The National Climate Assessment assesses the science of climate change and its impacts across the United States, now and throughout this century. It documents climate change related impacts and responses for various sectors and regions, with the goal of better informing public and private decision-making at all levels.
This course contains five projects, plus a course introduction and course closure, that are organized around the following question: “How can we rethink our use of the world’s resources?” Each project involves investigations of sustainability that help contextualize the content required by the new College Board course framework.
This AP Environmental Science class is intended to meet the same objectives as a first-year college-based course.
However, the method of instruction for this course is unique compared to similar courses because we have adopted
a project-based learning (PBL) approach. Although PBL may take many forms, our approach involves student
investigations and simulations that require students to think like scientists, policymakers, farmers, and other adults
in real-world settings. Teachers engage students in collaborative problem solving, argumentation, and deep
exploration of the concepts and principles of the discipline. The goal for student learning is understanding rather
than relying on rote memory to create meaningful learning and knowledge that is actionable, adaptive, and
transferable.
This lesson focuses on a current issue in science in order to help students understand the process by which scientific knowledge is developed and refined. The goal of science is to advance human understanding of the natural world and that sometimes means changing long-held views. According to recent studies, many students think that changes come mainly through facts and improved observational and measuring technology. However, they often do not make the distinction that advancements or changes can come from both new observations and reinterpreting old observations.
This groundbreaking NRDC documentary explores the startling phenomenon of ocean acidification, which may challenge marine life on a scale not seen for tens of millions of years. The film, featuring Sigourney Weaver, originally aired on Discovery Planet Green. A related curriculum kit is available at: http://www.nrdc.org/oceans/acidification/files/labkit.pdf
Selected resources provide three web-based activities to complement science lessons in an issue of Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle. The free, online magazine for Grades K-5 teachers explores the essential principles of climate literacy.
As emissions of heat-trapping bases accumulate in our atmosphere, Earth's polar regions are warming more quickly than at lower latitudes. The rapid environmental changes that result from this warming can have a significant impact on the physical and mental health of rural Alaskans: unpredictable weather and changes in the seasons have made harvesting food more difficult, hazardous, and stressful. The risk of physical injury has also increased, as poor ice, extreme weather, and coastal erosion bring new travel hazards. Increasingly difficult harvest conditions for fish, shellfish, berries, caribou, and sea mammals have also increased concerns about food security. Additionally, declines in snow pack, the threat of drought, changes in lake and river conditions, and damage and disruptions to community water systems have prompted concerns of water security. The climate-related challenge faced by Alaskas tribal health system is to recognize new health stressors and community vulnerabilities, and then find healthy adaptation strategies in an increasingly uncertain future.
In 2012, water managers in Fredericktown, Missouri, saw their city's main source of water dwindle. They used the EPAs Climate Ready Water Utilities program to consider options and develop plans to protect their water source.
Energy policy is typically evolutionary as opposed to revolutionary. We can look to historical policies to understand how we've inherited the policies governing our energy use today. But looking backward only tells us part of the story. In the face of climate change, we need to look ahead and instead envision a more revolutionary change to our energy systems and the policies that govern them. This class takes you on that journey to energy policies past, present, and future. We look at the political realities of addressing climate change at various scales of governance and work together to craft our own ideal scenarios of what a responsible energy future will be.
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.
The world is driven by fossil fuels like oil and gas. This has some negative repercussions: Rising energy prices due to decreasing deposits, dependence on unstable oil and gas producing regimes and global warming.
It becomes clear, that a revolution in the way how we produce and use energy is necessary. Central to this energy transition are new technologies, which produce energy from renewable sources such as wind or sun.
With Germany as an example, this clip shows what renewable energies are and how they work as well as what the concept of energy transition means.
The clip is part of the WissensWerte Project of the german non-profit organization /e-politik.de/ e.V.
A team of middle school students in Baton Rouge research global warming and produce their take on the subject in this witty 30-second animated short
What would happen if a portion of the Antarctic Ice Sheet were to melt? This video segment adapted from NOVA uses animations to show the effect of a 6-meter sea-level rise on coastal cities across the world.
In this interactive activity produced for Teachers' Domain, learn how Arctic sea ice has changed over the past 25 years in terms of maximum winter extent, concentration, and the timing of breakup each spring.
Stakeholders of the Morro Bay National Estuary Program in California worked with resources from the EPA's Climate Ready Estuaries program to identify their climate risks. Their results helped them prioritize actions for building resilience.
An interactive map based on four decades of satellite images helps residents, resource managers, and stewards of the land anticipate and plan for coastal change.
Oyster-Acidifying oceans dramatically stunt the growth of already threatened shellfish. This audio slideshow and video features scientists from Bodega Marine Lab and research on shellfish in Tomales Bay, CA.
Located near Townsville, North Queensland, AIMS researchers collect and analyze data to improve our understanding of the marine world, and to find science-based management practices that ensure long-term sustainable use and development of marine resources. Site features information on facilities, faculty, current projects, open house and other events, and employment opportunities. Also features the Mariner's Journal, a log from several AIMS research cruises.
Climate change is an urgent problem. Because it is causing new weather extremes and fatal catastrophes, climate change is better termed climate disruption. Bending the curve to flatten the upward trajectory of pollution emissions responsible for climate disruption is essential in order to protect billions of people from this global threat. Education is a key part of the solution.
This series looks at the Oxford Martin School's academics and how their research is making a difference to our global future. The series will be of interest to people who are concerned about the future for the planet, how civilisation will adapt to emerging problems and issues such as climate change, over population, increased urbanisation of populations and the creation of vaccines to fight against future pandemics. The Oxford Martin School academics explain their various research topics in an accessible and thoughtful way and try to find practical solutions to these issues.