This activity includes an assessment, analysis, and action tool that can be used by classrooms to promote understanding of how the complex current issues of energy, pollution, supply, and consumption are not just global but also local issues.

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 interactive addresses the question if we can reduce CO2 emissions by 20% of 1990 levels and help avoid dangerous climate change? Users of this interactive can manipulate changes to various sources and uses (supply and demand) of energy with the goal of reducing C02 emissions in Great Britain by 80% in the year 2050.

This NOAA visualization on YouTube shows the seasonal variations in sea surface temperatures and ice cover from 1985 to 2007. The visualization is based on data collected by NOAA polar-orbiting satellites. El NiÃo and La NiÃa are easily identified, as are the trends in decreasing polar sea ice.

A video from the Extreme Ice Survey in which Dr. Tad Pfeffer and photographer Jim Balog discuss the dynamics of the Columbia glacier's retreat in recent years through this time-lapse movie. Key point: glacier size is being reduced not just by glacial melting but due to a shift in glacial dynamics brought on by climate change.

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.

In this 6-part activity, students learn about climate change during the Cenozoic and the abrupt changes at the Cretaceous/Paleogene boundary (65.5 million years ago), the Eocene/Oligocene boundary (33.9 million years ago), and the Paleocene/Eocene boundary (55.8 million years ago).

In this activity, students use the absorption spectra of greenhouse gases to explore the nature of the greenhouse effect.

This video follows biologist Gretchen Hofmann as she studies the effects of ocean acidification on sea urchin larvae.

This short video is an excerpt from the longer video Acid Test: The Global Challenge of Ocean Acidification, produced by the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC). This short version summarizes the science of ocean acidification as well as the social implications.

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.

This 20-minute video, produced by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, describes adaptation strategies undertaken by several groups and nations in response to rising sea level and other aspects of climate change.

In this activity, students assess individual and national opinions on climate change and explore strategies that communities are employing to adapt to aspects of climate change already affecting them in addition to those likely to affect them in the future.

This video uses Bangladesh as a case study by describing climate change adaptation strategies being implemented in Bangladeshi communities as well as in other countries.

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 Alaska’s 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 EPA’s Climate Ready Water Utilities program to consider options and develop plans to protect their water source.

A short video that discusses how changing climate is affecting the population of AdÃlie penguins.