Overview

The processes comprising the Earth’s environment are interconnected. Understanding how these connections operate on a global scale is to understand the Earth as a system.  Understanding the Earth as a system requires a quantitative exploration of the connections among various parts of the system.  These processes take place in and between the atmosphere, oceans, fresh water, ice, soil, and living components. These processes also include energy from the Sun, and the gases and particles that enter the atmosphere and oceans from both natural and anthropogenic, or human-caused, sources. 

The activities in this guide will help students understand variations in environmental parameters by examining connections among different phenomena measured on local, regional and global scales.  As students look at the connections between environmental data, they will see that the environment is the result of the interplay among many processes that take place on varying time and spatial scales. They will also understand that environmental processes are not bound by oceans, mountains, or country delineations–they are truly global in scope. 

The latest version of the GLOBE Earth System Poster– Exploring Connections in Year 2007 and this accompanying activity guide will serve as a way to introduce the importance of Earth system connections to a new generation of students around the world.

Sincerely,
The GLOBE Program