Teaching Climate Change

Climate Change is quickly becoming one of the defining discussions of our time. It is developing in such a way that you are able to see the effects of it, no matter where you live. 

As geographers and geography teachers we are uniquely positioned to be able to talk about climate with our students from a spatial perspective. Being able to look at what is happening where is something that geography has always been focused on. Now, with our rapidly changing climate, we are increasingly looking at the physical manifestations of climate change and the effects these changes are having on people. The rise of environmental justice reflects these changes as geographers are noting the disproportionate impacts that it is having on some communities compared to others.

In geography education there are a number of ways that we can approach teaching climate. Understanding past and current trends to help predict future patterns, looking at who is being affected and how, trying to figure out what is being done where, there are almost endless ways that a geographic perspective can be used to study climate. Our students are interested in it. The Keystone Education Group (Anderson, 2022) has noted that the number of students pursuing a degree in a field related to environmental science has seen a drastic uptick in recent years. University geography departments are responding by offering more tracks related to sustainability and the environment. Primary and secondary teachers can use topics on the environment to connect geography to the students’ interests and use the inquiry process to help teach students the processes of asking questions, collecting, organizing, and analyzing geographic data to start developing action plans to be able to do something about it.

-Kyle Tredinnick – Geographic Educators of Nebraska

Purpose and Objectives

The purpose of this curated toolkit, with a focus on Climate Change, is to provide educators with reliable resources for their own learning, for their students’ learning and beyond.

Young people across the planet are concerned about the future of their planet. Stories in the news and on social media have increased awareness of the gravity of the state of the planet. Younger generations understand that addressing climate change is going to shape their future – where they live, how they work, quality of life and so much more. Climate education needs to prepare them to make educated decisions, support smart legislation and live to protect the planet on which they live.

“Building a foundational knowledge of science is the key to understanding the reality of the climate crisis and developing solutions.”

Why is climate change education essential?

By integrating climate education into various subjects, students can learn the interconnectedness of processes that impact the environment. These lessons do not have to be complicated either — with the help of training workshops, educators can develop interactive plans for younger learners.  – Earthday.org, “Climate Education Takes Root,” 2024

Young people recognize that climate change is going to shape their futures—where they live, the work they will do, and their quality of life. They need climate education in order to develop green skills, adapt to the harsh reality of a warming world, and understand how to combat climate change. But they need to learn the basics of climate change before they can do anything about it.

In the U.S., more than 86 percent of teachers and 84 percent of parents support climate change education in schools. Progress is being made in some states, but on the whole students are not learning enough about climate science quickly enough to give them the knowledge and tools they will need to cope with the impacts of climate change.  – Columbia Climate School State of the Planet, “Climate Education in the U.S.: Where It Stands, and Why It Matters,” 2023

Education is a critical agent in addressing the issue of climate change… Education can encourage people to change their attitudes and behavior; it also helps them to make informed decisions. In the classroom, young people can be taught the impact of global warming and learn how to adapt to climate change. Education empowers all people, but especially motivates the young to take action. Knowing the facts helps eliminate the fear of an issue which is frequently colored by doom and gloom in the public arena. In this context, UNICEF has tapped into the minds and imaginations of children around the world to capture what it means to be a child growing up in the age of rapid climate change.  – United Nations Climate Action, “Education is key to addressing climate change,” 2023

Academic commentary – Lisa Tabor, University of Northern Iowa

“Climate change is a global issue that impacts the world at every scale…Geographic education is central to building the human capacity to be responsive…”

– Jody Smothers-Marcello,
Independent Academic Consultant

Climate change impacts the world at every scale, making geographic education crucial for understanding and responding to these challenges. Geography’s spatial perspective, combined with human-environment interaction, cultural understanding, and sustainability, positions geography at the forefront of climate change education. Community-driven projects, like those of the Yurok Tribe and Arctic communities, demonstrate the importance of indigenous perspectives in climate resilience. The National Strategy for the Arctic Region emphasizes the integration of indigenous knowledge in ecosystem conservation and climate adaptation. Globally, issues like ocean warming and fisheries management highlight the need for regional and ecosystem-level strategies, with the Pew Charitable Trust advocating for adaptive approaches.

The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 13 on climate action, stress the urgency of addressing climate change, noting significant gaps in education. Geography educators play a vital role in improving climate change education and linking global economic, social, and environmental systems. Gender equality, central to the SDGs, is also critical in climate discussions, with UN Women emphasizing the need to recognize and address the unequal care burden on women and girls amid the climate crisis.

Finally, using the geographic lens to study climate change is an imperative both in the short-term as well as in the long-term. Today’s four-year-old preschoolers understand about the habitat of polar bears being endangered.  The future is theirs.  How we educate them and those students who are older is critical to building what John Holdren calls “durable climate policy,” policy development that takes decades of work, should not be interrupted, and which allows for enough flexibility to respond to evolving events and knowledge.  (Holdren comments in Ulmer, et al.)  Climate change education from the geographic perspective is a PreK-lifelong education goal.  Read full Academic commentary. 

-Jody Smothers-Marcello, Independent Academic Consultant

Climate Change Resources

NCGE has carefully curated selection of materials to enhance your climate literacy and teaching, from foundational principles to the latest data and emotionally supportive resources. These tools are designed to empower educators at all levels to confidently teach the complexities of climate change.

  • https://www.storyofstuff.org/coloring-books/ – Downloadable booklets available. Human Environment Interaction (which includes the climate) is a strong topic in both booklets.  
  • NASA Climate Kids – This NASA site provides a very friendly format for primary level students. The information is organized by topic: Weather and Climate, Atmosphere, Water, Energy and Plants and Animals. Additionally, there is a set of Big Questions that can guide lessons or allow students to explore individually. There are other interactive features like games students can play on their own, activities teachers can lead in the class or send home with the students, videos to use with instructions and much more. These activities will provide a solid foundation for primary students in order to learn more about climate change in upper grades. 
  • Stanford School of Sustainability  – A progressive curriculum for students to gain an understanding on a local and global scale. Each lesson builds on the previous with an emphasis on skills, knowledge, scale and action. (This link is for Middle School. There are also lessons for High School that are different from the Middle School.)
  • Subject to Climate Change – What Do These Numbers Mean. An introductory lesson for graphing and learning about climate and weather. This site also has many other resources including more lesson plans, reading lists, and other teacher resources. 
  • Weather and Climate: What’s the Difference an archived lesson from the EPA – A short lesson that teaches the difference between weather and climate using real time observations, graph creation and analysis, and first person accounts.  
  • NOAA’s Weather and ClimateToolkit – This website allows learners to interact with data about extreme weather events. Students can practice reading and interpreting information provided through a variety of sources. There is also an interactive map that links to case studies for students to dive deeper into the learning. 
  • NOAA’s Climate Explorer – This is an ESRI interactive StoryMap style exploration of climate models, interactive maps of given locations or the ability to zoom in on the students’ current location. The maps allow for comparisons using slidebars on maps, graphs and charts. There are questions presented however, it would be easy for the teacher to create grade level appropriate guided learning. 
  • Retro Report – A search on Retro Report provides a list of short videos with lesson plans on the ozone, drought, eating beef, and more – all with great opportunities to enhance lessons and units on teaching climate change. 
  • The World Bank Atlas of Sustainable Development Goals  – An ESRI Story Map to explore specific targets and goals of SDG 13. 
  • Yale Program on Climate Change Communication – Lessons and Interactives for students to explore on their own or use in a lesson. 
  • Lesson Plan: Climate Change in Latin America  – This lesson plan comes from Powerful Geography, an interactive pedagogical approach to connecting Geography to students’ everyday lives. 
  • MIT Climate for Educators  (high school and college) – Activities, articles and interactive resources for high school and college educators

Primary

Secondary (middle and high school)

  • Ministry of the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson
  • South Sudan LL3, graphic novel by The World Food Programme   https://www.wfp.org/publications/ll3-living-level-3-south-sudan
  • We Are the Weather Makers by Sally Walker
  • The Climate Book by Greta Thunberg
  • On Time and Water by Andre Snaer Magnason
  • The Story of the Blue Planet by Andre Snaer Magnason
  • How to Change Everything by Naomi Klein
  • Eyes Wide Open: Going Behind the Environmental Headlines by Paul Fleischman
  • The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Micahel Pollan (there is a YA edition) 
  • One Earth: People of Color Saving the Planet by Anuradha Rao
  • Paradise of Fire by Jewell Parker Rhodes
  • Rising Seas: Flooding, Climate Change and our New World by Keltie Thomas
  • Two Degrees by Alan Gratz
  • All We Can Save by Anaya Elizabeth Johnson
  • A Bigger Picture: My Fight to Bring a New African Voice to Climate Change by Vanessa Nakate
  • No Planet B by Lucy Diavolo
  • Parable of Sower by Octavia Butler
  • Dry by Neal and Jarrod Shusterman
  • 1001 Voices on Climate Change by Devi Lockwood

Academic (some can also be used in upper secondary)

  • Why Geography Matters by Harm deBlij (Chap 3 – 4)
  • Why Geography Matters More Than Ever by Harm deBlij (chap 4 – 5)
  • This Changes Everything by Naomi Klein
  • The Earth Transformed by Peter Frankopan 
  • How to Avoid a Climate Disaster by Bill Gates
  • Don’t Even Think About It: Why Our Brains are Wired to Ignore Climate Change by George Marshall
  • A People’s Curriculum for the Earth: Teaching about Climate Change by Bill Bigelow
  • Teaching Climate Change to Adolescents by Richard Beach
  • Teach for Climate Justice by Tom Roderick
  • Teaching Climate History: There is No Planet B by Alan J Singer
  • Teaching Climate Change to Children by Rebecca Woodard
  • There is No Planet B by Mike Berners-Lee
  • The New Climate War by Michael E Mann
  • The Weight of Nature by Clayton Page Aldern
  • Full list of recommendations from SocialJusticeBooks.org https://socialjusticebooks.org/booklists/environment/
  • Learning to Teach Climate Change: students in teacher training and their progression in pedagogical content knowledge; 
  • Journal of Geography in Higher Education; Tim Tavier, Bouke Van Gorp, Jakob b Cyvin, Jarder Cyvin
  • https://doi.org/10.1080/03098265.2021.1900080
  • Teaching (super) wicked problems: authentic learning about climate change
  • Journal of Geography in Higher Education; Iain D Cross, Alina Congreve https://doi.org/10.1080/03098265.2020.1849066
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