In this multi-part activity, students distinguish between adaptation and mitigation, in response to climate change, and research and discuss/debate strategies to minimize the effects of climate change.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
This video highlights the Pentagon's focus on climate change as the military examines potential risks, strategic responses, and impacts of climate change on future military and humanitarian missions. In 2010, for the first time, the Pentagon focused on climate change as a significant factor in its Quadrennial Defense Review of potential risks and strategic responses. Rear Admiral David Titley, Oceanographer of the Navy, explains why the US military sees clear evidence of climate change and how those changes will affect future military and humanitarian missions.
Polar ice sheets are sensitive indicators of current climate and also preserve evidence of past climate conditions. Scientists studying Earth's climate history core thousands of meters deep into ancient ice to retrieve gas bubbles trapped in ice sheets. Ice cores help reconstruct climatic conditions from hundreds of thousands of years ago. Join Dr. Jeff Severinghaus as he explains how gas bubbles are trapped, how they provide detailed chemical clues to the past and how they are helping to shape future climate scenarios. (45 minutes)
Material Type: Lecture
Join Scripps Institution of OceanographyŐs Robert Pinkel as he provides a window into the cold world of Arctic oceanography and illustrates how the interplay between sea ice and ocean circulation impacts Earth's climate. (51 minutes)
Material Type: Lecture
In this Second Annual Keeling Lecture from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, Lonnie G. Thompson, distinguished professor of earth sciences at Ohio State University and recipient of both the National Medal of Science and the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, provides insight into the convincing evidence of climate change provided by glaciers and polar ice-caps, and the implications that inaction in the face of this rapid change will have on societies on a global scale. (58 minutes)
Material Type: Lecture
Dr. Steve Running, a Regents Professor in the College of Forestry and Conservation at the University of Montana, discusses the paradox of why forests in the West are growing faster while simultaneously suffering from higher die-off rates. Running is a member of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and was the lead author on a 2007 report analyzing North AmericaŐs contribution to atmospheric carbon dioxide and its impacts on the global climate. (58 minutes)
Material Type: Lecture
Is climate variability affected by the ongoing addition of greenhouse gasses to Earth's atmosphere? Join Dr. Chris Charles as he explains how geological archives are shedding new light on the human impact on climate. (52 minutes)
Material Type: Lecture
Carbon dioxide has been steadily increasing in the Earth's atmosphere since the industrial rEvolution. Join Dr. Tim Lueker as he describes the history of atmospheric carbon dioxide research and the role the ocean plays in global warming. Learn how Dr. Lueker and others gather data that allow them to assess these important changes in the state of our atmosphere and ocean. (54 minutes)
Material Type: Lecture
In this exercise learners use statistics (T-test using Excel) to analyze an authentic dataset from Lake Mendota in Madison, WI that spans the last 150 years to explore ice on/ice off dates. In addition, students are asked to investigate the IPCC Likelihood Scale and apply it to their statistical results.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
This 10-question quiz covers some of the major impacts to human health caused by climate change.
Material Type: Simulation
This is the ninth and final lesson in a series of lessons about climate change. This lesson focuses on the various activities that humans can do to mitigate the effects of climate change. This includes information on current and predicted CO2 emission scenarios across the globe, alternative energy sources, and how people are currently responding to climate change. Importantly, this lesson is motivating in showing students that they can make a difference.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
Puerto Rico's San Juan Bay Estuary faces multiple threats, including heavy use by urban populations and impacts of climate change. A workbook from the EPA's Climate Ready Estuaries program helped them catalog, prioritize, and address their climate risks.
Material Type: Case Study
The Sentinel-2 10m Land Use/Land Cover time-series is live on ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World! This map provides an annual assessment of yearly global land cover from 2017–2021, in 9 different land cover classes, at 10-meter resolution. The new time-series animates the natural and anthropogenic processes that continue to transform our planet's landscapes and resources, giving researchers, planners, and the GIS community the information they need to make critical future decisions.
Material Type: Data Set, Reading
This short cartoon video uses a simple baseball analogy (steroid use increases probability of hitting home runs) to explain how small increases in greenhouse gases can cause global temperature changes and increase the probability of extreme weather events.
A short video on how changing climate is impacting the ecosystem and thereby impacting traditional lifestyles of the Athabaskan people of Alaska.
From changes in traditional foods to concerns of displacement from rising seas, this coastal community in the Pacific Northwest is assessing potential impacts to make decisions for their future.
Material Type: Case Study
This unit is designed to help 4th grade students foster an understanding of the effects climate change in Connecticut. Students will learn about specific species native to Connecticut, that depend on salt marshes, that are experiencing heavier precipitation and loss of habitat due to the changing climate. The unit focuses on these main questions: How is climate change and the greenhouse effect related? What is happening to the animals on our coastline? Why is there so much flooding occurring in my neighborhood? Students will explore and research species in Connecticut who’s survival has been negatively impacted by climate change, specifically the rise in sea level.
Material Type: Lesson Plan, Unit of Study
This music video features a rap song about some of the causes and effects of climate change with the goal of increasing awareness of climate change and how it will impact nature and humans.
This video reviews how increasing temperatures in the Arctic are affecting the path of the jet stream, the severity of storms, and the length of individual weather events (rain, storms, drought).
Students will be learning about the practices of regenerative agriculture and how regenerative agriculture is a solution to climate change. Embedded in the storyline are scientific concepts relating to carbon cycling and soil microbial activity. The storyline culminates with students creating an infographic that is intended for educating the community about regenerative agricultural practices.
Material Type: Unit of Study
