AoW_2_-_Climate_change_and_fires_820

Ysmael Villegas Middle School Article of the Week Lexile 820 First and Last Name: Teacher’s Name: _ Course Name and Period: Date (Day Month Year): _ Instructions: Annotate the article Write an IVF summary Answer the prompt with a constructed response The Basics: Write legibly! Use a blue or black pen! Answer the prompt in the constructed response! Cite your evidence! Write in complete sentences! Pay attention to punctuation, spelling, and capital letters! Wildfires made worse: Ten climate change factors that affect fires By Agence France-Presse, adapted by Newsela staff 8/14/18 This summer, wildfires have been making the news They have scorched large areas of Europe in Portugal and Spain In the United States, they have also hit northern California especially hard Scientists are studying why recent fires have been so severe They are also raising concerns that climate change is making them worse Other factors have also contributed to the destructive fire season They include the building of homes in wooded areas and bad forest management Poor planning has increased how often wildfires start and how much damage they cause "The patient was already sick," said David Bowman about wildfire conditions Bowman is a professor of environmental change biology at Australia's University of Tasmania He is also a wildfire expert Climate change, though, is making things worse, he said Climate Getting Hotter, Drier Any firefighter can tell you the recipe for "fire weather": hot, dry and windy There is no surprise, then, where this surge in wildfires has been taking place It is happening in tropical and temperate regions that are seeing higher temperatures and more droughts Christopher Williams is the leader of environmental sciences at Clark University He said climate change is creating "more flammable ecosystems." In other words, drier regions and higher temperatures are making more intense fires These areas include those in Europe near the Mediterranean Sea Countries such as France and Portugal are experiencing harsh fires In the last 20 years, they have seen several severe droughts Previously, such droughts were expected to occur only once a century More Fuel For Fires Dry weather means more dead trees, shrubs and grass These dry plants create more fuel for more fire, said Michel Vennetier He is an engineer at France's National Research of Science and Technology for Environment and Agriculture (IRSTEA) "That's an ideal combustible," he said New Plant Species To make matters worse, new plant species are taking over these places They include rosemary, wild lavender, thyme and other plants that prefer dry conditions They are also more flammable, said Vennetier Thirstier Plants My thoughts, reactions, and questions as I read: Rising temperatures and less rain also affect how plants behave Thirsty trees and shrubs send roots deeper into the soil They suck up every drop of water they can reach That means needed water has been taken from the ground Moisture that might have helped slow a wildfire is no longer there Longer Fire Seasons Earth's temperate zone lies between the tropical and polar regions In the past, fire seasons in the northern hemisphere's temperate zone were shorter In most places, fire seasons there were in July and August In recent years, fire seasons have grown longer Today, they might last from June to October, said Thomas Curt Curt is another scientist at IRSTEA In California, a five-year drought only recently ended Some experts now say parts of that state no longer have a fire season at all Wildfires can now happen year round More Lightning "The warmer it gets, the more lightning you have," said Mike Flannigan Flannigan is a professor at the University of Alberta, Canada "Especially in the northern areas, that translates into more fires." Worldwide, he notes, 95 percent of wildfires are started by humans Changing Wind Patterns Normal weather patterns over North America and Eurasia depend heavily on the powerful, highaltitude air currents The air currents are called jet streams They are made by two air currents One comes from where the equator is The other comes from the North Pole or the South Pole But global warming has raised temperatures in the Arctic They are rising twice as fast as the global average This has weakened the wind currents Flannigan said the rising temperatures have led to blocked ridges Blocked ridges are areas in the current where the air sinks, "getting warmer and drier along the way." More Intense Fires Climate change increases the chances of wildfires The drier, hotter weather also increases their intensity as well, making them burn hotter and faster According to Flannigan, once a fire gets too intense it is almost impossible for firefighters to put it out "It's like spitting on a campfire," he said Beetles Killing Trees With rising temperatures, beetles have moved northward into Canada's boreal forests They are killing trees along the way "Bark beetle outbreaks temporarily increase forest flammability by increasing the amount of dead material, such as needles," said Williams More Carbon, More Trapped Heat Globally, forests hold about 45 percent of Earth's carbon on land They soak up about 25 percent of human greenhouse gas emissions These gases absorb heat from the sun They trap it in Earth's atmosphere As forests die and burn, some of their carbon is released into the air The released carbon traps even more heat in the atmosphere Scientists refer to this cause-and-effect loop as"positive feedback." IVF Summary Method Step 1: Use this three-column graphic organizer to plan your topic sentence It should state the main idea of the article or story Identify the Text (title and author) Select a Verb Finish the Thought Step 2: Assemble what you have written in Step into a complete sentence This is the topic sentence of your paragraph: _ _ Step 3: Write a list of main events or details that support your topic sentence Write four a _ b _ c _ d _ Step 4: Write a concluding sentence: _ Step 5: Copy everything you have written from Step through Step to write your paragraph, and don’t change anything Just assemble it all together to make it look like a regular paragraph _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ What are two environmental factors that make fires worse? Cite evidence (identify who or what supplied the facts you are using) to support your answer Refer to the article for your facts _ TS (Topic Sentence) rephrases the question into a statement, and answers it: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Evidence Fact #1: a cited fact that helps prove your topic sentence: (Transition), in the section “ _”, the article _ states (Write your in-text _ _ Explanation #1a: write one reason why you think Fact #1 helps prove your topic sentence: (Transition), _ _ _ Explanation #1b write another reason, or explain further, why you think Fact #1 helps prove your topic sentence: (Transition), _ citation here: Author and Page Number _) _ _ Evidence Fact #2: another cited fact that helps prove your topic sentence : (Transition), in the section “ _”, the article states (Write your in-text citation here: Author and Page Number _) Explanation #2a: one reason why Fact #2 helps prove your topic sentence: (Transition), _ _ _ Explanation #2b: another reason, or more explanation, why Fact #2 helps prove your topic sentence: (Transition), _ _ CS (Concluding Sentence) tells us what is important about this paragraph and gives it a strong finish. _ _ Now, assemble all of the parts of your constructed response to make a coherent paragraph Highlight the sections of your answer with four different colors (topic, facts, explanations, conclusion) _