Beginning with examples from the polar regions, this article examines the question Š—“Why do we have seasons?Š— Included are links to lesson plans, a list of childrenŠ—Čs books, and suggested alignments with science, literacy, geography, and climate instruction in K-5 classrooms. The article appears in the free, online magazine Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears.

This lesson will introduce solar power, how it works, and energy storage to students through hands on materials and activities. It will also foster an understanding of renewable energy and how we can use renewable energy to power our cities.

This video provides an overview of how computer models work. It explains the process of data assimilation, which is necessary to ensure that models are tied to reality. The video includes a discussion of weather models using the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS-5) model and climate models using the MERRA (Modern Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications) technique.

Physical geography is the study of the earth's dynamic systems: its air, water, weather climate, landforms, rocks, soils, plants, ecosystems and biomes and how humans interact with the earth's systems. Physical geography is the study of the world around you. It will help you to understand why San Francisco is always cold and foggy, why we have earthquakes, and what causes seasons. Everyone, every day, interacts with the earth's dynamic systems. I challenge you to join me on an exploration of the complex, and exciting world in which you live!

Physical geography is the study of the earth's dynamic systems: its air, water, weather climate, landforms, rocks, soils, plants, ecosystems and biomes and how humans interact with the earth's systems. Physical geography is the study of the world around you. It will help you to understand why San Francisco is always cold and foggy, why we have earthquakes, and what causes seasons. Everyone, every day, interacts with the earth's dynamic systems. I challenge you to join me on an exploration of the complex, and exciting world in which you live!

This 11-minute podcast and accompanying lesson guide encourage students to evaluate the supply chain of green technologies in the context of the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals.

Changing ocean chemistry could have a disastrous impact on shellfish and fisheries in Puget Sound. The Suquamish Tribe is working with partners to inform the public about this problem while they elicit support for research and monitoring the issue.

The course offers an introduction to quantitative analysis of geomorphic processes, and examines the interaction of climate, tectonics, and surface processes in the sculpting of Earth’s surface.

This short animation compares graphs of the natural variation in the sun's energy striking the upper atmosphere vs global surface temperature over a 30-year period to make the point that natural variations do not account for the rising trend line in surface temperatures.

This interactive map allows the user to explore projected alterations of land surfaces in coastal communities, based on different scenarios of sea level changes over time.

This is a multi-step, interactive tool for users to identify potential risks (to people, buildings, infrastructure, contamination, land) for selected coastal areas in the US, using scenarios of water level rising (as a result of tides, sea level rise, and storm surge) from 0-10 feet. Tool provides local, regional and national resources as guidance for managing risk.

In this unit, we study one aspect of the fluctuating nature of an organism's environment. We consider how organisms living in a temperate climate, such as that in Britain, are adapted to cope with winter. You will see that there is much diversity of adaptations among organisms, with different species coping with the demands of a fluctuating environment in quite different ways. As cyclic variations are a widespread feature of environments, the range of adaptations to them is an important source of biological diversity.

The sustainability learning suites is a set of learning objects created for people with a post-secondary science background, organized in six themes: Systems thinking; Sustainable development; Population; Energy; Water and Materials. The materials are designed on Fink's Taxonomy of Significant Learning and include: learning objectives, editable slides with notes and embedded classroom activities, activities of 1-3 hours, assessments, and a set of 24 videos.

This text is designed to introduce the reader to the essential concepts of sustainability. This subject is of vital importance – seeking as it does to uncover the principles of the long-term welfare of all the peoples of the planet – but is only peripherally served by existing college textbooks. The content is intended to be useful for both a broad-based introductory class on sustainability and as a useful supplement to specialist courses which wish to review the sustainability dimensions of their areas of study. By covering a wide range of topics with a uniformity of style, and by including glossaries, review questions, case studies, and links to further resources, the text has sufficient range to perform as the core resource for a semester course. Students who cover the material in the book will be conversant in the language and concepts of sustainability, and will be equipped for further study in sustainable planning, policy, economics, climate, ecology, infrastructure, and more. The content is intended to be useful for both a broad-based introductory class on sustainability and as a useful supplement to specialist courses which wish to review the sustainability dimensions of their areas of study. By covering a wide range of topics with a uniformity of style, and by including glossaries, review questions, case studies, and links to further resources, the text has sufficient range to perform as the core resource for a semester course. Students who cover the material in the book will be conversant in the language and concepts of sustainability, and will be equipped for further study in sustainable planning, policy, economics, climate, ecology, infrastructure, and more.

The Daily Practice is an ongoing assignment that asks students to make a lifestyle change that contributes to environmental sustainability.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

This resource explains sustainiblilty goals to help allievate the climate crisis. It shows the destruction and consequences of urbanization along the hope that there is capability of change.

The sustainability learning suites is a set of learning objects created for people with a post-secondary science background, organized in six themes: Systems thinking; Sustainable development; Population; Energy; Water and Materials. The materials are designed on Fink's Taxonomy of Significant Learning and include: learning objectives, editable slides with notes and embedded classroom activities, activities of 1-3 hours, assessments, and a set of 24 videos.

Sustainability is a complex term applied to many different contexts in a variety of ways. As a result, it can be challenging to determine how sustainable something really is. In this module, students will use an analytical framework with publicly available data to formulate questions, analyze data, and report metrics of sustainability.

The module is attached as a Canvas export package.This module, authored by a synergy of teams across University of Technology Sydney, helps you to situate sustainability in your discipline.For any feedback or questions, please contact: christina.brauer-1@uts.edu.au, jennifer.wallace@uts.edu.au. Please note, Christina Brauer and Jenny Wallace uploaded this resource, but it was authored by a team of academics, curriculum and learning designers, digital content officers and sustainability experts at UTS.It is an introduction to sustainability concepts, and includes videos, readings, quizzes, polls and a reflection. It is useful to anyone who is interested in discovering and raising awareness around sustainability and the Sustainable Development Goals.Cover image attribution: DSC_0016 by Colleen Morgan is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

This course examines alternative conceptions and theoretical underpinnings of sustainable development. It focuses on the sustainability problems of industrial countries, and of developing states and economies in transition. It also explores the sociology of knowledge regarding sustainability, the economic and technological dimensions, and institutional imperatives, along with implications for political constitution of economic performance.
17.181 fulfills the undergraduate public policy requirement in the Political Science major and minor. Graduate students are expected to explore the subject in greater depth through reading and individual research.