cited heightening water levels in the Chesapeake Bay and flooding of the low islands in the bay as examples of a warmer climate’s impact on the area.

During class, Dinerman discusses different political positions impacting the environment, quotes politicians, and addresses the politics and economics of global warming. “I consistently tell the students that you can’t understand the full picture of global issues [with just AP Environmental Science]. You have to have economics. If you don’t [think about economics], you can’t politically know why there is any disagreement in any environmental issues,” clarified Dinerman.

In AP Environmental Science, the class does not avoid controversial environmental issues. “I will not direct student thinking politically,” noted Dinerman. “I will not direct any student decisions. If it’s controversial … everyone can express opinions and back it up. I validate each student’s opinion, ask others to listen with an open mind, and ask them to make decisions on what they’ve learned.”

However, Dinerman is clear that she herself does believe that the record heats, the Texas drought, violent hurricanes and other extreme weather that have been happening lately are not just flukes. Dinerman has concluded that there is a correlation between the extreme weather and a larger climate change. She has observed that the climate has been getting warmer, and the weather has been changing, too.

“Yes, humans have impacted global warming. Science supports it,” said Dinerman.