Teaching Climate Change at the Community College
Resources for faculty who include the topic of climate change in their PCC classes
Basic introduction to climate change
This page provides selected sources to review the basics of climate change (both the science and the politics) for educators looking for some foundational grounding to provide context for their curriculum.
The very basics:
- What is climate change? A really simple guide (from BBC news)
- Climate Change: Basic Information (from the EPA)
- Climate Change 101 With Bill Nye the Science Guy (from the Climate Reality Project)
More details about the proof for the scientific consensus:
Recommended articles for context
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Zero Hour: There’s No Stopping Climate Change, But How Bad It Gets Is Still Up To UsThis frequently referenced Rolling Stones article from 2020 by Jeff Goodell is a great introduction to the current global political situation.
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The Question I Get Asked the MostClimate activist Bill McKibben's answer to the question 'What can I do?', focusing on the importance of social and political movements rather than individual action.
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Global Climate Agreements: Successes and FailuresFrom the Council on Foreign Relations, a summary of the international agreements and other global efforts to address the climate crisis. Updated frequently.
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COP26 left the world with a climate to-do list: Here are 5 things to watch for in 2022From The Conversation, next steps after the COP26 conference.
Comprehensive resources
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Climate ChangePCC Library's Climate Change research guide. Includes extensive resources on the different aspects of the climate crisis.
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Global Climate ChangeComprehensive, updated data and explanation on the science of climate change from NASA
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The Teacher Friendly Guide to Climate ChangeIncludes a clear and comprehensive discussion of the science of climate change, as well as understanding the cognitive biases that lead to resisting this science. Provides an extremely helpful FAQ about how to answer the most common challenges to anthropogenic climate change. From the Paleontological Research Institution, 2017. 294 page pdf.