National Warming: An Exercise for World Geography

This exercise introduces students to the observation that warming is unequal at the level of regions and countries, helps them analyze why this is so, and encourages reflection on actions by specific countries. In addition, students will uncover the relative roles of methane and carbon dioxide in local warming, the role of greenhouse gas emissions (GGEs) in less-developed versus more-developed countries, and the renewable energy initiatives of particular countries. This exercise constitutes a course unit on anthropogenic global warming (AGW) that can be incorporated into a high school World Geography or college World Regional Geography, Physical Geography, or Human Geography class.