1)
In a certain aera of the country, many of the fish in a local lake have died. In addition, soils were found to be highly acidic, and nearby trees were losing their leaves. What kind of pollution may have caused these problems? What is the source of this pollution?
Maybe they are not related... and there's just a big bear eating all the fish eggs and stepping on the live fish and scratching his back on the trees causing them to lose their leaves. The soil may have nothing to do with it all...
2)
In a drive across the desert with your family, you see a distant sand dune that appears to be floating on air. How can you explain what you see?
Gradient Index Optics, aka mirage. Or, you could go about it in terms of visual perception and interpretation, discussing the occipital lobe and pre-frontal gap filling.
3)
In what ways would a knowledge of the global wind belts have helped a sixteenthe-century explorer between Spain and the northern part of South America?
Maybe fewer slaves would have died rowing because the sails were more productive... or, perhaps the girl this explorer was courting wouldn't have been so repulsed by his awful unshowered scent, as the winds carried it away from her olfatory senses.
