Explore the role of national governments, municipalities, companies and the international community in climate change mitigation. Learn to set reduction targets yourself and translate them into action plans.

“Every action matters
Every bit of warming matters
Every year matters
Every choice matters.”

This was the brief summary of a 2018 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the scientific advisory board of the United Nations.

But who should take action?

In earlier courses, we already set out what is needed to limit the impact of climate change. In this course, we will explore the role of national governments, the international community, companies, and sub-national governments, like cities, municipalities, provinces, and regions.

We start from the idea that climate governance is polycentric. None of these parties can mitigate the dangers of climate change all by themselves. Each of these types of organization has its particular strength. If you work – or plan to work – in or with any such organization, then through this course you will learn how to be successful and effective in playing your part in mitigating climate change.

Important elements that will be discussed for the various players in the field are:

What roles can the different organizations play?
How can emission reduction targets be set so that they are both ambitious and feasible?
How can meaningful emission reduction plans be developed that actually result in emission reduction on the ground?
Examples will be presented by professionals who have been successful in their own organization. They are willing to share the failures and critical success factors in their strategies.

What You'll Learn
Understand how international climate agreements work.
Assess the sphere of influence of your own organization.
Learn how to develop national climate policies and evaluate the relevance of existing policies for your organization.
Be able to set ambitious and feasible GHG emission reduction targets for companies and discover how to translate these into a climate action plan.
Design approaches to tackle greenhouse gas emissions in supply chains.
Be able to set ambitious and feasible GHG emission reduction targets for cities and municipalities and learn how to translate these into climate action plans.
Decide in which areas the greatest acceleration of climate action is needed.

This multi-part activity introduces users to normal seasonal sea surface temperature (SST) variation as well as extreme variation, as in the case of El NiÃo and La NiÃa events, in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. Via a THREDDS server, users learn how to download seasonal SST data for the years 1982 to 1998. Using a geographic information system (GIS), they visualize and analyze that data, looking for the tell-tale SST signature of El NiÃo and La NiÃa events that occurred during that time period. At the end, students analyze a season of their own choosing to determine if an El NiÃo or La NiÃa SST pattern emerged in that year's data.

Through this activity, students in a liberal arts mathematics class will develop experience with real-world statistical concepts through the context of sustainability: estimation, survey writing, sampling techniques, and data analysis.

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SYNOPSIS: This lesson introduces the idea of soil as an ecosystem and as a carbon sink.

SCIENTIST NOTES: This lesson unravels the importance of soil and engages students to take actions to restore the soil for living things to survive. All materials have been fact-checked, and this lesson is recommended for teaching.

POSITIVES:
-This lesson creates a collaborative learning environment for students to learn about soil as an ecosystem and a carbon sink for the environment.
-This lesson features kinesthetic learning as students will be digging into samples of soil.
-Students will develop a strong connection to self and others as they explore how we depend on soil.
-Students will have an opportunity to share with family members the lessons learned via their artistic model of soil and its importance to all of us.
-This lesson features age-appropriate vocabulary development.

ADDITIONAL PREREQUISITES:
-It is necessary to obtain soil samples magnifying glasses before the lesson.
-The teacher will need to gather “found” art materials from the classroom (e.g., paper, chenille stems, tissue paper, yarn, felt, glue, tape, etc.).
-Teachers will need to get the book Dirt: The Scoop on Soil ahead of time. It is available in most public and school libraries.

DIFFERENTIATION:
-Students can make predictions or answer questions after viewing the time-lapse video while exploring the soil samples, and as they develop their soil carbon sink models.
-Students can work in pairs or teams to complete the hands-on soil activity and during the Inspire step.
-Groups of students with mixed abilities can collaborate as they build their soil carbon sink models.
-As an extension, students can walk around the schoolyard or playground and look for examples of “healthy” soil that is home to living organisms.

This activity illustrates the carbon cycle using an age-appropriate hook, and it includes thorough discussion and hands-on experimentation. Students learn about the geological (ancient) carbon cycle; they investigate the role of dinosaurs in the carbon cycle, and the eventual storage of carbon in the form of chalk. Students discover how the carbon cycle has been occurring for millions of years and is necessary for life on Earth. Finally, they may extend their knowledge to the concept of global warming and how engineers are working to understand the carbon cycle and reduce harmful carbon dioxide emissions.

This activity engages students with the concept of Direct Air Capture. Students watch an engaging film, participate in a reading and writing activity, and then model carbon dioxide adsorption/desorption in an exciting lab.

SYNOPSIS: This lesson explores the benefits of green spaces, how green spaces are disappearing, and how the disappearance of green spaces relates to environmental justice.

SCIENTIST NOTES: This lesson lets students understand the relationship between disappearing green spaces and environmental justice in their community. The lesson is elementary, suitable for classroom, use and has no scientific misconceptions. All materials are thoroughly sourced and have passed our science review.

POSITIVES:
-Students will better understand deforestation utilizing Google Earth.
-Students learn how urban tree cover disproportionately benefits wealthier communities.
-This lesson uplifts student voices and creates student agency to make the world better.

ADDITIONAL PREREQUISITES:
-This is lesson 2 of 6 in our 3rd-5th grade Green Spaces unit.
-Knowledge of the terms goods and services would be helpful prior to this lesson.

DIFFERENTIATION:
-Students are able to select one of three options in the Inspire section of this lesson.
-Outgoing students can share their mini-comics or stories with the class when they are finished.
-Teachers can support students who feel motivated to make changes in their schools or communities. Any project like this can extend far beyond this lesson.

In this unit, students will analyze how climate change affects migration around the world and the policies that could be effective in addressing the issue. To start, students will investigate what motivates people to move in general. Then students will read “The Great Climate Migration” by Abrahm Lustgarten and Meridith Kohut, where they will be introduced to how climate change may affect migration in the future. Students will then investigate how climate change is impacting migration by reading and presenting about specific scenarios around the globe. Finally, students will begin to research how policy can address climate migration to avoid disastrous outcomes in the future.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Dimethyl sulfide (DMS) is a gas produced by bacteria and algae that gives the ocean its distinctive scent. It also plays an important role in cloud formation, leading scientists to think its production may be instrumental in regulating climate change. But sea ice melt in the polar oceans under global warming has led to a reduction in DMS production, which may further intensify climate warming. To gain a better understanding of how bacteria contribute to DMS production, scientists recently investigated the distribution of bacterial genes involved in DMS cycling in seawater samples collected from around the world. They found evidence that intense DMS cycling facilitated predominantly by Alphaproteobacteria and Gammaproteobacteria occurs in the Arctic and Antarctic oceans, with high involvement of the enzymes DMSP demethylase, DMSP lyases, and trimethylamine monooxygenase..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

In this project, you will explore a real-world problem, and then work through a series of steps to analyze that problem, research ways the problem could be solved, then propose a possible solution to that problem. Often, there are no specific right or wrong solutions, but sometimes one particular solution may be better than others. The key is making sure you fully understand the problem, have researched some possible solutions, and have proposed the solution that you can support with information / evidence.Begin by reading the problem statement in Step 1. Take the time to review all the information provided in the statement, including exploring the websites, videos and / or articles that are linked. Then work on steps 2 through 8 to complete this problem-based learning experience.

This is a STEM activity to learn how different colors absorb light better than others. Vocabulary and investigating questions are included to facilitate discussion, and a rubric is provided for assessment.

This page presents a strategy for addressing a common climate misconception in the classroom, derived from The Debunking Handbook, by John Cook and Stephan Lewandowsky. This material was created by faculty as part of the CLEAN Climate Communications Workshop, held in April, 2012.

A collection of repeat photography of glaciers from the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). The photos are taken years apart at or near the same location, and at the same time of year. These images illustrate how dramatically glacier positions can change even over a relatively short period in geological time: 60 to 100 years. Background essay and discussion questions are included.

This video provides a good introduction to the field of attribution science. Beginning with an introduction to weather and climate, it describes how severe weather might be linked to climate change and the science behind attribution studies. It gives a good explanation behind how scientists use climate models to study whether severe weather events were influenced by climate change. It also discusses the question, "does climate change cause extreme weather?" and provides an introduction to the concepts of probability, causation, and correlation in regards to attribution science (how much climate change influenced an event verses normal variations in weather).

This resource has students role-play an Indigenous climate summit. It includes handouts about each Indigenous group and their concerns about climate change.

This page presents a strategy for addressing a common climate misconception in the classroom, derived from The Debunking Handbook, by John Cook and Stephan Lewandowsky. This material was created by faculty as part of the CLEAN Climate Communications Workshop, held in April, 2012.

In this video, scientist Dr. Susan Prichard discusses the impact of pine bark beetles on western forests. She explains how climate change, specifically rising temperatures, is exacerbating the problem.

In this video from Young Voices for the Planet, four middle-school girls (The Green Team) talk about their efforts to work with their peers to reduce the carbon footprint of their school and how they made the school more energy efficient.

In this resource, students learn about changes in water availability due to drought in California from 2013 to 2017. This resource provides opportunities for students to interpret data and analyze imagery for observational evidence of drought conditions through maps, satellite images, and photographs.

This PBS Learning Media activity addresses drought basics, including its causes and impacts and ways to assess it, by using media from NOAA and NASA. It defines the types of drought, the impacts, monitoring, and responses to drought. Use this resource to stimulate thinking and questions on the complexity of drought and to identify some variables used in defining drought.