This video explains what peat is and how it is connected to the fight against global warming and excess carbon in the atmosphere.
It follows environmental scientist Dr. Greta Dargie and her field team as they explore wetlands in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to collect samples and measure the carbon concentrations of the peat.
Teaching Tips
Positives
Dr. Greta Dargie and her team explore the world's largest tropical peatland complex.
The reading highlights the importance of peat and how despite only covering about 3% of Earth's land surface, it accounts for over one-third of carbon stock.
Additional Prerequisites
The content of the video ends at 2:38 and the remaining time is the credits and an outro.
Students should understand the importance and relevance of carbon storage to combat the climate crisis.
Differentiation
Students can research different ways that carbon gets sequestered and stored, and compare those to the effectiveness of peatlands.
Students in economics classes can analyze businesses that benefit financially from the degradation of peatlands and suggest alternative options.
Students in chemistry classes can describe the types of peat analyses Dr. Dargie and her team might conduct in their lab.
Scientist Notes
The resource gives prominence to peatlands and their significant role in carbon sequestration. Human activities like farming, oil exploitation, mining, and logging could destroy our peatlands and biodiversity. It is important to protect this ecosystem from degradation so it could continually sequester CO2. This resource is ideal for teaching.
Standards
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
ESS2: Earth's Systems
HS-ESS2-6 Develop a quantitative model to describe the cycling of carbon among the hydrosphere, atmosphere, geosphere, and biosphere.
LS2: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
MS-LS2-4 Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.
HS-LS2-6 Evaluate the claims, evidence, and reasoning that the complex interactions in ecosystems maintain relatively consistent numbers and types of organisms in stable conditions, but changing conditions may result in a new ecosystem.
