Teaching Climate

This visualization focuses on public acceptance of climate science. The set of interactive maps illustrates public opinion on a variety of climate beliefs, risk perceptions, and policy support. The data is from the Yale Project on Climate Communication and is updated every one to two years. The most recent data at the time of this record is 2019.

This video features the story of a multi-generational, family-run dairy business in Oregon. The family strives for sustainability in their operations by conserving energy and reducing greenhouse gases across many aspects of their business.

In this learning activity, students use a web-based carbon calculator to determine their carbon footprint on the basis of their personal and household habits and choices. Students identify which personal activities and household choices produce the most CO2 emissions, compare their carbon footprint to the U.S. and global averages, and identify lifestyle changes they can make to reduce their footprint.

This resource utilizes an easy-to-use tool to discuss energy justice and household energy burdens. The lesson plan covers a variety of different topics that discus the complexity of energy use and socioeconomics. It is hands on while using the tool, yet also includes discussion based activities and several extensional activities that can engage students in different ways of learning.

In this 45-60 minute high-stakes board game, everyone wins or everyone loses. As they play, groups of three to four children ages 8 to 13 build an understanding of how human actions impact global change. As teams, children play a game in which chance and choice determine the fate of a lone polar bear on an ice floe.

This multi-lesson resource set for high school is focused on environmental justice and social science. It asks students to consider inequality and justice in the context of their own lives and the environment through a series of both hands-on and research-focused activities. This unit supports student understanding of the multiple, complex issues and perspectives of environmental justice in the United States. In part one, students complete a group activity under the pressures of environmental discrimination and then evaluate their success. The second and third part uses short videos to explain a real life example of overcoming environmental discrimination to encourage students to reflect on the complexity of these issues. In the final part, students debate a solution to an issue using assigned roles in a town hall platform.

This multi-lesson set is focused on environmental justice and social science. It asks students to consider inequality and justice in the context of their own lives and the environment through a series of both hands-on and research-focused activities.

This lesson set serves as an introduction to the topic of environmental justice via a tag game, flash card activity and discussion, and an art lesson for students to create their own environmental justice heroes. It includes thorough background materials and activities to think about before leading the lesson, including cultural adaptation notes and social and emotional support suggestions.

This two-part resource from GreenVision Energy broadly introduces students to vocabulary like renewable energy, load and demand response, carbon capture and sequestration, and environmental justice. Students will learn about the challenges of integrating renewable energy into the current energy grid system and navigating energy equity concepts caused by climate change through podcasts, worksheets, and discussion questions.

This lesson will help students understand water use in food production and ways to use less water.