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We are all Climate Activists Now

Learning Experience 2

Big Idea

We have what it takes in Philadelphia to do what we need to do

Summary

Students will learn how the warming of the planet’s atmosphere is impacting Philadelphia and what they can do to reverse the negative effects.

Engage

Ask students to:  Describe in writing or drawing any extreme summer weather they have experienced since you started school in Kindergarten and how it made them feel? What did they do to cool off? Can they recall this happening one time or multiple times?

Share observations orally and visually on the board or on post-its.  Look for similarities in everyone’s stories, then summarize and document any  as a class based on the individual student observations. This is to get students to start thinking about why they are “intense”; explain that increased frequency of intense weather events is an indicator that the climate on earth is changing.

Climate is different from weather

The difference between weather and climate is mainly just a measure of time. Weather is the condition of the atmosphere over a short period of time, and climate is how the atmosphere behaves over relatively long periods of time. Climate scientists (scientists who study climate) generally consider “climate” to be the statistics or trends of weather no less than 30-years and up to hundreds of thousands of years, looking at variations and patterns in temperature, precipitation, humidity, atmospheric pressure and much more to characterize the climate and make projections about the climate in the future.

Essentially, climate is what you expect, weather is what you get.

Weather is what we feel when we step outside. Weather helps up figure out what to wear on any given day. Climate tells you what kinds of clothes to have in your closet.

Create a T-chart (Climate vs Weather) on the board and ask students to complete the chart with at least 3 distinguishing characteristics for each column.

Explore and Explain 1

What is the Greenhouse Effect?

The slide deck will walk students through an overview of the Greenhouse Effect.

For more detailed information, a background document has been created.

After students work through the slides about the greenhouse effect, facilitate a common understanding, restated in their own words.

Show your students this video that explains “What is the Greenhouse Effect”

What is the Greenhouse Effect?

Explain to someone who doesn’t understand or know, verbally or on a recording like a podcast the natural balance (dynamic equilibrium) on the planet between C02 and carbon sinks.

Global Warming, Climate Change and the Water Cycle

Project this simple water cycle diagram and refer to it throughout the next part of the lesson to reinforce their knowledge of the stages of the water cycle.

Explore and Explain 2

Scientists and mathematicians at Project Drawdown , an international project,  promote solutions-based approaches to reversing Global Warming and mitigating Climate Change . Extensive research, now available online,  offers to “turn the ship around” through innovative technologies, behavior change, emission reduction and carbon sequestration.

The slide deck leads students through the research areas focused on in Project Drawdown.

Guide students’ exploration of the Project Drawdown online

https://www.drawdown.org/solutions and the Table of Solutions

Have students select a solution that they feel would be effective for Philadelphia. Have them read about the solution, then share their findings, including why they think it is a good strategy for our area.

Elaborate

YOUTH CLIMATE ACTIVISM

Form small groups to read and listen to the examples of young people speaking out below and keep this question in the forefront as you read or listen.

Listen to the Greta Thunberg TED Talk:

https://www.ted.com/talks/greta_thunberg_the_disarming_case_to_act_right_now_on_climate?language=en

and read the following articles about young people and their actions to combat the effects of climate change :

https://gothamist.com/news/liveblog-nyc-students-go-strike-demand-action-climate-crisis

about Xiye Bastida , Beacon High School Climate Activist:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/20/nyregion/climate-strike-nyc.html

https://grist.org/article/were-not-alone-thousands-of-nyc-students-join-gretas-climate-strike/

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/20/climate/global-climate-strike.html

https://www.youngvoicesfortheplanet.com/youth-climate-videos/

WHAT’S OUR PLAN?

  • Brainstorm ways we can participate in tangible actions and make a list.
  • Focus on something you can do locally we are all connected and actions add up!

Here are some examples of local action projects:

logan trees?

stormwater drains?

Example 2: Check out this attention-grabbing media project by Philadelphia Bregy 7th graders  Climate Change Video 

  • Think about what they care about preserving or changing
  • Choose an Action
  • Create an action plan
  • Develop their own criteria for success

COMMUNICATE TO OTHERS

Create a media campaign or PSA for your school neighborhood

Reflect on the Essential Question:  What actions can young Philadelphians take to reverse global warming? How do you feel about your role as a climate activist?

Teacher Support

Essential Question:

What actions can young Philadelphians take to reverse global warming?

Guiding Questions:

Engage

What actions can Philadelphians take to reverse global warming?

What is the difference between climate and weather?

Explore and Explain-1

What is global warming? What is climate change?

Explore and Explain-2

What are scientists and mathematicians projecting will be the impact of global warming and climate change on our city?

Elaborate

What are young people in Philadelphia doing about reversing global warming and adapting to climate change?
What makes these young people effective and persuasive in inspiring people to take action?
What are we going to do?  What’s the plan?

Students will be able to

Engage:

Distinguish climate from weather

Compare and Contrast by creating a T Chart of the distinguishing characteristics

Explore and Explain – 1

Express  what the greenhouse effect is, based on prior knowledge, and the relationship of the greenhouse effect and the phrase “global warming” (Written Narrative formative)

Global Warming and the Water Cycle

Describe how warming temperatures can affect the water cycle generally using diagrams, visual displays or demonstrations referencing the examples we have studied.

Explore and Explain – 2

Solution-based Scenarios:

Justify the value that each different type of scenario has for different purposes.

Describe how you think the combination of scenarios can help us move toward a sustainable future

Elaborate

Develop their own criteria for success
Create a media campaign or PSA for your school neighborhood

Explore & Explain -1

CO2 AND TEMPERATURE GRAPHS FOR PLEISTOCENE EPOCH

WATER CYCLE DIAGRAM

CONNECTION CIRCLE WORKSHEET

You Tube:  Connecting Circle Video

2 Degree Institute Interactive Customizable Graphs from as far back as 800,000 years to present  (Carbon Dioxide, Methane, Nitrous Oxide, Global Temperature, Global Mean Sea Level, and Global Ozone)

Explore and Explain – 3 

Think Like a Bathtub 3-minute video.  The video, originally created for COP26, shows how an everyday object – a bathtub — can help more people understand climate change dynamic and inspire student to take climate action. Suitable for ages 8-88)

The Climate Change Playbook. Includes 22 Systems Thinking games for effective communication about climate change, book for purchase here)

  • Educators can take advantage of a 35% off discount on this book using this discount code: AUTH35.  Good until 12/31/2022.

The Bathtub Game. An experiential learning game from the Climate Change Playbook suitable for school classrooms.  Suitable for 10-30 students. Download of game available here)

Think Like a Bathtub AR – Try it. Learn it. Teach it.  Download the app here.

This fun, interactive AR App, a ToggleLab/FabLab Connect collaboration, is designed as a hands-on educational tool to engage students in one of four key shapes of climate change — a bathtub. Using the app, the students first engage in thought experiments around our current rates of global warming pollution, e.g., humans are putting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere at about twice the rate that natural processes are removing them. Students are then able to use the app to demonstrate their understanding with their peers and adults. The app can be used for both independent learning and in a classroom setting and can be seamlessly integrated into curriculum and used as a form of assessment.

Think Like a Bathtub AR Bathtub video.  This introductory video walks you the TLAB AR app from downloading to sharing with students.

Overview of Stocks and Flows. I created this brief introduction to stock and flows with examples from everyday life for a Systems Literacy pilot on PBS Learning Media Systems.

The Science Behind the Bathtub analog MIT professor John Sterman originally framed and developed the “carbon bathtub” analog as a way to explain climate change dynamics more broadly. Imagine pouring water into your bathtub twice as fast as it drains out. Even though water is constantly flowing out through the drain, the inflow exceeds the outflow, so the water level in the tub will rise. Eventually, the tub will overflow. Similarly, humans are putting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere at about twice the rate that natural processes are removing them. If left unchecked, the tub will soon over flow — that is, the concentration of greenhouse gases will rise until severe climate change is unavoidable. I was inspired by the bathtub idea after co-authoring two papers with John:  “Bathtub Dynamics” and “Understanding Public Complacency About Climate Change.”   In 2005, National Geographic picked the carbon bathtub as a BIG IDEA for that year. (see infographic created by NatGeo). (For additional resources, see the TLAB pinterest page for additional resources)

To provide feedback on the TLAB AR app, please find us on DISCORD.

Elaborate 

BASIC
Adaptation noun
a response to changes in the environment that helps us thrive over time

Atmosphere noun
the envelope of gases surrounding the earth or another planet

Consequence noun
a result or effect of an action or condition

Likelihood noun
the state of something being likely or probable

Mitigation noun
applying or employing solution strategies to improve a situtation

Probability
noun
the extent to which something is probable or likely

Resilience noun
the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties

System noun
a set of interrelated elements that make a unified whole. Individual things– like plants, people, schools, watersheds, or economies– are themselves systems and, at the same time, cannot be fully understood apart from the larger systems in which they exist

ADVANCED
Amplification noun
the process of increasing something to make it more marked or intense

Geosphere
noun
any of the almost spherical concentric regions of matter that make up the earth and its atmosphere

Hydrosphere noun
all the waters on the earth’s surface, such as lakes and seas, and sometimes including water above the earth’s surface, such as clouds

Methane noun
a colorless, odorless flammable gas which is the main part of natural gas

Ozone
noun
a colorless unstable toxic gas with a pungent odor and oxidizing properties formed from oxygen by electrical charges or ultraviolet light. Normal oxygen molecule has two oxygen atoms, whereas ozone has 3

 

Describe what happened when people in different industries started emitting greater amounts of CO2 faster than the Earth could absorb it.

Illustrate the effect of increasing CO2 in the atmosphere on the atmosphere’s heat trapping properties.

Distinguish between the term global warming and the term climate change.

Explain the value that each different type of scenario has for different purposes.

Describe how you think the combination of scenarios can help us move toward a sustainable future.

TAKE ACTION AND CREATE A MEDIA CAMPAIGN: VISUAL ARTS PROJECT

Choose an Action, develop criteria for success, and Create a media campaign for your school neighborhood.

How do you feel about your role as a climate activist?

PA STEELS Standards

Environmental Literacy and Sustainability

3.4.6-8.E Environmental Literacy Skills: Collect, analyze, and interpret environmental data to describe a local environment.

3.4.6-8.I Sustainability and Stewardship: Construct an explanation that describes regional environmental conditions and their implications on environmental justice and social equity

 

Related Standards

Education for Sustainability

EfS 1 Enduring Understandings – We can learn how to live well within the means of nature. This viewpoint inspires and motivates people to act.

EfS 8 Enduring Understandings – Envision the kind of future we want and start working towards it. We do not have to sacrifice our children’s future to meet our needs. In fact, that is irresponsible and just plain wrong.

EfS 9 Enduring Understandings – We need to pay attention to the results of our behavior on the systems upon which we depend. How will we measure success? Sometimes the results of our behavior are inconsistent with our values and our desired outcomes. If we keep our eyes on the feedback, we can adjust our thinking and behavior before we cross detrimental thresholds,

EfS 12 Enduring Understandings – Everything we do and everything we don’t do makes a difference.

Student Materials

Student Worksheet

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