Earth Day 1970 - 2020: 50th Anniversary - Time Will Tell

American Museum of Natural History

Using real data, this animated video provides numerous facts comparing human behaviors and Earth characteristics related to climate change through time - from the first Earth Day in 1970, to the 50th anniversary of Earth Day in 2020.

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Notes from our reviewers

The CLEAN collection is hand-picked and rigorously reviewed for scientific accuracy and classroom effectiveness. Read what our review team had to say about this resource below or learn more about how CLEAN reviews teaching materials.

This could be effectively used as an introduction to the topics of anthropogenic impact on climate change and becoming an agent of change for the future. Teachers will need to provide students with context, structure and a guided lesson plan to effectively use this resource. An instructor could also use this video to introduce careers that will exist in the future, but that don't yet exist, to address climate change.
This video presents information on the following topics: population, meat consumption, flying, energy use, and production of "stuff." It includes a great deal of current data from multiple scientific and governmental sources presented in an effective manner (16 high quality references). The first three minutes show the negative impacts of anthropogenic effects on climate change and the final two minutes show positive impacts and encourage agency to affect change. Comments from expert scientist: Scientific strengths: It's a great, engaging video about various aspects of global change. A great intro to an environmental science/sustainability module or course. Suggestions: None.
Provides a great deal of data in a high-quality, visually entertaining format. This is an engaging and very informative animation but offers no instructional guidance. Teachers will need to provide their own structure and lesson plan for a quality learning experience. It can be a bit difficult to keep up with information presented before the video moves on to the next topic, but a transcript is available. Instructor could also pause the video or replay it. The video could be used as a jumping off point to deeper discussions.