May be with rain falling and cool weather in most of the Northern Hemisphere this summer it becomes easy to dismiss climate change and global warming. However if you live on a pacific atoll like Tuvalu then you live the real problems possibly every day. The Guardia and the BBC have both just run interesting stories about what life is like on this remote island with the fear of climate change a part of daily life, especially when in the grip of a drought that has run for over a year. Imagine only having enough water to just about cook with only a teacup full left over for washing or being the hospital administration that might have to deal with a break out of dysentery . Certainly a very useful case when teaching the topic but maybe more useful when making links back to ToK – the ESS Guide states that the “topic directly and usefully challenges popular views of certainty within the sciences.” but how do you get your knowledge over when you are an tiny population with little wealth and few material resources compared to the big countries?
From the Guardian – Students queue to buy drinks in recycled bottles at Nauti primary school in Funafuti, Tuvalu. Illustration: Alastair Grant/AP
Teaching ESS in Europe means that when you get to the part of the course dealing with climate change you inevitably have to menton the breakdown of the Gulf stream and Atlantic conveyor. But some recent findings bring back the stark reality that often even in ESS we tend to deal with concepts in discrete little pockets rather than taking a systemal approach at looking at the bigger picture.
