In this video, learn how communities in the arid high-mountain region of Ladakh rely on glacial water to feed streams and water crops during the spring and summer months. Global warming is dramatically reshaping the future of these areas. Meet a Ladakhi teacher and engineer who devised a method to capture and store glacial runoff into magnificent ice pyramids that are used as water resources throughout the summer and during peak agricultural months.

After the Ice: Our Food discusses changes in historic food sources for Arctic Native Americans. Global climate change is altering yearly cycles of both ice coverage and depth in the Bering Sea. Changes in the ice affect the way local native groups hunt in order to feed their community.

In Florida's humid climate, strawberry growers are in a constant battle with two kinds of fruit rot. Using a decision support system, they can save money by spraying fields only when the plant diseases are a threat.

This easy-to-understand video animation describes drought and explains the different categories of drought used by the drought monitor. It discusses the effects of and contributions to drought, what the implications of the different drought levels are, and puts the drought maps into context to understand how the impacts vary geographically (e.g. drought in Nevada vs Kansas - one could affect tourism, the other agriculture). It also touches on how the development of maps/drought severity is determined and how it might vary geographically. The animation provides a basic overview of statistics and percentiles and the concept of '100 year events.'

In this video, NOAA's Deke Arndt, Chief of the Climate Monitoring Branch at the National Climatic Data Center, recaps the temperature and precipitation data for the continental US in summer 2012. It describes how these conditions have led to drought and reduced crop yields.

To manage their businesses successfully, farmers and food production companies need to know what crops are in the ground and how well they are growing. A pair of easy-to-use online mapping tools provides this information for growing seasons in the past and present.

This animation illustrates how the hardiness zones for plants have changed between 1990 and 2006 based data from 5,000 National Climatic Data Center cooperative stations across the continental United States.

From weeks-long dry spells to extreme precipitation events, farmers face significant challenges in bringing crops to market. Here’s how one grower uses seasonal climate forecasts to increase his chances for success.

This activity addresses climate change impacts that affect all states that are part of the Colorado River Basin and are dependent on its water. Students examine available data, the possible consequences of changes to various user groups, and suggest solutions to adapt to these changes.

This resource has students role-play an Indigenous climate summit. It includes handouts about each Indigenous group and their concerns about climate change.

In the growing season, farmers and ranchers keep a watchful eye for any sign of drought. Early warning information can increase their range of options for dealing with the lack of water.

This set of five activities focuses on how climate change can affect agriculture, including crop production and ranching. The activities in this guide are appropriate for both formal and informal settings and all student handouts, instructor guides, and supporting files are included. The curriculum is designed for five days of activities that build on one another, but can also be used individually.

This activity has students work together to summarize regional effects of climate change and other environmental issues, which a focus on how these issues may influence agriculture and water availability. Students present a region to the group and create a layperson summary of the effects of climate change and other environmental change on their region.

(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 has students role-play as farmers from around the world and consider how agricultural practices are part of climate solutions. This resource includes role-play activities for students to learn more about La Via Campesina, one of the largest social movements around the world. Students get to discuss why they may not have heard of this in their history books and embody La Via Campesina activists.

In this psychology real-life investigation, students investigate the food on their plates, identify the source location of the foods they consume on a regular basis, and calculate their carbon footprint. The goal is to identify their diet (its source of origin – where was it grown, packaged, shipped from, etc.), its impact on their subjective well-being (also known as "happiness"), and its impact on their health as well as climate justice. Students conduct research to identify one potentially problematic ingredient that they frequently ingest. The idea here is for the students to investigate their carbon footprint and reflect on their current dietary choices, and also consider food ingredient(s) that might be detrimental to their well-being, such as increasing the vulnerability to certain diseases such as COVID-19, cancer, diabetes, etc. The goal is to widen students' awareness and encourage them to make up their own minds about their dietary choices while considering new directions to take. Furthermore, with the encouragement of a TED Talk on the power of talking about climate change with others, students are asked to create/design an infographic to effectively engage with the larger community on the issues of climate change and climate justice, and then use the infographic to talk to friends and family about what you are learning about climate change and climate justice.

Comprehensive curriculum/unit to teach how food systems affect climate change. Strong use of real data is embedded throughout. Full lessons, mini-lessons, and short videos are presented.

The Future of Food is an introductory-level science course that emphasizes the challenges facing food systems in the 21st century, and issues of sustainability for agriculture and other food production activities, as well as the challenges posed by food insecurity and modern diets to human health and well-being. Topics covered include introduction to the coupled-system perspective, historical development of food systems, socioeconomic aspects of the food system, interaction of the food system with the Earth's environment including soil, water, biota and climate, and the future of the food system considering potential changes such as in climate, urbanization, and demography.

Students begin this activity by using the IPCC4, carbon diagram to distinguish natural and anthropogenic carbon. (A point that students may need to have clarified is that CO2 from natural and anthropogenic sources is the same molecule.). Students begin with Activity 1 , calculating the overall carbon transfer for a year, followed by an examination of the role of forests in the carbon cycle. This suite of activities includes 7 parts, and the selection of additional activities depends upon the discretion of the instructor and focus of the class.

(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 video features Katharine Hayhoe presenting a lively discussion of impacts that the Midwestern US is experiencing due to climate change. It steps through evidence for how climate change is affecting agriculture, tourism, drought and flood, water cycles and freshwater availability, the spread of invasive species and disease, as well as other topics.

This kit explores how sustainability has been presented in the media with a particular focus on issues related to food, water and agriculture. Each of the 19 lessons integrates media literacy and critical thinking into lessons about different aspect of sustainability. Constant themes throughout the kit include social justice, climate change, energy, economics and unintended consequences.