Climate Change
Overview
This resource seeks to equalize access to learning materials that address the subject of human impact on the environment. The design of this resource is structured in a manner that will allow it to be adapted and further destributed. This particular module examines climate change, specifically human impact on the environment.
Specific topics include: Climate Change, Weather vs. Climate, Causes of Climate Change (including Natural, Human Impact, and the Greenhouse Effect), Global Warming, and Mitigating Solutions to the Climate Crisis
Getting Started
Module Learning Objectives
- The learner will be able to define climate change.
- The learner will be able to differentiate between climate and weather.
- The learner will be able to give examples of the causes of climate change.
- The learner will be able to identify signs of climate change.
Needed Materials
The learner will need the following materials:
- Tablet, laptop, or other similar device
- Ability to open PDFs, PPTs, and Youtube videos (with audio)
- Climate Chronicle (unit journal)
- Writing utensil
Estimated Completion Time
This module will take learners approximately 30 minutes to complete.
Glossary of Terms
Adaptation: Taking actions to avoid, benefit from, or deal with current and future climate change. Adaptation can take place in advance (by planning before an impact occurs) or in response to changes that are already occurring.
Atmosphere: A mixture of nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and other gases that surrounds the Earth. The atmosphere is critical to supporting life on Earth.
Biofuel: A type of fuel produced from plants or other forms of biomass. Examples of biofuels include ethanol, biodiesel, and biogas.
Carbon: A chemical element that is essential to all living things. Carbon combines with other elements to form a variety of different compounds. Plants and animals are made up of carbon compounds, and so are certain minerals. Carbon combines with oxygen to make a gas called carbon dioxide.
Carbon dioxide: A colorless, odorless greenhouse gas. It is produced naturally when dead animals or plants decay, and it is used by plants during photosynthesis. People are adding carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, mostly by burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas. This extra carbon dioxide is the main cause of climate change.
Carbon footprint: The total amount of greenhouse gases that are emitted into the atmosphere each year by a person, family, building, organization, or company. A person’s carbon footprint includes greenhouse gas emissions from fuel that he or she burns directly, such as by heating a home or riding in a car. It also includes greenhouse gases that come from producing the goods or services that the person uses, including emissions from power plants that make electricity, factories that make products, and landfills where trash gets sent.
Climate: The average weather conditions in a particular location or region at a particular time of the year. Climate is usually measured over a period of 30 years or more.
Climate change: A significant change in the Earth’s climate. The Earth is currently getting warmer because people are adding heat-trapping greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. The term “global warming” refers to warmer temperatures, while “climate change” refers to the broader set of changes that go along with warmer temperatures, including changes in weather patterns, the oceans, ice and snow, and ecosystems around the world.
Drought: A period of unusually dry weather lasting long enough to cause serious shortages of water for ecosystems and human use (such as drinking water and agriculture) in the affected area.
Ecosystem: A natural community of plants, animals, and other living organisms and the physical environment in which they live and interact.
Emissions: The release of a gas (such as carbon dioxide) or other substance into the air.
Energy: The ability to do work. Energy comes in many forms, such as heat, light, motion, and electricity. Most of the world's energy comes from burning fossil fuels to produce heat, which can then be converted into other forms of energy, such as motion (for example, driving a car) or electricity.
Ethanol: A type of alcohol that can be produced from different forms of biomass, such as agricultural crops. Ethanol can be burned as a fuel, often by blending it with gasoline.
Fossil fuel: A type of fuel that forms deep within the Earth. Examples of fossil fuels include coal, oil, and natural gas. Fossil fuels are created over millions of years as dead plant and animal material becomes trapped and buried in layers of rock, and heat and pressure transform this material into a fuel. All fossil fuels contain carbon, and when people burn these fuels to produce energy, they create carbon dioxide.
Geothermal energy: Heat from inside the Earth. People can use geothermal energy to heat buildings or produce electricity.
Global climate: The average climate around the world.
Global warming: An increase in temperature near the surface of the Earth. Global warming has occurred in the distant past as the result of natural causes. However, the term is most often used to refer to recent and ongoing warming caused by people’s activities. Global warming leads to a bigger set of changes referred to as global climate change.
Greenhouse gas: Also sometimes known as “heat trapping gases,” greenhouse gases are natural or manmade gases that trap heat in the atmosphere and contribute to the greenhouse effect. Greenhouse gases include water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases.
Habitat: The place or environment where a plant or animal naturally lives and grows.
Heat stroke: A medical condition that results from being exposed to high temperatures. A person’s body temperature rises rapidly and he or she is unable to cool down by sweating.
Heat wave: A long period of abnormally hot weather, typically lasting for several days.
Magma: Hot, melted rock under the Earth’s crust. Magma becomes lava when it is released through a volcano or other methods.
Methane: A colorless, odorless greenhouse gas. It occurs both naturally and as a result of people’s activities. Methane is produced by the decay of plants, animals, and waste, as well as other processes. It is also the main ingredient in natural gas.
Natural gas: A fossil fuel that is an odorless, colorless gas. Natural gas consists of 50 to 90 percent methane.
Nitrous oxide: A colorless, odorless greenhouse gas. It occurs both naturally and as a result of people’s activities. Major sources include farming practices (such as using fertilizers) that add extra nitrogen to the soil, burning fossil fuels, and certain industrial processes.
Nonrenewable resource: A natural resource that cannot be produced, regrown, or reused fast enough to keep up with how quickly it is used. Fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas, for example, take millions of years to develop naturally. Thus, their supply for people to use is considered nonrenewable.
Ozone: A gas made up of three atoms of oxygen bonded together. High in the atmosphere, ozone naturally shields the Earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation that comes from the sun. Closer to the Earth’s surface, ozone is a pollutant that is formed by other pollutants that react with each other. Ozone is also a greenhouse gas.
Passive solar heating: The use of windows, building materials, and other features to take advantage of sunlight to heat the inside of a building.
Permafrost: Soil or rock that is frozen year-round. Permafrost can be found in many parts of Alaska, northern Canada, and other countries near the Arctic Ocean. Even though the soil at the surface of the Earth may not be frozen during the warmer months, a layer of permafrost may exist several feet below.
Positive feedback loop: A process in which one change leads to another, which then causes even more of the original change. In climate change, a positive feedback loop occurs when warming causes changes that lead to even more warming. For example, as the Earth gets warmer, the amount of ice that covers the Arctic Ocean is shrinking, which leaves more open water. Ice reflects a lot of sunlight back into space, while the open ocean is dark and absorbs more of the sun’s energy, making the Earth warmer. Thus, melting ice causes the Earth to absorb more energy from the sun and become even warmer.
Precipitation: Rain, hail, mist, sleet, snow, or any other moisture that falls to the Earth.
Rain gauge: An instrument that measures the amount of rain that has fallen in a particular place.
Regional climate: An average of the weather in a particular area over many years. Regional climate influences which kinds of plants and animals can live in a particular area. Factors that influence regional climate include latitude, landforms, nearby bodies of water, and circulation patterns in the ocean and the atmosphere.
Renewable resource: A natural resource that can be produced, regrown, or reused fast enough to keep up with how quickly it is used. Wind, tides, and solar energy, for example, are in no danger of running out and can be consumed by people virtually forever. In contrast, fossil fuels such as coal take millions of years to develop naturally and are considered nonrenewable.
Smog: Air pollution caused by chemical reactions of various pollutants emitted from different sources. Ozone is one of the main ingredients of smog, and it can harm people’s health.
Solar energy: Energy from the sun, which can be converted into other forms of energy such as heat or electricity.
Solar panel: A device that can convert energy from the sun into energy for people to use. Some types of solar panels convert sunlight directly into electricity. Others use sunlight to heat water, which can then be used to provide heat or hot water to a building.
Solar thermal technology: A system that uses sunlight to heat water or create steam, which can then be used to generate electricity.
Subtropics: The parts of the Earth immediately north and south of the tropics. The southern part of the United States is considered subtropical.
Thermal expansion: The increase in volume of a material as it gets warmer. For example, water expands as it is heated, causing each drop of water to increase in size. In the ocean, thermal expansion is one cause of rising sea level.
Tidal power: A form of renewable energy generated from the natural rise and fall of the ocean.
Tides: A variation in the surface level of the oceans caused by the gravitational pull of the moon and sun. Tides fluctuate between high and low twice a day.
Tropics: The parts of the Earth near the Equator, which are very warm all year long because they receive a lot of direct sunlight.
Uranium: A heavy, naturally radioactive, metallic element that is used to produce nuclear power.
Water vapor: Water that is present in the atmosphere as a gas. Water vapor is a greenhouse gas and plays an important role in the natural greenhouse effect. Clouds form when extra water vapor in the atmosphere condenses to form ice, water droplets, and precipitation.
Weather: The condition of the atmosphere at a particular place and time. Some familiar characteristics of the weather include wind, temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, cloudiness, and precipitation. Weather can change from hour to hour, day to day, and season to season.
Wetland: An area of land that is periodically saturated with water, which influences the types of plants and animals that can live there. Wetlands include swamps, marshes, bogs, and other similar areas.
Wind turbine: A machine that converts energy from the wind into electricity. The wind spins a set of blades connected to a generator.
Learning Activities
Warm-up Activity
Before we dive into studying climate change, open your Climate Chronicle. This Chronicle will serve as sort of journal for you as you progress through these activities. You will periodically be asked to follow along in or answer prompts in your Chronicle, so keep it nearby.
Warm-up activity: Open your Climate Chronicle and find the Climate Word Search activity. Search for some of the concepts that we'll be examinig in this module.
What is Climate Change?
Climate change is a hot-topic right now. You hear about it on the radio, on the news and TV shows, at school, and even on social media. But what's all the fuss? What exactly is a climate and what's changing about it? And why should we care?
Watch this brief video for a quick introduction to Climate Change
The Fight for Planet Earth: An Exploration of Climate Change & Urban Gardening
Climate change is a complicated and nuanced issue. But we're never too young to start learning about the challenges our planet is facing. And it's never too late to start implementing changes that will help to preserve Earth's resources and protect its inhabitants. Work your way through the interactive presentation linked below and learn more about the climate and ways we can combat global warming, like urban gardening.
Click here to Fight for Planet Earth
Accompanying activity: Follow along and respond to the prompts in your Climate Chronicle.
Climate vs. Weather
Differentiating between climate and weather can be confusing. A lot of the same words are associated with both an area's climate and it's day-to-day weather patterns. While weather and climate may be related, they are not the same. Read the article linked below to learn more about how climate differs from weather.
Click here to read Weather or Climate: What's the Difference (National Geographic)
Accompanying activity: After you're done reading, find the Climate vs. Weather activity in your Climate Chronicle. For each prompt, circle weather that is an example of a climate or a description of an area's weather.
Human Contribution to Climate Change
Understanding the impact of humans on climate change can be overwhelming. But it doesn't have to be. The impact of humans on the environment can be simplified down into a three-step series of events, as shown in the diagram below.
Accompanying activity: Find the same diagram in your Climate Chronicle. Recall what you learned from the Interactive Presentation to correctly label Steps 1, 2, and 3 on the diagram in your Chronicle.
Meet the Greenhouse Gases
You've studied how humans produce gases referred to as Greenhouse Gases, which in turn trap heat. But gases are we specifically talking about? And what are they all about?
Accompanying activity: Meet the Greenhouse Gases and label their corresponding pictures in your Climate Chronicle.
Click here to meet the Greenhouse Gases
Fighting Against Climate Change
You're just one individual. You might be thinking there's nothing you can do to slow down and combate the climate changes our planet is facing. But you're wrong! Even as a kid, there's a lot that you can do on your own that can make a big difference in slowing down the climate crisis.
Accompanying activity: Follow along and respond to the prompts in your Climate Chronicle.
Assessment
Assessment
It's time to show what you learned and earn a Climate Advocate Badge!
Directions: Access the Climate Change & Urban Gardening Unit Quiz and answer the ten questions that follow. If you receive a passing score of 70% or higher (7/10 questions correct), you'll receive the Climate Advocate Badge to add to your digital badge collection! Be sure to submit your name at the end of the quiz in order to receive credit.
References and Additional Resources
Center for Climate and Energy Solutions: Climate Basics for Kids
National Geographic: Weather or Climate: What's the Difference?
PBS Digital Studios: I'm Only One Kid...
US Environmental Protection Agency: Causes of Climate Change
US Environmental Protection Agency: A Student's Guide to Global Climate Change
(For instructor-view only) World Wildlife Fund: The Climate Change Quiz