News Commentary // The Environment Cezary Marcinkiewicz//section 011 Your name Date World’s Cities Experiencing More Heat Waves, Study Shows Section I This article is about urban areas of the world and heatwaves. The article, entitled “World’s cities experiencing more heatwaves, study shows”, begins by citing a study of extreme temperatures in hundreds of urban areas over the past 40 years. The study concluded that cities around the globe are not only experiencing more heatwaves, but fewer cold spells. In addition, the study found that the number of windy days in numerous cities is declining, but the number of extremely hot days and nights is increasing. The research conducted also yielded a surprising result, that changes in precipitation in urban areas over the last 40 years was very minimal. This was not expected because some of the previous work done showed that changes in precipitation were higher in major US urban areas. The article concludes by saying that although urban areas only account for a small portion of the world, they are the center of wealth, commerce, and industry, so environmental damages could likely result in the economy suffering. Overall, the article focuses on the large number of heat waves occurring in urban cities across the world. Who: Climate researchers from US and Indian universities What: Heat waves in urban areas When: Over the past 40 years Where: Urban areas across the world Why: The article did not mention why this environmental is occurring. It simply stated that it is occurring throughout the world. This article was written by John Vidal and it was published online on January 29th, 2015 from theguardian.com Section II One of the impacts of heat waves, the environmental issue discussed in Section 1, on society has to do with people’s health and well being. Heat waves can cause heat stroke, dehydration, and heat exhaustion. Extreme heat can kill people, especially the elderly and young children. In fact, those at the greatest risk of death in heat waves are the elderly that live in urban areas without access to air conditioning for a portion of the day. People need to be aware of the heat waves occurring in urban areas across the world because these cities are very populated, so any negative consequences that occur as a result could potentially affect a great deal of people. In populated cities, it is very common for people to walk places and in the heat, this could pose numerous threats on the human body. People must be very conscious of the environmental and temperature changes occurring, so they can plan out their day, for example: how they dress and how they get places (walking or another means of transportation), accordingly. An outcome of heatwaves is that it could cause many deaths. Urban areas are home to a great deal of people, from children to the elderly, that would be exposed to extreme heat and, as I ...

1. News Commentary // The Environment
Cezary Marcinkiewicz//section 011
Your name
Date
World’s Cities Experiencing More Heat Waves, Study Shows
Section I
This article is about urban areas of the world and heatwaves.
The article, entitled
“World’s cities experiencing more heatwaves, study shows”,
begins by citing a study of extreme
temperatures in hundreds of urban areas over the past 40 years.
The study concluded that cities
around the globe are not only experiencing more heatwaves, but
fewer cold spells. In addition,
the study found that the number of windy days in numerous
cities is declining, but the number of
extremely hot days and nights is increasing. The research
conducted also yielded a surprising

2. result, that changes in precipitation in urban areas over the last
40 years was very minimal. This
was not expected because some of the previous work done
showed that changes in precipitation
were higher in major US urban areas. The article concludes by
saying that although urban areas
only account for a small portion of the world, they are the
center of wealth, commerce, and
industry, so environmental damages could likely result in the
economy suffering. Overall, the
article focuses on the large number of heat waves occurring in
urban cities across the world.
Who: Climate researchers from US and Indian universities
What: Heat waves in urban areas
When: Over the past 40 years
Where: Urban areas across the world
Why: The article did not mention why this environmental is
occurring. It simply stated
that it is occurring throughout the world.
This article was written by John Vidal and it was published
online on January 29th, 2015 from
theguardian.com

3. Section II
One of the impacts of heat waves, the environmental issue
discussed in Section 1, on
society has to do with people’s health and well being. Heat
waves can cause heat stroke,
dehydration, and heat exhaustion. Extreme heat can kill people,
especially the elderly and young
children. In fact, those at the greatest risk of death in heat
waves are the elderly that live in urban
areas without access to air conditioning for a portion of the day.
People need to be aware of the heat waves occurring in urban
areas across the world
because these cities are very populated, so any negative
consequences that occur as a result could
potentially affect a great deal of people. In populated cities, it
is very common for people to walk
places and in the heat, this could pose numerous threats on the
human body. People must be very
conscious of the environmental and temperature changes
occurring, so they can plan out their
day, for example: how they dress and how they get places
(walking or another means of
transportation), accordingly.

4. An outcome of heatwaves is that it could cause many deaths.
Urban areas are home to a
great deal of people, from children to the elderly, that would be
exposed to extreme heat and, as I
mentioned above, high temperatures have very negative
consequences on human health. In
addition, if living conditions in urban areas become unbearable,
many people could move out of
these areas, causing rural areas to become very congested. Many
jobs are located in large cities
and if people move out of cities and acquire different jobs, this
could cause the economy to take
http://theguardian.com/
a hit. This could also create competition between a great deal of
people for a limited number of
jobs and positions.
There are some ways to help reduce the climate change
occurring. In cities, there are
many people that drive cars despite the fact that it is very
common for public transportation to be
available. When people drive cars, it emits Carbon Dioxide, a

5. greenhouse gas, and I know from a
previous science class that greenhouse gases contribute to
climate change. If people took public
transportation, it could reduce these emissions. If this is just not
an option for some people, it
would be better for the environment if people could carpool,
thus reducing the number of cars
polluting the environment.
I recommend others to read this article because it does not just
talk about climate change
in general, it talks about this serious issue in urban settings. I
have not encountered other articles
that do this and it made me more aware of the situation in cities,
so I think that this would be a
good and informative article for others to read.
Summary of scoring:
1. Clarity of presentation 2/2
2. Answering required questions 2/2
3. Grammar 2/2
4. Formatting 2/2
5. Topic selection 2/2

6. Total scoring 10/10
The article:
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jan/30/worlds-
cities-experiencing-more-

7. heatwaves-study-shows
World's cities experiencing
more heatwaves, study shows
Number of extremely hot days a year has increased in hundreds
of cities since the 1970s years, with frequencies peaking in the
last five years
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jan/30/worlds-
cities-experiencing-more-heatwaves-study-shows
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jan/30/worlds-
cities-experiencing-more-heatwaves-study-shows
More extreme heat, less cold spells and less high winds is the
weather trend for many of the
world’s cities, a new study shows. Photograph: Richard
Baker/Corbis
John Vidal
Thursday 29 January 2015 19.01 EST
World cities are experiencing more heatwaves and fewer cold

8. spells,
according to a study of extreme temperatures in hundreds of
urban areas
over the past 40 years. It found that many cities are seeing
fewer
extremely windy days than in the 1970s and have more
extremely hot
individual days and nights.
The climate researchers from US and Indian universities
identified 620
of the world’s urban areas with a population over 250,000 and
then
chose 217 which were situated close to an international weather
station
with rainfall, wind and temperature records stretching back to
1973.
They found that four of the five years with the most heatwaves
had
occurred since 2009. They were experienced mostly in Africa,
East Asia,
Europe and North America.
“The number of extremely hot days increased significantly at
most sites

9. [over the 40 years]. However, a few urban areas in East Asia
showed
significant declining trends. Only 2% of the urban areas
experienced
significant declines in the frequency of extreme hot days,” said
the
authors.
“Extremely windy days declined substantially during the last 40
years
with significant declines in about 60% in the urban areas,” said
the
authors, who defined heatwaves as periods of at least six days
where the
daily maximum temperature was hotter than 99% of days since
1973.
The results, published in Environmental Research Letters, also
showed a
significant decline in six-day or longer cold spells. Around 17%
of urban
areas were found to have experienced a significant increase in
daily
rainfall and 10% experienced a significant increase in annual
maximum
precipitation.
“Our results show significant increases in heat waves and the

10. number of
hot days and warm nights, and at the same time declines in cold
waves
and extreme windy days in many urban areas over the last 40
years. We
http://www.theguardian.com/profile/johnvidal
http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/10/2/024005/article
also find that the number of changes in precipitation extremes
was
modest, which is somewhat surprising as our previous work
showed a
predominance of increases in precipitation extremes in major
US urban
areas,” said lead research author Vimal Mishra from the Indian
Institute
of Technology Gandhinagar.
“Urban areas make up a relatively small part of the global land
area; but
they are the centre of wealth, so damage to urban infrastructure
could
result in potentially large economic losses,” he said.

11. At least two (2) full paragraphs per question with explanations
to your answers (not just a reiteration of the case):
1. Wisconsin (1971) and Paul (1976): Can you identify the
differences among these two cases? Do you believe it was more
a letter of the law decision or an ideological decision?
2. Did you agree with the decision in Goldberg? In Matthews?
Explain!
3. What are your thoughts in the decision of Ingraham v.
Wright?
4. How much due process should be due? Explain!
Article Critique Assignment
&
Evaluation Rubric
Select a current environmental science news story from a news
source (internet and hard copy are both acceptable).
Read the article and consider the facts and the impact. Prepare
a critique of not less than one page. Write the critique in two
sections with the required elements as follows:
Section One:
· Summarize the article
· Clearly identify what is the environmental issue involved

12. · Include the 5 W's (who, what, where, when, why?)
· Include the date the article was published and the source from
which it came (note: a copy of the article must be submitted
with the assignment)
Section Two:
· Discuss the impact of the environmental issue identified in
Section One on the community and/or society
· What are the possible outcomes?
· Why should we be aware of the situation?
· What are solutions or considerations for the future?
· How did your opinion change because of reading this article?
· Do you recommend that others read this article? Why?
1. Beginning
2. Developing
3. Accomplished
4. Exemplary
Critique
Three or more of the required elements are missing
Two of the required elements are missing
One of the required elements is missing
The importance of the article is described, how the article
influenced opinion, and briefly states if the article is
recommended
Organization
Ideas are not presented in a clear fashion and the student takes
too long to come to the point. Article lacks organization
Ideas are presented clearly but the student takes too long
coming to the point. Article lacks organization
Ideas are clearly and concisely stated but the review lacks
organization
The article review is organized in a logical fashion with ideas
clearly and concisely stated

13. Summary
Three or more of the required pieces are missing
Two of the required pieces are missing.
One of the required pieces is missing
Summarizes the article, includes the date of the article and the
source, and the name of the journalist (if available)
Grammar
No proofreading, errors impede the sense of the story
Some proofreading, but errors still prove to be an annoyance in
the reading of the story
Few errors, mostly correct paper
No errors
Adapted from Article Critique Assignment, The Law and You
(Law 30), Saskatchewan Schools,
<http://www.saskschools.ca/curr_content/law30/currentevents/c
urrentevents/artcrit.html>, accessed 8-28-06
lkb revised 10/13/2012