Unit 1
Your task for this unit is to get ready to work in the SOAR-High course.
The tools you need to learn include learning how to make webpages for sharing your work,
 how to collect GLOBE environmental measurements at your school,how to join in class discussion,  how to video conference, and how to write effective email messages,

You will also learn about the Earth System, learn about the components of the system (called spheres),  and how to think about the Earth as a system.
 

The Task is your overall goal for the Unit.  A series of Activities will help accomplish the Task.
The Rubric's cube symbol suggests the task provides a challenge for you to deepen your understanding of science. 

The Beauty of Trees,   by Chief Dan George

The beauty of the trees,
the softness of the air,
the fragrance of the grass,
        speaks to me

The summit of the mountain,
the thunder of the sky,
the rhythm of the sea,
        speaks to me.

The faintness of the stars,
the freshness of the morning,
the dewdrop on the flower,
       speaks to me.

 The strength of fire,
the taste of salmon,
the trail of the sun,
and the life that never goes away,
        they speak to me.

And my heart soars.

Chief Dan George

http://earth.jsc.nasa.gov/lores.cgi?PHOTO=STS059-223-065

A view of the Earth from space
This picture was taken by astronauts on the Space Shuttle in April 1994   The view is toward the West, and you can see Southern Sweden, with its many  lakes.   The lakes were created when the continental glaciers scrapped across this area and then melted away.  Many low areas filled with with the glacial water.   You can see two large lakes (Lake Vänern and Lake Vättern) on the northern edge of the photograph.  The darker (green) area inland from the coast is forested lands.  A small part of the Baltic Sea is pictured off the southeast coast of Sweden, and the Skagerrak and Kattegat, the waterway entrance into the Baltic Sea, are shown off the southwest coast of Sweden.   The four main landforms of Denmark  (viewing west to east), a peninsula (Jylland) and three islands (Fyn, Sjelland, and Lolland) can be seen along the southern edge of the photograph.
 
 

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body 
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, 
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting - 
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

                             -   Mary Oliver


Copyright ©YANN ARTHUS-BERTRAND   "EARTH FROM ABOVE WITH FUJIFILM AND UNESCO".

       Dromedary Caravan in the Dunes near
       Nouakchott, MAURITANIA
                                                         In this country on the edge of the Sahara - the
                                                         world's largest sand desert, covering 3 million
                                                         square miles (7.8 million km2) - dromedaries,
                                                         animals adapted to the extreme local
                                                         conditions, make up an important part of the
                                                         domestic livestock. Mauritania, which is 90
                                                         percent desert, is particularly vulnerable to the
                                                         consequences of human actions on the
                                                         environment. The circumference of these great
                                                         dunes often feature vegetation that is naturally
                                                         adapted to the aridity, particularly in proximity to
                                                         the slightly less arid regions where people
                                                         live.

yab@yannarthusbertrand.com