This article describes glaciologist Lonnie Thompson's discovery of an ancient plant in Peru. It also illustrates some important characteristics of good science that can be seen even in a serendipitous discovery.

This learning activity is a climate change musical for K-12, youth groups or faith organizations. Shine weaves together climate science and performance art into a fun and powerful story, which spans 300 million years of geological time to convey how humanity, energy, and climate are interrelated.

Residents along the U.S. Gulf Coast are familiar with the flooding hazards associated with storms, yet many are unaware of the risk of sea level rise. Shoppers at a local mall had a chance to explore the potential impacts of sea level rise on their communities.

When students consider the causes of shoreline erosion they often assume waves are the controlling process. Although they are correct there are other variables to consider. This assignment uses the Coastal Vulnerability Index (CVI) developed by the USGS to evaluate multiple factors that affect shoreline stability. The two sites used in this example- Virginia and Maine, were deliberately chosen because the wave height, i.e. wave energy, is almost the same but the erosion rates are different. Maine is more stable (lower CVI) than Virginia (high CVI), but waves are not the reason the stability of these two shorelines differ. This forces students to consider other variables such as underlying geology and sea level rise.

 This inquiry unit leads students through the different perspectives behind a decision to have a dam removed. This unit looks at similar Washington state dam removal decisions as well as the complex issue of having the Election dam removed near Puyallup, WA. Students will be introduced to the stories and traditional ways of knowing about salmon that the Puyallup Tribe has built their culture upon. Then they will explore the science behind hydroelectricity and build models to discover how carbon neutral energy is gathered through hydro dams. This inquiry unit ends with students researching different perspectives surrounding the current (2021) decision to remove the Electron dam including: the Tribe’s Fishery department, the ecosystem, the city council, the fishermen and the hydro-electrical company who currently owns the dam. With their research, students will do a socratic seminar to mimic the court case lawsuit that is ongoing against the Electron Dam. 

City officials in Tybee Island, Georgia, recognized sea level rise as a growing problem for their community. Visualizations from a sea level rise viewer helped them raise awareness of the city's vulnerabilities and led to development of Georgia’s first sea level rise plan.

These 'warming stripe' graphics are visual representations of the change in temperature as measured in each country over the past 100+ years. Each stripe represents the temperature in that country averaged over a year.

This activity guides users through a series of steps for measuring land use change in the Amazon rainforest in Brazil in three different years. Using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images students calculate how much of the area is forested and how much is deforested in each year by processing and measuring the images using ImageJ, a public-domain image analysis program. The final product of this chapter is an image showing, in color, the oldest to most recently deforested areas.

This video features scientists in New Zealand's Southern Alps, examining samples from the rocky landscape once dominated by glaciers. Their research, combined with other climate records, has revealed a link between glacial retreat and rising levels of carbon dioxide in the air.

Our bodies are finely-calibrated, organic machines that are capable of dealing with the fluctuations of our internal systems in response to stimuli. We are able to regulate these changes through feedback loops in order to maintain the self in a prime ‘operating condition’ known as homeostasis. While deviations from homeostasis may occur, the body has processes in place to eventually return to normal. Long term or highly disruptive deviation, to the point where the body’s natural feedback loops are insufficient at correcting the error, is an indicator of something abnormal at work—be it parasite, virus, or organ malfunction.

The Earth also displays similar mechanisms of homeostasis—complex feedback loops that allow it to regulate temperature, gas concentrations, and pH. Normally, small fluctuations are regulated within the system. Negative feedback loops maintain balance through chemical processes like the sink and release of carbon gases. However, as excessive fossil fuel combustion tips the scales, it is likely that we are moving further away from the point where these feedback loops are enough to return the carbon cycle to balance.

We can see symptoms of this deviation in alteration of the climate, increased warming, and the thawing of glaciers and permafrost. The study of these indicators allow us to monitor the disease and provide insight into the underlying cause. The feedback loops found in the carbon cycle are unable to rectify the anthropogenic carbon output post Industrial revolution, leading to some alarming trends. The greater the divergence from normal the greater the impact these indicators have on the system of the planet until, like the human body, there is irreparable harm to the system.

Is this warming a fever-- a planetary self-preservation system precipitated by the intemperate combustion of fossil fuels-- that aims to overcorrect the problem before returning to homeostasis in the geological timeline? How does a ‘sick’ planet impact our own health? This unit addresses the consequence of anthropogenic carbon sourced global warming on the planetary system and human physiology.

In this activity, students engage in a simulation of the international negotiation process in order to convey how the international community is responding to climate change. Participants learn firsthand about the interests of different countries and the range of policy responses to mitigate future climate change.

This lesson has activities where students will learn about buoyancy and explore how hot water rises and cold water sinks. As an extension and real-life application, students will see that glacial run-off is occurring at a rapid pace and the cold glacial water could potentially change ocean currents thus influencing global climates.

This is an interactive map of California and the Sierra Nevada mountains, showing how the amount of water stored in the snowpack will vary under different climate scenarios. The tool shows observations and projections from 1950 to 2090, and uses low or high emission scenarios to model future snowpack. The tool can be adjusted to show different months of the year and various climate models, graphed by site.

This article describes the work of Dr. Jason Box, a researcher studying summer melt ponds on Greenland's ice sheets and the response of glaciers to try to explain the changes in climate that are being observed in the polar regions.

SYNOPSIS: This lesson features a comparison of different travel options from New York City to six other cities. Students compare walking, biking, driving, taking the bus, riding the train, and flying. Students conduct research and calculate the CO2e for each travel option.

SCIENTIST NOTES: The lesson explores emissions from the transportation system. Students would be able to learn how the society can decarbonize the transportation sector and compute the cost, time, and emissions from different transportation modes. There are no misconceptions in the data source and additional links. Thus, this lesson has passed our scientist review and is recommended for classroom use.

POSITIVES:
-This is a fun, imaginative, engaging lesson.
-This lesson features many math skills: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division by rational numbers; estimation; logic and reasoning skills; problem-solving skills; and algebraic thinking.

ADDITIONAL PREREQUISITES:
-You will need to share the Student Slideshow with students and grant them editing rights before the lesson. Students will be writing in the Student Slideshow.
-Transportation is the largest sector of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. We must decarbonize our transportation systems immediately to avoid the worst effects of climate change.
-Students use equations derived from Peter Kalmus’s book called Being the Change: Live Well and Spark a Climate Revolution.
-The Ford F-150 is used as the example vehicle because it is the best-selling vehicle in the United States. The unit CO2e is used for all travel options. CO2e is used because traveling by plane creates non-CO2 warming effects. You can read more about aviation’s non-CO2 warming effects at the Stay Grounded Website. So in order to best compare the pollution from these travel options, we must use the unit CO2e.
-CO2e is a metric measure used to compare the emissions from various greenhouse gases on the basis of their global warming potential (GWP), by converting amounts of other gases to the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide with the same global warming potential.
-There may not be an easy travel option for each route, so students might have to problem-solve.
-The "How is it viewed by society?" column in the data chart is meant for students to discuss society’s views of that method of transportation. Do people think it is crazy? Normal? Only for the rich? Is one method considered only for "poor people"? Is one considered trendy or cool? Is it comfortable to travel in that way? Is it easy or difficult? These are all good prompts to ask students.
-Encourage students to have an open mind when discussing low-carbon travel options, such as riding the bus or train. Some students may have never traveled long-distance by bus or train. These are low-carbon options that are significantly better for the planet than driving or flying.

DIFFERENTIATION:
-Students can use the provided glossary to better understand vocabulary.
-Students can answer the extension questions if they finish early.
-Students can help other groups complete their charts if they finish early.
-Students can check over other students’ answers if they finish early.

Students gain hands-on research experience and increase their understanding of the applicability of theories of social change and further information about climate change.

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With the help of two climate experts, this video discusses how the social cost of carbon is calculated, how it should, perhaps, be calculated, and why the effort to quantify this value is necessary despite its imperfections.

In this video, adapted from KUAC-TV and the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, viewers learn how one-celled organisms in permafrost may be contributing to greenhouse gas levels and global warming.

In this interactive, students learn all about soil and how to conserve it. Students are walked through a series of questions and scenarios to help them learn about the connection to the carbon cycle and climate change.

This article describes the energy that radiates from the sun, the concept of albedo, Earth's radiation budget, and the effect of decreasing albedo on Earth's climate.