The big news in the world of climate change education this week has been the National Center for Science Education's new climate change education initiative. 

"Long respected for its work in defending and supporting the teaching of evolution in the public schools...NCSE launched this new initiative to defend and support the teaching of climate change."

When asked why NCSE decided to take on climate change, Executive Director Eugenie Scott responded;

"We have been receiving more and more reports of teachers being pressured against teaching climate change, much as they are pressured against teaching evolution. Right now the evidence is anecdotal but we have heard enough to suggest that it is a problem."
Source

Read more coverage on the initiative below and make sure you check out their new webpage  for tips, tools and other information!

Read More:
Evolution advocate turns to climate
http://www.nature.com/news/evolution-advocate-turns-to-climate-1.9811

Climate change skepticism seeps into science classrooms
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-climate-change-school-20120116,0,2808837.story

Climate in Classrooms
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/18/climate-in-classrooms/

Climate Change Causes Heated Battles For Science Teachers
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/18/climate-change-skeptics-science-teachers_n_1214049.html

National Center For Science Education Launches Fight Against Climate Change Denial In Schools
http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2012/01/18/405831/national-center-for-science-education-climate-change-denial-in-schools/?mobile=nc

 

Listen:
New Initiative to Promote Climate Change in the Classroom
http://www.thetakeaway.org/2012/jan/18/climate-change-classroom/

A Second Science Front: Evolution Champions Rise to Climate Science Defense
http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=a-second-science-front-evolution-ch-12-01-16

Point of Inquiry:  Eugenie Scott - Defending Climate Education
http://www.pointofinquiry.org/eugenie_scott_defending_climate_education/

Over the last month it has been hard to miss the news reports, blogs and editorial commentary on the extreme weather events that have been sweeping the country.  Tornadoes, flooding, and above normal temperatures have caught the media and the nation’s attention and looking for answers, inevitably the question has risen, “is THIS climate change?”, and furthermore as climate change educators, what do we say?

I have come across a number of great discussions and responses to these questions and these, in combination with some suggestions from co-workers and colleagues in the Climate Literacy Network, I have shared and summarized below. 

The bottom line?  Linking a specific weather event to climate change is very difficult (although possible as described in the first source cited), and tornadoes are especially tricky because there is still little known about how they even form.  That said, most sources agree that these weather events “could signal the future,” “we ain’t seen nothing yet,” and finally:

“...our local weather-demons have dropped an important teaching moment on our doorsteps--in some cases with a mighty splash. We may not have reached the new normal yet, but we can probably see it from here. Asking if climate change caused our crazy weather this year misses a more focused and potentially important question: Is this something we should plan for over the long term?”

As educators this is a “teachable moment” to delve deeper into how weather works  and how models work.  Inevitably it also presents the opportunity to discuss what adaptation means, if these extreme weather events become more frequent, as the IPCC and many other credible sources have predicted.

Further Reading
Going to extremes:  Real Climate Blog
This summary of recent articles in Nature on whether we can attribute specific weather events to climate change was the best I came across.

Missouri weather whips up media discussion of climate change and extreme weather:  Joseph Romm for grist
Excellent overview of responses to the big question.

The “new normal” weather
Nice article one how this scientist has decided to answer the question and why it is important.

Are You Ready for More?
Comprehensive article on the consequences of inaction on climate change at the policy level as it relates to extreme weather.

Another Day, Another Deadly Tornado Strikes the US
Nice in depth explanation of how tornadoes and other extreme weather are linked to climate change and La Nina, including some videos

Yale 360Forum:  Is Extreme Weather Linked to Global Warming?
Eight climate scientists answer this very question. 

Looking for causality in all the wrong places
This short commentary wonders if perhaps the media is just asking the wrong question.

Extreme Weather May Be The New Normal:  NPR’s Here and Now
Great 13 minute podcast
From floods to blizzards to wildfires, droughts and tornadoes, 2011 has seen some of the most extreme weather in decades. What’s fueling Mother Nature’s fury and can climate change alone explain the reason we are seeing more devastating and destructive storms?

A link between climate change and Joplin tornadoes? Never!
Bill McKibben's most recent op-ed call to action.

Recently I joined the Climate Literacy Network weekly phone call and listserv, a nationwide network of thinkers and doers around the topic of climate literacy.  It is an intense and inspiring group to be a part of and so encouraging to hear about all the good work being done nationally to address climate change.  As often happens in networks like this it is difficult to keep up with all the ideas, programs and resources being thrown out, but I will try share them on the Climate Lessons blog as they arise.

One thing that came up this week was NASA's Eyes on the Earth Website, which I highlighted in a past blog post. If you only go to one website for current and up to date climate science this is THE place to go.  I especially like their interactives, as well as their top ten climate movies.  Recently they added Tips and Tricks for Teachers that gives six ideas of ways to integrate the resources on their site into the classroom.  Upon review, the tips they share can be easily aligned to the Will Steger Foundation's Grades 6-12 lesson plans for a longer and more rigorous unit on climate change.  There are many ways they could be integrated, but here are a few ideas I developed upon first review.

Will Steger Foundation Lesson 1, Our Unique Atmosphere and 2, Emissions of Heat Trapping Gases would be well supported by  NASA's Tip 1, Climate Time Machine and 5, Climate Reel. Lesson 4, Implications of Warming in the Arctic would be well supported and extended by NASA's Tip 3, Images of Change and Tip 4, Global Ice Viewer.  Finally, Tip 6, Eyes on the Earth 3D, would be a great extension to help students understand the research the goes into atmospheric science.

 

Every fall I teach an online course for graduate students in education at Hamline University called Communicating Climate Change in the Classroom.  The goal is that in four short weeks students will walk away with the knowledge, skills and comfort to teach climate change in their classroom.  This time constraint, as well as the need to truly identify what is important AND effective when teaching this issue led me to some deeper thinking and reasearch on what concepts are most important to understand when teaching climate change.

So what is a climate literate person?
A lot of work and discussion has been done on and is being done on this front.  According to the Climate Literacy Network(CLN), “climate literacy is an understanding of your influence on the climate and climate's influence on you and society.”
A climate-literate person
* understands the essential principles of Earth's climate system,
* knows how to assess scientifically credible information about climate,
* communicates about climate and climate change in a meaningful way, and
* is able to make informed and responsible decisions with regard to actions that may affect climate.

A direct result of CLN was the development of Climate Literacy: The Essential Principles of Climate Science.  These 7 principles address the first bullet point and are excellent in terms of climate science, but not comprehensive. 

I also appreciated a series of posts by Philip Camill at Bowdoin College delving into why people don’t engage with climate change.  He breaks it down into five major problems seen below that broaden and elaborate on concepts relevant to the three bullet points not covered by the Principles of Climate Science.

I have developed my own list of concepts with corresponding readings that I think are important, at least as a starting point.  In general they fall more in the realm of understanding the nature of science.  They include:
Uncertainty
Consensus
Longitudinal Data
Corroborating Evidence
Climate vs. Weather

Do you know of better sources to help define these concepts?  What do you think is missing?

As those of us in Northern regions bid farewell to migratory species for the winter, and those of you in Southern regions are welcoming our summer wildlife, the topic of migration seemed like pertinent topic to write on today.  Climate change is clearly impacting migratory species.  Robins are being seen in the Arctic regions, and some butterfly species are emerging weeks earlier. However, while birds and butterflies are generally what comes to mind when we think about the affect of climate change on migration, another population often forgotten is humans. 
In 1990, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) noted that the greatest single impact of climate change could be on human migration—with millions of people displaced by shoreline erosion, coastal flooding and agricultural disruption.  (Migration and Climate Change)

The impact of climate change on human populations provides us as educators with the opportunity to include discussions of environmental justice and ethics in our classroom.  What constitutes right and wrong?  How do our actions affect people living on the other side of the world and what is our responsibility?  Bring the discussion to a local level.  What populations in our own community are disproportionately impacted by climate change's impacts?  Why and what can or should we do?

(Here comes the flood Janos Bogardi & Koko Warner, Nature Reports Climate Change (2009) Published online: 11 December 2008)