Note:  This is the fourth in a monthly series of posts focused on integrating literacy and climate science and energy issues.  The posts are based on discussions in the "Not So Serious Climate and Energy Book Club," last Friday.  The book club evolved out of some informal virtual discussions between a number of us involved in climate and energy education around the country and is sponsored through ICEE:  Inspiring Climate Change Education Excellence in Boulder, Colorado.  Book suggestions, (especially hopeful ones!) are welcome in the comments area below.

Our last two book club books represent two different genres- a dystopian young adult novel and a comprehensive non-fiction book focusing on climate change and energy.

Empty by Suzanne Weyn, takes place in the not so distant future when oil prices are skyrocketing and extreme weather is the norm.  The main character is a scrappy, resilient young woman, with your typical high school angst, but also some pretty serious problems at home.  The novel offers some great opportunities to discuss our dependence on oil, as well as the solutions and alternatives that exist.  The book does end on a hopeful note which is nice, however it feels a bit forced and unbelievable.  A good read for middle school and maybe high school- it offers some possibilities for looking more deeply into some of the science raised.

Earth- The Operators Manual, by Richard Alley, was developed as a companion to the PBS documentary.  The book is comprehensive, but dense and might not be accessible in its entirety to most high school audiences.  That is not to say it isn't an important book and a great read for teachers teaching about climate change.  In the book Alley provides an overview of the history of humans and energy, the evidence for climate change, and alternative energy options. In our discussion Chapter 15 and 16 were raised as important and possible pull out readings for students.  A great resource and companion to the books is a series of videos developed by Alley that are great resources for the classroom.  They can be accessed here.

At the next book club we will discuss 12 year old Pavan Raj Gowda's book Gecko Boy, The Battle of Fracking.  I had the privilege of meeting Pavan last week at NAAEE and was extremely impressed with his maturity and interest in raising awareness around environmental issues.  The Not So Serious Climate and Energy book club will take place Thursday October 25, 2012 at 3:30 MT/4:30 CT/5:30 ET.  For more information join the ICEE forum or email Susan Buhr, Susan Buhr, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Hello Educators and Education Partners!
It is hard to believe September is almost over.  We hope you have had a fantastic month back and the school rhythm has begun to settle in.  We were sad to bid farewell to Ann Benson, our fantastic Education Assistant, at the end of August.  Ann was a great asset to our program and hard to replace, but we have been busy interviewing candidates for the position the last few weeks.  Stay tuned for a new face in the next month!

The online classroom has been busily filling up with observations and photos of the changes going on in our backyards around the state.  Ask your students to stop in and see what others are seeing and make a comment or two on their posts.

Please visit our summary of the Summer Institute for Climate Change Education 2012.  We have some great videos of key presentations and power points to download from all of the presentators. 

As the school year kicks off there are a number of great opportunities.  Please feel free to share with us any updates from your classroom or educational setting.  We would love to include them in future updates.

Professional Development

Join the Climate and Energy Not So Serious Book Club!  The next book will be Earth: The Operator's Manual by Richard Alley. This is a non-fiction book for a lay audience and would be accessible to high school readers and some middle school readers.  The book club evolved out of some informal virtual discussions between a number of us involved in climate and energy education around the country and is sponsored through ICEE:  Inspiring Climate Change Education Excellence in Boulder, Colorado. To learn more about the book club join the ICEE forum or email Susan Buh( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )  The next book club meeting is Friday September 28 at 2:30 PT, 3:30 MT, 4:30 CT, 5:30 ET.  All meetings are held online and are free.  Past book club summaries can be read here.

Looking for a few extra Graduate Credits?  Sign up for, Overcoming Climate Change Misconceptions in the Classroom, a 2 credit Hamline University course taught online and Will Steger Foundation Director of Education, Kristen Poppleton.  The course starts October 31, 2012.

Register Now for Teaching Outside the Box: An Introduction to Integrating Environmental and Outdoor Education in Grades K-12, Saturday, September 29: Sandstone – Audubon Center for the North Woods.  More information.

Classroom Resources and Opportunities

Hey Teachers! Bring Tolby into your Classroom.  Tolby is the kid friendly energy efficient mascot of the Minnesota Energy Challenge, an energy efficiency education program. The Minnesota Energy Challenge offers many free resources to bring Tolby to your classroom, such as a presentation from Emma, the Energy Challenge coordinator, informational handouts, plug meters, pencils and temporary tattoos. Tolby shows students how saving energy is important and fun at the same time. Through Tolby, students learn various ways they can save energy at school and at home. This program also teaches the basics of where electricity comes from and how its use affects the environment.

Using Tolby as a guide we teach kids about the importance of saving energy in an entertaining style. Presentations are interactive, energetic and include a visit from the Tolby mascot! He also has his own “For Kids” page on the MN Energy Challenge site where there are family focused energy saving actions,  and links to kid centered energy websites. Tolby even has his own Blog that students can follow.

Emma can help to bring Tolby into your classroom. If you would like ideas, support or a presentation contact Emma at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 612-335-5852

News of Note

Ongoing Coverage of the Drought

Climate Change in Minnesota and Trees

Watch A New Climate State: Arctic Sea Ice 2012

Note:  This is the third in a monthly series of posts focused on integrating literacy and climate science and energy issues.  The posts are based on discussions in the "Not So Serious Climate and Energy Book Club," last Friday.  The book club evolved out of some informal virtual discussions between a number of us involved in climate and energy education around the country and is sponsored through ICEE:  Inspiring Climate Change Education Excellence in Boulder, Colorado.  Book suggestions, (especially hopeful ones!) are welcome in the comments area below.

This month's read was the book Ship Breaker, by Paolo Bacigalupi.  Set in the future, Ship  Breaker takes place in a world that has been besieged by the impacts of climate change. New Orleans I and New Orleans II are underwater and frequent intense storms (called city killers) are a part of daily life.  Oil is scarce and there is a huge segregation between the classes.  The main character, Nailer, works as part of crew  scavenging for copper wiring on grounded oil tankers- a dangerous and dirty job, but the only real job available for his social class.  Nailer's life changes when he rescues a girl from the highest social class from a ship wreck and they travel up the Gulf Coast in search of people who will take her to safety.  

One thing lacking in this book was a very deep discussion of the science and climate themes.  One educator suggested this could be made up by asking students to come up with their own ways to incorporate the science into the book.  We thought that the book would work well as read aloud book in eighth grade science, although one teacher said she would read it in her fifth grade class.  Important themes include; sea level rise, extreme weather, segregation between the classes, climate change as as an issue of the elite, how we recycle and reuse things, and the idea of science and engineering as creative processes.

Activities and supplementary information that may be useful in tandem with this book

When The Ship Comes In To Brownsville, Rip It Up; NPR Story on modern Ship Breaking in Texas.

Aerial Photography and Mapping Lesson Plan: Images of Katrina

Changing Planet: Rising Sea Level

Extreme Weather 101

The next book club meeting to discuss Empty by Suzanne Weyn will be in August(TBD).  To learn more about the book club join the ICEE forum.

Note:  This is the second in a monthly series of posts focused on integrating literacy and climate science and energy issues.  The posts are based on discussions in the "Not So Serious Climate and Energy Book Club," last Friday.  The book club evolved out of some informal virtual discussions between a number of us involved in climate and energy education around the country and is sponsored through ICEE:  Inspiring Climate Change Education Excellence in Boulder, Colorado.  Book suggestions, (especially hopeful ones!) are welcome in the comments area below.

This month's featured book is The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer.  The book is non-fiction and comes in "chapter book" form suitable for middle school on up and young readers form suitable for Pre-K on up.  William's story is beautifully written and inspiring (in both formats) and details his life growing up Malawi facing the challenges of poverty and drought.  William overcomes these problems by designing and building a windmill to provide electricity and running water to his village.  The windmill creation is based on his reading of old science textbooks and his ability to figure out how to replace the parts he reads about with scrap metal, tractor parts, and bicycle frames.

In this month's discussion of the book, themes emerged including; how much William values and craves education; engineering innovation and the power of turning simple, common materials in something useful and lifesaving; cross-cultural connections and the description of life in a small Malawi village; and most importantly,as our book club host Susan Buhr pointed out, the fact that one person does matter, especially in terms of social systems.

Some suggestions from the group on how to integrate the book into a classroom situation included:

-Reading the young children's version and assigning chapters from the older version that focused more on the design of the windmill and the thought process that went into its creation.

-Watching the TEDtalk William Kamkwamba gave

-Reading the book Galimoto to discuss engineering and making complex things from common materials.

-Reading about and watching the story of a nine year old boy who built a games arcade out of cardboard boxes. 

Curriculum tie ins include:
Energy 101: Wind Turbines
Wind Turbine Blade Design
Will Steger Foundation's Citizen Climate, Lesson 3: New Technologies

The next book club meeting to discuss Ship Breaker by Paolo Baccigaluppi will be July 27 Friday, 12:30 PT/1:30 MT/2:30 CT/3:30 ET.  To learn more about the book club join the ICEE forum.