The International Panel on Climate Change, a scientific advisory body assembled by the United Nations tasked with researching the prevalence and trajectory of climate change on Earth, recently issued a report painting a much more dire portrait of climate, environment, and how human beings are influencing the gradual warming of the Earth. It might not sound like much, but the over 90 scientists assembled to complete this report argue that a 2-degree increase in global temperature can virtually kill off all coral reef, create drastic weather changes resulting in torrential rains in some parts of the world and droughts in others, air-pollution that will kill thousands of people per year, and generally make Earth less inhabitable to millions of humans and species. This report also argues that if drastic changes are made by global political leaders and titans of industry, this course of action can be averted…but will they work together in order to avoid this global catastrophe?
Instructors, click on the link below to download this week’s lecture for use in your classroom. In addition to the resources provided below, the deck contains discussion questions, an in-class activity, an online activity, and assessment questions.
Download the PowerPoint Lecture Spark for the IPCC Report
Learning Objective 1: Understand the relationship between human existence and environmental consequences.
Learning Objective 2: Explain how issues of climate change are driven by political, economic, governmental, and social factors.
Video
Additional Resources
Jake Nevins, “John Oliver on the Paris climate deal: ‘Trump may have done us a tiny favor” (The Guardian, video/text)
Matthew Taylor, Matthew Weaver, and Helen Davidson, “IPCC climate change report calls for urgent action to phase out fussil fuels — as it happened” (The Guardian, text)
Umair Irfan, “Report: we have just 12 years to limit devastating global warming” (Vox, text)
“New climate change report issues stark warning” (CNN, video)
“Disastrous Effects of Climate Change Are Happening Now, Report Says” (NPR, audio/text)
Katherine J. Wu, “The World Was Just Issued 12-Year Ultimatum on Climate Change” (Smithsonian, text)
Jillian Mock, “What you should know about the new climate change report” (Popular Science, text)