Have you ever wondered why the sky is much bluer near the equator? In Juan Botella’s climate class, you can learn all about it.
I was lucky to meet with Botella, a long-time science teacher at Fieldston, to discuss his semester-long elective on climate change, a massive problem that must be addressed in our society. Botella stated, “The goal of the course is for students to learn about the science that determines the climate.” He hopes that people will know enough about the climate once they leave the course to make informed decisions, explaining, “There is a lot of misinformation about the climate, and I want students to be able to think critically and advocate for it.”
When asked about what sparked his interest in climate change, Botella explained: “Since I was a kid, enjoying every vacation on an isolated beach on the Pacific Ocean in Mexico, I wanted to learn more about the animals that lived in the ocean. My goal was to become a marine biologist. At college in the late 80s, studying Oceanology (as is called in Mexico), I veered toward Physical Oceanology, keeping my sights on understanding the oceanic environment and how it shaped creatures that live there. At that time, the research on climate change was gaining popularity, and so was my awareness of the human impact on all living beings on earth. I came to the US for grad school, and while at the Woods Hole Oceanography Institution and MIT Joint Program in Oceanography, I met more and more professors and researchers who were interested in learning about how the climate and weather operate, about the buttons on that system that humans keep pushing to affect our environment negatively. Once I became a father 17 years ago, and felt how the temperature in Madison, WI was changing, how there would never be a kite festival on the frozen lake because it was not freezing as it used to be, it was natural that I would use my knowledge and teaching skills to help raise awareness of what we are doing to the only planet we know for sure is habitable in the universe.”
This class is primarily lab-based, where students learn about a topic and test it experimentally. Some topics include how the oceans and atmosphere move, greenhouse gases, and temperatures on Earth. The class’ current unit, the one I got to see, is about testing the natural durability of the climate system, what causes the seasons, and why the north and south poles are colder and the equator warmer. The class uses an online program that shows surface temperature and winds.
Botella showed me a lab he does with his class, demonstrating the interaction between hot and cold water and ocean circulation patterns. The experiment uses salty water instead of hot and cold water because energy transfer is too fast between the different water temperatures. The lab was set up in two large tubs; within each tub was a piece of plastic, which could be removed, that separated the tap water and blue salt water. Botella put one tub on a steady surface and the other on a spin table, representing the atmosphere.
Once the experiment was set up, the experimental question was: what would happen when the plastic was removed? In the test where the water was not moving when the plastic was removed, the salt water sat lower than the freshwater because salt water is denser than freshwater. In the test on the spin table, a circle of salt water formed, which looked very similar to the images of our earth in the online program.
At the end of the course, the class looks at ways our world can improve and how we can take action to reduce climate change and save our planet. Botella emphasized “The thought of leaving my kids on a planet in much worse conditions is difficult. To this day, when we are supposed to be in the middle of the deep winter it is warm, and in days to come we will have scorching summers, torrential rains that flood different parts of the world, the largest fires we have ever seen, the hottest temperature we have ever felt, and I still think I am not doing enough.” He hopes that with this corse people will help share the responsibility and inform other about the state of our earth. Botella facilitates class discussions on how we can change the course of where we are going and what we can do. Botella added, “Climate change is very important, and conversations about it must take place. We have the power to change the environment, it’s up to us what we do with that power. A power we did not earn, and for which we have demonstrated do not deserve. Advocacy in the classroom, in my mind, is not just a good add-on, but morally necessary.”
