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NAAEE Crash Course in Climate Change Education

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NAAEE Crash Course in Climate Change Education

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This slide deck was created, and the resources curated by Karen Wood, Executive Director of the Environmental Education Alliance, Inc, the Georgia state affiliate organization of NAAEE, for a conference workshop at the 2023 NAAEE Conference on October 13, 2023. There is an unbelievable amount of resource links in this presentation. If you have difficulty accessing it, contact Jen Dennison at ohioprojectwild@gmail.org for permission.

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Teaching Climate Change-American Federation of Teachers

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Teaching Climate Change-American Federation of Teachers

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Heat waves and wildfires in the West, severe storms and tornadoes in the South, intense hurricanes along the coasts, and extreme rainfall and flooding in the Midwest and Great Plains. As more and more people personally experience severe and extreme weather events, they are increasingly likely to bel…

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Teacher’s Guides and Analysis Tool | Getting Started with Primary Sources | Teachers | Programs | Library of Congress

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jQuery(function($){ var $container = $(‘.search-results’); $container.isotope({ layoutMode: ‘fitRows’, itemSelector: ‘.item’ }); imagesLoaded( $(‘#results’), function( instance ) { var $container = $(‘.search-results’); $container.isotope({ layoutMode: ‘fitRows’, itemSelector: ‘.item’ }); }); }); Primary Source Analysis Tool for Students Students can use this simple tool to examine and analyze any kind of primary source and record their responses.

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Identifying misleading information in the media

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Identifying misleading information in the media

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Articles tagged as: Misleading

PragerU video on climate change repeats a range of misleading claims by Steven Koonin

in PragerU, by Steve Koonin

"The author of this video, Dr. Steven Koonin, says he is following the scientific reports published by the UN and US government, but by subtly changing wording and choosing not to mention important context this video is very likely to mislead readers.
This style of selective wording and lack of context, an approach called "cherry picking", applies to every one of Dr. Koonin's scientific comments."

- 29 Nov 2021

CO2 coalition sponsored article in The Washington Times presents list of false and misleading statements about the impacts of CO2 and climate change

in The Washington Times, by Gregory Wrightstone

"This article recycles old tropes such as "it's been warm before", "CO2 levels have been higher in the past" (millions of years ago!), "CO2 is plant food", "warming is good for ecosystems/humans", "so far impacts are small, so they will remain small", etc. All these pseudo-arguments have been addressed many times before (see examples here, here, and here). This article is clearly motivated, misleading and biased."

- 05 May 2021

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PragerU video on climate change repeats a range of misleading claims by Steven Koonin in PragerU, by Steve Koonin "The author of this video, Dr. Steven Koonin, says he is following the scientific reports published by the UN and US government, but by subtly changing wording and choosing not to mention important context this video is very likely to mislead readers.

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The C.R.A.A.P Test-a rubric to evaluate websites

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The C.R.A.A.P Test-a rubric to evaluate websites

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Facilitating Emancipatory and Justice-Centered Environmental and Climate Learning

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Facilitating Emancipatory and Justice-Centered Environmental and Climate Learning

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Facilitating Emancipatory and Justice-Centered Environmental and Climate Learning

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Our approach to crafting justice-centered and emancipatory educational experiences involves engaging students in problem solving that addresses authentic challenges and critical events grounded in both local and global real-world contexts.

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Climate Change Course and Activities-EEAlliance

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Climate Change Course and Activities-EEAlliance

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Environmental Education Alliance of Georgia

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Weather and climate are both variable - but over different timeframes. Changes in weather cannot be considered a climate trend unless they extend for more than 30 years. So it's not possible to isolate any single present-day local weather event - such as a drought, a storm, or a flood - and attribute it to climate change. After completing investigations into weather and climate, students should be able to recognize weather patterns and know whether they can be considered indicators of climate change.

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Rarely does a teacher get to teach climate change from start to finish - because rarely does one course contain all the relevant content standards. So students are left to piece together concepts...

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Environmental Education Alliance of Georgia

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You don't have to wait to become an expert before making a difference. Carbon Gardening Projects to Mitigate Climate Change Impacts Community Science Investigations related to Climate Planting ...

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The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is finalizing its Sixth Assessment cycle, during which the IPCC has produced the Assessment reports of its three Working Groups, three Special Reports, a refinement to the Methodology Report and the Synthesis report. The Synthesis Report (SYR) is the last of the Sixth Assessment Report products, finalized in March 2023, in time to inform the 2023 Global Stocktake by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change as mandated by Decision 1/CP.21 .

2023 is when countries will review progress towards the Paris Agreement goals, including the goal of keeping global warming to well below 2°C while pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C. The Synthesis Report of the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) provides an overview of the state of knowledge on the science of climate change, emphasizing new results since the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) in 2014. It is fully based on the reports of the three Working Groups of the IPCC, as well as on the three Special Reports on Global Warming of 1.5°C, on Climate Change and Land, and on the Ocean and the Cryosphere in a Changing Climate. It provides an integrated view of climate change as the final part of the Sixth Assessment Report. The Synthesis Report consists of the Summary for Policymakers and a Longer Report. It will be published as a stand-alone publication in the six official UN languages.

IPCC Procedures for the preparation, review, adoption and approval of the SYR can be found here. The SYR outline was agreed at the 52 nd Panel Session of the IPCC in February 2020.

Engage

There are many ways to engage with the IPCC

Since the IPCC was created in 1988, there have been 6 Synthesis Reports:

The AR6 Synthesis Report is based on the three Working Group contributions to the AR6 as well as on the three Special Reports prepared in this assessment cycle.

To support the Synthesis Report writing process, the SYR TSU organizes various meetings including Core Writing Team meetings. The Core Writing Team (CWT) is the group of authors who are preparing the Synthesis Report. The IPCC Bureau at its 58th Session in May 2020 selected the members of CWT from the author teams of the three IPCC Working Groups and the three Special Reports, reflecting balance in geographical distribution, gender, and representative of a range of expertise. The list of 30 Core Writing Team authors and 9 Review Editors can be found here. The CWT also includes the Chair, the IPCC Vice-Chairs, the Working Group Co-Chairs, the heads of the Working Group and Synthesis Report Technical Support Units, and the Secretary of the IPCC.

The IPCC Chair leads the Core Writing Team.

The Technical Support Unit (TSU) of the Synthesis Report of the AR6 is mandated to plan and manage the writing process of the SYR, including arranging author meetings, assisting the author team while drafting the SYR, ensuring quality control of the SYR and ensuring compliance with the IPCC Processes and Procedures and Panel decisions. The TSU SYR is established under the responsibility of the Chair of the IPCC. The SYR TSU is located in Seoul, Republic of Korea and financially supported by the Government of the Republic of Korea.

At the 58 th Session of the Bureau (Electronic session, 19-20 May 2020), the Chair established a Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) for the Synthesis Report (SYR) of the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) to support the development of the SYR. The SYR SSC comprises the whole IPCC Bureau, excluding those members who serve as Review Editors to the SYR.

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The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is finalizing its Sixth Assessment cycle, during which the IPCC has produced the Assessment reports of its three Working Groups, three Special Reports, a refinement to the Methodology Report and the Synthesis report. The Synthesis Report (SYR) is…

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Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center's Featured Video Collection on Vimeo

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Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center's Featured Video Collection on Vimeo

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A collection of interviews, field videos, seminars, educational segments, and animations from Byrd Polar.

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Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center - Ohio State

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A collection of interviews, field videos, seminars, educational segments, and animations from the Byrd Center at The Ohio State University.

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Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center at OSU-Activities and Lessons

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Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center at OSU-Activities and Lessons

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Activities and Lessons | Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center

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Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center Events

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Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center Events

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Link to Brief EECO Webinar of Similar Content in Winter 2022 (first 20 minutes is overview, rest is educator roundtable)

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Climate Hope - A  Discussion About Climate Change Education in Ohio

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The Byrd Center and Environmental Education Council of Ohio (EECO) hosted a listening session on the topic of Climate Hope. The event began with an overview of climate change by Education and Outreach Director, Jason Cervenec, followed by a panel discussion with educators Joe Brehm, Claire Monk, and Jonathan Duffy. Brenda Metcalf co-organized this event.

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This is Jason Cervenec's presentation as a PDF from the WET, WILD, and PLT session at the Annual EECO Conference on April 1, 2022

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Climate Change 101 with Bill Nye/National Geographic

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Climate Change 101 with Bill Nye/National Geographic

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Climate Change 101 with Bill Nye | National Geographic

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How does the greenhouse effect work?

As you might expect from the name, the greenhouse effect works ... like a greenhouse! A greenhouse is a building with glass walls and a glass roof. Greenhouses are used to grow plants, such as tomatoes and tropical flowers.

A greenhouse stays warm inside, even during the winter. In the daytime, sunlight shines into the greenhouse and warms the plants and air inside. At nighttime, it's colder outside, but the greenhouse stays pretty warm inside. That's because the glass walls of the greenhouse trap the Sun's heat.

The greenhouse effect works much the same way on Earth. Gases in the atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide, trap heat similar to the glass roof of a greenhouse. These heat-trapping gases are called greenhouse gases.

During the day, the Sun shines through the atmosphere. Earth's surface warms up in the sunlight. At night, Earth's surface cools, releasing heat back into the air. But some of the heat is trapped by the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. That's what keeps our Earth a warm and cozy 58 degrees Fahrenheit (14 degrees Celsius), on average.

How are humans impacting the greenhouse effect?

Human activities are changing Earth's natural greenhouse effect. Burning fossil fuels like coal and oil puts more carbon dioxide into our atmosphere.

NASA has observed increases in the amount of carbon dioxide and some other greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. Too much of these greenhouse gases can cause Earth's atmosphere to trap more and more heat. This causes Earth to warm up.

What reduces the greenhouse effect on Earth?

Just like a glass greenhouse, Earth's greenhouse is also full of plants! Plants can help to balance the greenhouse effect on Earth. All plants - from giant trees to tiny phytoplankton in the ocean - take in carbon dioxide and give off oxygen.

The ocean also absorbs a lot of excess carbon dioxide in the air. Unfortunately, the increased carbon dioxide in the ocean changes the water, making it more acidic. This is called ocean acidification.

More acidic water can be harmful to many ocean creatures, such as certain shellfish and coral. Warming oceans - from too many greenhouse gases in the atmosphere - can also be harmful to these organisms. Warmer waters are a main cause of coral bleaching.

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Learn more about this process that occurs when gases in Earth's atmosphere trap the Sun's heat.

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Defining Single Extreme Weather Events in a Climate Perspective

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Defining Single Extreme Weather Events in a Climate Perspective

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Defining Single Extreme Weather Events in a Climate Perspective

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Abstract Weather extremes are the showcase of climate variability. Given their societal and environmental impacts, they are of great public interest. The prevention of natural hazards, the monitoring of single events, and, more recently, their attribution to anthropogenic climate change constitute k…

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US EPA-Climate Change Education Resources

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US EPA-Climate Change Education Resources

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Understanding and addressing climate change is critical to EPA's mission of protecting human health and the environment. EPA tracks and reports greenhouse gas emissions, leverages sound science, and works to reduce emissions to combat climate change.

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Understanding and addressing climate change is critical to EPA's mission of protecting human health and the environment. EPA tracks and reports greenhouse gas emissions, leverages sound science, and works to reduce emissions to combat climate change. Learn more about the objectives of the EPA Climate Change website.

EPA is committed to advancing the goals of environmental justice for all Americans, including those historically marginalized, overburdened, underserved, and living with the legacy of structural racism. Additional web content about climate change and environmental justice is currently under development.

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Understanding and addressing climate change is critical to EPA's mission of protecting human health and the environment. EPA tracks and reports greenhouse gas emissions, leverages sound science, and works to reduce emissions to combat climate change. Learn more about the objectives of the EPA Climate Change website.

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The Dictionary of Forestry-Society of American Foresters

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The Dictionary of Forestry-Society of American Foresters

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The Dictionary of Forestry

The definitive guide to terms dealing with forestry, land management, and natural resources. The Dictionary of Forestry is the resource for every forester, natural resources professional, and student. This 2nd edition features 496 fully revised and expanded terms plus 46 brand new terms like "genecology" and "stand dynamics". This long-awaited revision contains the vocabulary to succeed in the rapidly changing landscape of forestry and natural resources.

This updated dictionary is the go-to reference for students and professionals alike for the words of our trade and how WE use them.
Dr. John Bailey, CF
College of Forestry
Oregon State Unviersity

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DictionaryofForestry - Dictionary of Forestry

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The definitive guide to terms dealing with forestry, land management, and natural resources. The Dictionary of Forestry is the resource for every forester, natural resources professional, and student. This 2nd edition features 496 fully revised and expanded terms plus 46 brand new terms like "genecology" and "stand dynamics".

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Best Management Practices-North Carolina Forest Service

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Best Management Practices-North Carolina Forest Service

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The term 'Best Management Practices', or BMPs, was coined nearly 35 years ago as a way to describe acceptable practices that could be implemented to protect water quality and promote soil conservation during forestry activities.

A BMP can be a structural "thing" that you actually install on-the-ground. Examples may include runoff diversions, silt fence, stream buffers and groundcover vegetation over bare soil areas.

A BMP can also be part of the "process" that you use to plan, conduct and close-out your forestry operation. Examples include preharvest planning, laying out roads in advance of construction, marking stream buffers with paint or flagging, and locating streams on the site before you begin work.

Defining BMPs
For forestry activities in North Carolina, the term 'best management practice' is actually defined by state administrative code rule 02 NCAC 60C.0102 (4), found within the Forest Practices Guidelines Related to Water Quality:

Best Management Practice (BMP) means a practice, or combination of practices, that is determined to be an effective and practicable (including technological, economic, and institutional considerations) means of preventing or reducing the amount of pollution generated by nonpoint sources to a level compatible with water quality goals.

Defining Nonpoint Source Pollution
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency defines the term "nonpoint source pollution" this way, cited from National Management Measures to Control Nonpoint Source Pollution from Forestry, April 2005:

Nonpoint source pollution usually results from precipitation, atmospheric deposition, land runoff, infiltration, drainage, seepage or hydrologic modification. As runoff from rainfall or snowmelt moves, it picks up and carries natural pollutants and pollutants resulting from human activity, ultimately dumping them into rivers, lakes, wetlands, coastal waters and groundwater. Technically, the term nonpoint source is defined to mean any source of water pollution that does not meet the legal definition of point source in section 502(14) of the Clean Water Act of 1987. Nonpoint sources..include return flow from irrigated agriculture, or other agriculture runoff and infiltration; urban runoff from small or non-sewered urban areas; flow from abandoned mines; hydrologic modification; and runoff from forestry activities.

Basically, nonpoint source pollution is a fancy term to describe polluted runoff that flows across the ground surface. By effectively using BMPs, you have a very high likelihood of preventing and controlling that polluted runoff, before it can reach a creek, pond, or wetland. And if you prevent or control nonpoint source pollution, you will most likely stay in compliance with the various water quality regulations for North Carolina.

Summarizing Forestry BMPs
For the sake of convenience, there is a North Carolina Forestry Best Management Practices Manual to Protect Water Quality that contains several BMP options that you may find valuable for your work. This BMP manual was revised in 2006 and is a comprehensive summary of not only BMPs, but also the underlying regulations that you must comply with.

Using BMPs
You are strongly encouraged to implement BMPs whenever you conduct forestry activities. To assess the degree to which BMPs are used in North Carolina, the NCFS periodically conducts a statewide Implementation Survey. The most recent survey taken from 2006-2008 cites BMP usage at 85% on average statewide.

While the law does not require the use of BMPs on forestry sites in North Carolina, the emergence of market-demand driven forest certification programs has elevated the awareness and implementation of forestry BMPs to a new level. These certification programs require that participants meet or exceed the recommended BMPs for each state in which they own timberland or have manufacturing operations.

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The term 'Best Management Practices', or BMPs, was coined nearly 35 years ago as a way to describe acceptable practices that could be implemented to protect water quality and promote soil conservation during forestry activities. A BMP can be a structural "thing" that you actually install on-the-ground.

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Chapter 6: Forest Ownership dynamics of southern forests

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Chapter 6: Forest Ownership dynamics of southern forests

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Use this glossary to improve your understanding of some of the well-used terms used in the climate change debate.

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National Network for Ocean and Climate Change Interpretation - NNOCCI

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National Network for Ocean and Climate Change Interpretation - NNOCCI

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NNOCCI offers resources and training to help others strengthen their voices and to increase our collective impact in promoting climate action.

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National Network for Ocean and Climate Change Interpretation - NNOCCI | Climate Interpreter

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Great Lakes | U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit

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The Great Lakes region includes all or portions of eight U.S. states—Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio in their entirety, plus the Great Lakes watershed areas of Pennsylvania and New York—as well as the province of Ontario, Canada. The region straddles U.S. regions typicall…

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This page provides references for the points in GLISA's Climate Change in the Great Lakes Region fact sheet. The bullet points from the fact sheet are shown here with their respective reference(s) listed below each statement.

Since 1951, annual average air temperatures have increased by 2.3°F (1.3°C) in the U.S. Great Lakes region.

See Historical Trend Calculations statement at the end of page.

By mid-century (2050), average air temperatures are projected to increase by 3°F to 6°F (1.7°C to 3.3°C).

See Future Trend Calculations statement at the end of page.

By end of century (2100), average air temperatures are projected to increase by 6°F to 11°F (3.3°C to 6.1°C).

See Future Trend Calculations statement at the end of page.

Since 1951, total annual precipitaion has increased by 13.6% in the U.S. Great Lakes region.

See Historical Trend Calculations statement at the end of page.

Future projections suggest more precipitation on average, but not necessarily during all seasons (summer to be drier) and not for all locations depending on which model is used.

See Future Trend Calculations statement at the end of page.

Reduced lake ice cover and enhanced evaporation may lead to increased lake-effect snowfall in the near term, but rising temperatures will cause more winter precipitation to fall as rain as opposed to snow across the region by late century.

USGCRP, 2017: Climate Science Special Report: Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume I [Wuebbles, D.J., D.W. Fahey, K.A. Hibbard, D.J. Dokken, B.C. Stewart, and T.K. Maycock (eds.)]. U.S. Global Change Research Program, Washington, DC, USA, 470 pp, doi: 10.7930/J0J964J6

Wright, D. M., D. J. Posselt, and A. L. Steiner, 2013: Sensitivity of lake-effect snowfall to lake ice cover and temperature in the Great Lakes region. Monthly Weather Review, 141, 670-689, doi:10.1175/mwr-d-12-00038.1

Vavrus, S., M. Notaro, and A. Zarrin, 2013: The role of ice cover in heavy lake-effect snowstorms over the Great Lakes Basin as simulated by RegCM4. Monthly Weather Review, 141, 148-165, doi: 10.1175/mwr-d-12-00107.1

Summer lake surface temperatures have been increasing faster than the surrounding air temperatures, with Lake Superior increasing by 4.5ºF between 1979 and 2006.

Mccormick, M.J., Fahnenstiel, G.L. Recent climatic trends in nearshore water temperatures in the St. Lawrence Great Lakes (1999) Limnology and Oceanography, 44 (3 I), pp. 530-540. Cited 78 times.
doi: 10.4319/lo.1999.44.3.0530

USGCRP Third National Climate Assessment Midwest Chapter: Increase Risks to the Great Lakes https://nca2014.globalchange.gov/report/regions/midwest

Austin, J.A., and S.M. Colman, 2007: Lake Superior summer water temperature are increasing more rapidly than regional air temperatures: A positive ice-albedo feedback. Geophysical Research Letters

Annual average ice cover on the Great Lakes underwent a shift from higher amounts prior to the 1990s to lower amounts in recent decades. There remains strong year-to-year variability, and high ice years are still possible.

Mason, L.A., Riseng, C.M., Gronewold, A.D. et al., Fine-scale spatial variations in ice cover and surface temperature trends across the surface of the Laurentian Great Lakes. Climatic Change (2016) 138: 71. doi: 10.1007/s10584-016-1721-2

Lake-effect snowfall has increased in nothern areas which may continue to increase through mid-century.

USGCRP Third National Climate Assessment Midwest Chapter: Increase Risks to the Great Lakes https://nca2014.globalchange.gov/report/regions/midwest

The frequency and intensity of severe storms has increased. This trend will likely continue as the effects of climate change become more pronounced.

see Historical Trend Calculations statement at the end of page

The amount of precipitation falling in the heaviest 1% of storms increased by 35% in the U.S. Great Lakes region from 1951 through 2017.

​​​​​​​see Historical Trend Calculations statement at the end of page

More severe storms may have a negative economic impact due to resulting damages and increased costs of preparation, clean up, and business disruption.

​​​​​​USGCRP, 2017: Climate Science Special Report: Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume I [Wuebbles, D.J., D.W. Fahey, K.A. Hibbard, D.J. Dokken, B.C. Stewart, and T.K. Maycock (eds.)]. U.S. Global Change Research Program, Washington, DC, USA, 470 pp, doi: 10.7930/J0J964J6

Projected increases in droughts, severe storms, and flooding events may amplify the risk of erosion, sewage overflow, interference with transportation, and flood damage.

​​​​​​​Winters, B. A., J. Angel, C. Ballerine, J. Byard, A. Flegel, D. Gambill, E. Jenkins, S. McConkey, M. Markus, B. A. Bender, and M. J. O'Toole, 2015: Report for the Urban Flooding Awareness Act. 89 pp., Illinois Department of Natural Resources​​​​​​​

Future changes in land use could have a far greater impact on water quality than climate change. The coupling of climate change and land use change could therefore result in even stronger effects in some areas.

​​​​​​​Szkokan-Emilson, E. J., B. W. Kielstra, S. E. Arnott, S. A. Watmough, J. M. Gunn, and A. J. Tanentzap, 2017: Dry conditions disrupt terrestrial-aquatic linkages in northern catchments. Global Change Biology, 23, 117-126, doi:10.1111/gcb.13361

USGCRP, 2017: Climate Science Special Report: Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume I [Wuebbles, D.J., D.W. Fahey, K.A. Hibbard, D.J. Dokken, B.C. Stewart, and T.K. Maycock (eds.)]. U.S. Global Change Research Program, Washington, DC, USA, 470 pp, doi: 10.7930/J0J964J6

Water level fluctuations on the Great Lakes are mainly driven by precipitation, evaporation, and runoff, which make up the lakes' net basin supply (NBS).

Deacu, D., Klyszejko, E., Spence, C., Blanken, P., 2012. Predicting the Net Basin Supply to the Great Lakes with a Hydrometeorological Model. Bull Amer Met Soc, pp. 1739-1759, doi: 10.1175/JHM-D-11-0151.1

After a period of low lake levels lasting from the 1990s to the mid-2010s, the lakes have risen at an unprecedented rate since 2014. This contributed to record high levels on Lake Ontario, which caused widespread flooding in 2017.

Gronewold, A. D., J. Bruxer, D. Durnford, J. P. Smith, A. H. Clites, F. Seglenieks, S. S. Qian, T. S. Hunter, and V. Fortin (2016), Hydrological drivers of record-setting water level rise on Earth's largest lake system, Water Resour. Res., 52, 4026-4042, doi: 10.1002/2015WR018209

Modeling of future lake levels is continually being updated and improved. Currently, the strongest evidence indicates increasing variability in lake level fluctuations.

​​​​​​​A.D. Gronewold and R.B. Rood, Recent water level changes across Earth's largest lake system and implications for future variability, Journal of Great Lakes Research, doi: 10.1016/j.jglr.2018.10.012

Warmer surface water temperatures increase stratification of the lakes and decrease vertical mixing.

Shuter, B. J., J. Trumpickas, and C. K. Minns, 2009: Forecasting impacts of climate change on Great Lakes surface water temperatures. Journal of Great Lakes Research, 35, 454.

Stronger storms and the use of impervious surfaces increase runoff and nutrient loading to the Great Lakes.

Michalak, A. M., and Coauthors, 2013: Record-setting algal bloom in Lake Erie caused by agricultural and meteorological trends consistent with expected future conditions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Combined sewer overflows and agricultural fertilizers are major contributors to high nutrient loads.

Wisconsin's Changing Climate: Impacts and Adaptation. 2011. Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts. Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Madison, Wisconsin

Kunkel, K. E., L. E. Stevens, S. E. Stevens, L. Sun, E. Janssen, D. Wuebbles, S. D. Hilberg, M. S. Timlin, L. Stoecker, N. E. Westcott, and J. G. Dobson, 2013: Regional Climate Trends and Scenarios for the National Climate Assessment: Part 3. Climate of the Midwest U.S. 142-3

Hayhoe, K., and D. J. Weubbles, 2008: Climate Change and Chicago: Projections and Potential Impacts. Report for the City of Chicago.Karl, T. R., J. M. Melilo, and T. C. Peterson, 2009: Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States. USGCRP

USEPA, cited 2011: Great Lakes - Basic Information. [Available online at 17. Michalak"> http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/basicinfo.html.]

Michalak, A. M., and Coauthors, 2013: Record-setting algal bloom in Lake Erie caused by agricultural and meteorological trends consistent with expected future conditions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Stronger storms, warmer temperatures, and nutrient loading contribute to the formation of harmful algal blooms and hypoxic dead zones.

Reutter, J. M., J. Ciborowski, J. DePinto, D. Bade, D. Baker, T. B. Bridgeman, D. A. Culver, S. Davis, E. Dayton, D. Kane, R. W. Mullen, and C. M. Pennuto, 2011: Lake Erie Nutrient Loading and Harmful Algal Blooms: Research Findings and Management Implications. Final Report of the Lake Erie Millennium Network Synthesis Team. 17 pp., Ohio Sea Grant College Program, The Ohio State University, Lake Erie Millennium Network,

Mackey, S., 2012: Great Lakes nearshore and coastal systems. U.S. National Climate Assessment Midwest Technical Input Report, J. Winkler, J. Andresen, J. Hatfield, D. Bidwell, and D. Brown, Eds., Great Lakes Integrated Sciences and Assessments (GLISA), National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment, 14

Ficke, A. D., C. A. Myrick, and L. J. Hansen, 2007: Potential impacts of global climate change on freshwater fisheries. Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries

The rate of warming may outpace the rate at which ecosystems are able to migrate and adapt.

Loarie, S.R., P.B. Duffy, H. Hamilton, G.P. Asner, C.B. Field, and D.D. Ackerly. 2009: The velocity of climate change. Nature, 462, 1052-1055

Wildlife populations better adapted to cold temperatures will continue to decline as competing species migrate into the region with rising temperatures.

Jump, A.S., C. Matayas, and J. Penuelas. 2009: The altitude-for-latitude disparity in the range restrictions of woody species. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 24, 694-701.

Lake stratification and hypoxic conditions will further stress biomass productivity in lakes and wetlands.

Magnuson J.J., K.E. Webster, R.A. Assel, C.J. Bowser, P.J. Dillon, J.G. Eaton, H.E. Evans, E.J. Fee, R.I Hall, L.R. Mortsch, D.W. Schindler, and F.H. Quinn. 1997: Potential effects of climate change on aquatic systems: Laurentian Great Lakes and Precambrian Shield Region. Hydrological Processes, 11, 825-871

Increased evaporation rates and sustained levels of high or low water levels may change wetland areas in the region.

Erwin, K.L. Wetlands Ecol Manage (2009) 17: 71. doi: 10.1007/s11273-008-9119-1

Despite increasing precipitation, land surfaces in the Great Lakes region are expected to become drier overall due to increasing temperatures and evaporation rates.

Pan, Z., and S. C. Pryor, 2009. Overview: Hydrologic regimes. In Understanding Climate Change: Regional Climate Variability, Predictability, and Change in Midwestern USA, S. Pryor, ed., Indiana University Press, 88-99

Wuebbles D.J. (2006) Executive Summary Updated 2005: Confronting Climate Change in the Great Lakes Region. Union of Concerned Scientists

Hayhoe K. (2007) Past and future changes in climate and hydrological indicators in the U.S. Northeast. Climate Dynamics 28:381-407

Karl T.R., Melilo J.M., Peterson T.C. (2009) Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States. USGCRP

The seasonal distribution of the water cycle will likely change. Warmer temperatures may lead to more winter rain and earlier peak streamflows.

Croley T.E.I. (2003) Great Lakes Climate Change Hydrological Impact Assessment: IJC Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River Regulation Study. Technical Memorandum. Water Resources Management Decision Support. NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, Ann Arbor, MI 126:84

Argyilan E., Forman S.L. (2003) Lake level response to seasonal climatic variability in the Lake Michigan-Huron system from 1920 to 1995. Journal of Great Lakes Research 29:488-500

Lenters J.D. (2004) Trends in the Lake Superior Water Budget Since 1948: A Weakening Seasonal Cycle. Journal of Great Lakes Research 30:20

Cherkauer K.A., Sinha T. (2010) Hydrologic impacts of projected future climate change in the Lake Michigan region. Journal of Great Lakes Research 36:33-50. doi: 10.1016/j.jglr.2009.11.012

Mortsch L.D. (2000) Climate Change Impacts on the Hydrology of the Great Lakes -St. Lawrence System Canadian Water Resources Journal 25:121-179. doi: 10.4296/cwrj2502153. Shmagin and Johnston, 2008

Allen, J.D., Hung, V. (2000). Water Ecology FOCUS: Climate Change and River Flows, in Sousounis, P.J., Bisanz, J.M. [Eds], Preparing for a changing climate- The potential consequences of climate variability and change, Great Lakes overview. USGCRP, pp. 51-54

Vose, J.M., C.F. Miniat, C.H. Luce, H. Asbjornsen, P.V. Caldwell, J.L Campbell, G.E. Grant, D.J. Isaak, S.P. Loheide li, and G. Sun, 2016: Ecohydrological implications of drought for forests in the United States. Forest Ecology and Management, 380, 335-345. doi: 10.1016/j.foreco.2016.03.025

With warmer temperatures and increasing CO2, forest productivity will likely increase until other impacts of climate change, such as increased drought, fire, and invasive species present additional stressors to forests.

Sturrock, R.N., S.J. Frankel, A.V. Brown, P.E. Hennon, J.T. Kilejunas, K.J. Lewis, J.J. Worrall, and A.J. Woods, 2011: Climate change and forest diseases. Plant Pathology, 60(1), 133-149. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-3059.2010.02406.x

Reduced summer water availability may interfere with some industrial operations (i.e., hydropower, thermoelectric and nuclear plant cooling).

Zamuda , C., D.E. Bilello, G. Conzelmann, E. Mecray, A. Satsangi, V. Tidwell, and B.J. Walker, 2018: Energy Supply, Delivery, and Demand. In [Reidmiller, D.R., C.W. Avery, D.R. Easterling, K.E. Kunkel, K.L.M. Lewis, T.K. Maycock, and B.C. Stewart (eds.)]. U.S. Global Change Research Program, Washington, DC, USA, pp. 174-201. Impacts, Risks, andAdaptationin the United States: Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume II doi: 10.7930/NCA4.2018.CH4

Warmer temperatures and more frequent heatwaves will likely increase electricity demands, particularly in urban areas and during summer months.

Larsen, K., J. Larsen, M. Delgado, Whitney Herndon, and Shashank Mohan, 2017: Assessing the Effect of Rising Temperatures: The Cost of Climate Change to the U.S. Power Sector. Rhodium Group, New York, NY, 27 pp.

The frost-free season lengthened by 16 days in the Great Lakes region from 1951-2017, and may extend up to 50 days longer by 2100.

USGCRP, 2017: Climate Science Special Report: Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume I [Wuebbles, D.J., D.W. Fahey, K.A. Hibbard, D.J. Dokken, B.C. Stewart, and T.K. Maycock (eds.)]. U.S. Global Change Research Program, Washington, DC, USA, 470 pp, doi: 10.7930/J0J964J6

In the near term, a longer growing season and higher CO2 concentrations will likely have a positive effect on crop yields.

Leakey, A.D.B. (2009): Rising atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration and the future of C4 crops for food and fuel. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 276, 2333-2343. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2008.1517

In the long term, the negative effects of increasing storm activity, flooding, extreme heat, summer drought risks, and pests may outweigh the benefits of warmer climates.

Hatfield, J.L (2014) Agriculture in the Midwest. In: Climate Change in the Midwest: A Synthesis Report for the National Climate Assessment, J. A. Winkler, J.A. Andresen, J.L. Hatfield, D. Bidwell, and D. Brown, eds., Island Press

Karl T.R., Melilo J.M., Peterson T.C. (2009) Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States. USGCRP

Kimball B.A., Hatfield J.L., Izaurralde R.C., Thomson A.M., Boote K.J., Ort D., Ziska L.H., Wolfe D. (2011) Climate Impacts on Agriculture: Implications for Crop Production. Agronomy Journal 103:351

Serbin S.P., Kucharik C.J. (2008) Impacts of recent climate change on Wisconsin corn and soybean yield trends. Environmental Research Letters 3:034003

Winkler J.A., Andresen J.A., Guentchev G., Kriegel R.D. (2002) Possible impacts of projected temperature change on commercial fruit production in the Great Lakes region. Journal of Great Lakes Research 28:608-625

More extreme heat may increase the risk of heat damage to pavement and railroads.

Tamerius, J.D., X. Zhou, R Mantilla, and T. Greenfield-Huitt, 2016: Precipitation effects on motor vehicle crashes vary by space, time, and environmental conditions. Weather, Climate, and Society, 8(4), 399-407. doi: 10.1175/wcas-d-16-0009.1

More extreme precipitation may compromise transportation routes and damage infrastructure.

Winguth, A., J.H. Lee, and Y. Ko, 2015: Climate change/extreme weather vulnerability and risk assessment for transportation infrastructure in Dallas and Tarrant counties. North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) and Federal Highway Administration, Arlington, TX, and Washington, DC, 53 pp.

Shipping lanes will likely be open earlier and longer due to reduced ice cover on the Great Lakes.

Millerd, F., 2011: The potential impact of climate change on Great Lakes international shipping. Climatic Change

Low lake levels can affect navigation channels and reduce the maximum loads carried by vessels, which amount to substantial monetary losses per transit.

Sousounis, P., and J. M. Bisanz, 2000: Preparing for a Changing Climate. The Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change: Great Lakes. University of Michigan, Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences Department

Increased risk of heatwaves and increased humidity may amplify the number of heat-related deaths and illnesses.

More storm activity and flooding will likely increase the risk of watershed contamination and water-borne illnesses, while warmer surface waters amplify the risk of toxic algal blooms and fish contamination.

Winter recreation and tourism are likely to suffer due to reduced snow cover and shorter winters.

Chin. N, K. Byun, A.F. Hamlet, K.A. Cherkauer, 2018: Assessing potential winter weather response to climate change and implications for tourism in the U.S. Great Lakes and Midwest. Hydrology: Regional Studies.10 (19), 42-56. doi: 10.1016/j.ejrh.2018.06.005

Collingsworth, P. D., Bunnell, D. B., Murray, M. W., Kao, Y., Feiner, Z. S., Claramunt, R. M., . . . Ludsin, S. A. (2017). Climate change as a long-term stressor for the fisheries of the laurentian great lakes of north america. Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries, 27(2), 363-391. doi: 10.1007/s11160-017-9480-3

These calculations use data from the NOAA NCEI Climate Divisions and Global Historical Climatology Network Daily (GHCN-D) Station Observations. The observed temperature trends are calculated by a weighted spatial average for each climate division within the Great Lakes states (i.e., Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York). The weights are determined by the spatial area of each of the climate divisions in relation to the overall region. The observed precipitation, extreme precipitation, and the growing degree days are calculated by the spatial averaging of the GLISA quality-controlled GHCN-D stations within the Great Lakes region. To be included in the analysis, these stations are required to have at least 50-years of high-quality observational data during the period of 1951-2017. More information is available at the GLISA's Great Lakes Climatologies webpage with current trends.

Future climate projections are from a set of six dynamically downscaled models that were designed specifically for use in the Great Lakes region. These dynamically downscaled data were produced by the Nelson Institute Center for Climatic Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and include six Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) version 5 GCMs downscaled to a 25-km spatial resolution according to the RCP8.5 scenario using the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) Regional Climate Model Version Four (RegCM4) coupled to a 1-dimensional lake model to represent the Great Lakes. The numbers reported are for the amount of change predicted averaged over the entire region (40°N to 50°N and -75°E to -95°E) over land only (Figure 1). Data directly over the Great Lakes was omitted in the regional average of temperature and precipitation, for example, because values over the lakes are not as trustworthy as over land. The Great Lakes Ensemble is a collection of future projections that have been vetted for their representation of important lake-land-atmosphere processes in our region. The Great Lakes Ensemble currently consists of the dynamically downscaled climate projections for the Great Lakes region, produced by the Nelson Institute Center for Climatic Research, University of Wisconsin-Madison and GLISA's assessment of the CMIP5 models and how each model represents the Great Lakes.

These data are available for download (netCDF files) or viewable in maps at the link below. Other variables and temporal frequencies (e.g., sub-daily) are available upon request as raw netCDF output.

Link to Data: http://nelson.wisc.edu/ccr/resources/dynamical-downscaling/index.php

Notaro, Michael, Val Bennington, and Steve Vavrus. "Dynamically Downscaled Projections of Lake-Effect Snow in the Great Lakes Basin." Journal of Climate. 28.4 (2014): 1661-1684.

Notaro, Michael, et al. "Simulation of Heavy Lake-Effect Snowstorms across the Great Lakes Basin by RegCM4: Synoptic Climatology and Variability." Monthly Weather Review. 141 (2013b): 1990-2014.

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Climate Change in Great Lakes Region References

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This page provides references for the points in GLISA's Climate Change in the Great Lakes Region fact sheet. The bullet points from the fact sheet are shown here with their respective reference(s) listed below each statement. Since 1951, annual average air temperatures have increased by 2.3°F (1.3°C) in the U.S.

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US EPA Climate Change Indicators-Great Lakes Water Levels and Temperatures

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US EPA Climate Change Indicators-Great Lakes Water Levels and Temperatures

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Helping landowners protect their shorelines from climate changes.

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Michigan Natural Shoreline PartnershipPromoting Natural Shorelines through the use of green landscaping technologies and bioengineered erosion control for the protection of Michigan inland lakes. Why natural shorelines

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NOAA's Estuary Education was developed to advance estuarine and coastal literacy by serving middle and high school educators through curriculum and professional development.

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NOAA-View sea level rise and potential coastal flooding impact areas and relative depth.

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NOAA-View sea level rise and potential coastal flooding impact areas and relative depth.

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Sea Level Rise Viewer: View projected sea level rise at any coastal location up to 6 feet of inundation from flooding, hurricane storm surge, high tides.

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Our Beautiful Planet-Showcasing Climate Science Research to Spark Curiosity and Increase Student Understanding of How the World Works

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Our Beautiful Planet-Showcasing Climate Science Research to Spark Curiosity and Increase Student Understanding of How the World Works

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Showcasing Climate Science Research to Spark Curiosity and Increase Student Understanding of How the World Works

The Community Activity and Discussion Guides accompanying the Our Beautiful Planet films are provided by the The Climate Initiative to facilitate conversations about climate change, inspire curiosity and galvanize grassroots action. The content of the guides was created by the The Climate Initiative. NSTA was not involved in the development of these guides. Posting of these materials on the NSTA website is for informational purposes and is not an endorsement by NSTA for their use in schools or school programs.

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Showcasing Climate Science Research to Spark Curiosity and Increase Student Understanding of How the World Works The Community Activity and Discussion Guides accompanying the Our Beautiful Planet films are provided by the The Climate Initiative to facilitate conversations about climate change, inspire curiosity and galvanize grassroots action.

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These maps show how Americans’ climate change beliefs, risk perceptions, and policy support vary at the state, congressional district, metro area, and county levels.

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Yale Program on Climate Change Communication

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These maps show how Americans' climate change beliefs, risk perceptions, and policy support vary at the state, congressional district, metro area, and county levels. NOTE: The Congressional District data are based on the 116th Congress. Recent and ongoing redistricting means that some of these data are not current (e.g. North Carolina) for the Congressional District level.

About Downscaling Climate Opinions

This version of the Yale Climate Opinion Maps is based on data through fall 2021. Public opinion about global warming is an important influence on decision making about policies to reduce global warming or prepare for the impacts, but American opinions vary widely depending on where people live. So why would we rely on just one national number to understand public responses to climate change at the state and local levels? Public opinion polling is generally done at the national level, because local level polling is very costly and time intensive. Our team of scientists, however, has developed a geographic and statistical model to downscale national public opinion results to the state, congressional district, and county levels. We can now estimate public opinion across the country and a rich picture of the diversity of Americans' beliefs, attitudes, and policy support is revealed.

Our national surveys show that 72% of Americans think global warming is happening. Our new YCOM model estimates, however, show that only 48% of people in Emery County, Utah agree. Meanwhile 71% in neighboring Grand County, Utah believe global warming is happening.

Explore the maps by clicking on your state, congressional district, or county and compare the results across questions and with other geographic areas. Beneath each map are bar charts displaying the results for every question at whichever geographic scale is currently selected. Note that the congressional districts for North Carolina are based on the 2019 (116th Congress) district boundaries and so do not reflect the latest redistricting there.

See the methods page for more information about uncertainty estimates. In some cases, numbers that should sum to 100% or differences from the national average that should sum to zero are off by one percentage point; these effects are due to rounding errors.

This research and website are funded by the Skoll Global Threats Fund, the Energy Foundation, the 11th Hour Project, the Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment, the MacArthur Foundation, the Overlook Foundation and the Endeavor Foundation. We are very grateful to Connie Roser-Renouf, Ed Maibach, Lisa Fernandez, Eric Fine, Bessie Schwarz, Mike Slattery, and Seth Rosenthal for their assistance with and support of the project. For further questions about these maps or what they mean, please see our Frequently Asked Questions tab (above).

Methodology

This site provides estimates of U.S. climate change beliefs, risk perceptions, and policy preferences at the state and local levels - a new source of high-resolution data on public opinion that can inform national, state and local decision-making, policy, and education initiatives. The estimates are derived from a statistical model using multilevel regression with post-stratification (MRP) on a large national survey dataset (n>28,000), along with demographic and geographic population characteristics.

Validating models is essential for producing accurate results. Our estimates were validated using three different methods. First, cross-validation analyses were conducted within the dataset. The dataset was divided into two sets of respondents, with one part used to run the model and the other kept aside for validation. The model estimates were then compared to the results of the set aside respondents to directly quantify the percentage of correct answers the model predicted. These cross-validation tests were repeated multiple times using different sample sizes and dividing the data in different ways. Second, the model estimates derived from the full dataset were compared to the results of independent, representative state- and city-level surveys conducted in California, Colorado, Ohio, Texas, San Francisco, and Columbus, Ohio in 2013. The mean absolute difference between model estimates and validation survey results was 2.9 percentage points (SD = 1.5) among the four states (CA, TX, OH, CO) and 3.6 percentage points (SD = 2.9) among the two metropolitan areas (Columbus, OH, and San Francisco, CA), well within the margins of error for the survey results alone (at a 95% confidence level). Estimates have also been validated internally through a series of technical simulations. Third, some model estimates were compared with third-party survey data collected by other researchers in previous years.

For the 2021 model estimates, uncertainty ranges are based on 95% confidence intervals using 999 bootstrap simulations. These confidence intervals indicate that the 2020 model is accurate to approximately ±7 percentage points at the state and congressional district levels, and ±8 percentage points at the metro and county levels. Such error ranges include the error inherent in the original national surveys themselves, which is typically ±3 percentage points.

The availability of 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019, and 2020 estimates prompts questions about what has changed between these years in particular places. From our surveys, we know that public opinion on some questions has shifted over this period at the national level. However, our statistical model, as well as the census and election data that go into our model, have also all been updated for accuracy. Thus, estimated shifts in public opinion at the subnational level since 2014 may be due not only to opinion changes, but also changes in demographics and other variables that we are using to model opinions. In addition, our model tends to be conservative when making estimates, especially for places with smaller populations (where there are likely to be fewer survey respondents), so variations over time between states, counties, etc. may be underestimated. As a result, we recommend caution when interpreting any changes over time using different versions of our model, because we can't distinguish between what is a true shift in actual opinion between 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021, and what reflects the model's improved ability to map climate opinions at the local scale. We are currently developing a new model explicitly for changes in opinions over time at the state level, so please join our mailing list if you would like to be alerted about these developments.

For more details on the model or methods, please see the peer-reviewed paper: Howe, P., Mildenberger, M., Marlon, J.R., and Leiserowitz, A., "Geographic variation in opinions on climate change at state and local scales in the USA," Nature Climate Change. DOI: 10.1038/nclimate2583.

Climate Change in the American Mind Survey Question Wording

Model estimates in the maps were derived from public responses to the following survey questions. The response categories for many questions were collapsed into a single variable for mapping. For example, for the question measuring how worried respondents are about global warming, "very worried" and "somewhat worried" were combined into a single measure of "worried." Likewise "Not very worried" and "Not at all worried" were combined into a single measure of "not worried." The responses below are color coded to indicate how they were grouped into the variables shown on the maps. Individuals who responded "Don't know" or who did not answer the question were not modeled separately and appear as gray segments within the bar charts.

BELIEFS

Global warming is happening
Recently, you may have noticed that global warming has been getting some attention in the news. Global warming refers to the idea that the world's average temperature has been increasing over the past 150 years, may be increasing more in the future, and that the world's climate may change as a result. What do you think: Do you think that global warming is happening?

Global warming is caused mostly by human activities
Assuming global warming is happening, do you think it is... ?

Caused mostly by human activities

Caused mostly by natural changes in the environment

None of the above because global warming isn't happening

Other

Don't know

Most scientists think global warming is happening
Which comes closest to your own view?

Most scientists think global warming is happening

There is a lot of disagreement among scientists about whether or not global warming is happening

Most scientists think global warming is not happening

Don't know enough to say

Global warming is affecting the weather in the United States
How strongly do you agree or disagree with the statement below?

RISK PERCEPTIONS

Worried about global warming
How worried are you about global warming?

Global warming will harm plants and animals
How much do you think global warming will harm plants and animal species?

Global warming will harm future generations
How much do you think global warming will harm future generations of people?

Global warming will harm people in developing countries
How much do you think global warming will harm people in developing countries?

Global warming will harm people in the US
How much do you think global warming will harm people in the United States?

Global warming will harm me personally
How much do you think global warming will harm you personally?

Global warming is already harming people in the US
When do you think global warming will start to harm people in the United States?

Has personally experienced the effects of global warming
How much do you agree or disagree with the following statement: "I have personally experienced the effects of global warming"?

POLICY SUPPORT

Fund research into renewable energy sources

How much do you support or oppose the following policies?
Fund more research into renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind power

Regulate CO2 as a pollutant
How much do you support or oppose the following policies?
Regulate carbon dioxide (the primary greenhouse gas) as a pollutant

Set strict CO2 limits on existing coal-fired power plants
How much do you support or oppose the following policy?
Set strict carbon dioxide emission limits on existing coal-fired power plants to reduce global warming and improve public health. Power plants would have to reduce their emissions and/or invest in renewable energy and energy efficiency. The cost of electricity to consumers and companies would likely increase.

Require fossil fuel companies to pay a carbon tax
How much do you support or oppose the following policies?
Require fossil fuel companies to pay a carbon tax and use the money to reduce other taxes (such as income tax) by an equal amount.

Require utilities to produce 20% electricity from renewable sources
How much do you support or oppose the following policies?
Require electric utilities to produce at least 20% of their electricity from wind, solar, or other renewable energy sources, even if it costs the average household an extra $100 a year.

Provide tax rebates
Provide tax rebates for people who purchase energy-efficient vehicles or solar panels.
How much do you support or oppose the following policies?

The YPCCC is pleased to offer our downscaled climate change opinion estimates to the public. These data are distributed under the following terms of use. This is a legal agreement between you, the end-user ("User") and Yale University on behalf of the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication (the "YPCCC"). By downloading the survey data made available on this web site ("Data") you are agreeing to be bound by the terms and conditions of this agreement. If you do not agree to be bound by these terms, do not download or use the Data. The YPCCC hereby grants to the User a non-exclusive, revocable, limited, non-transferable license to use the Data solely for (1) research, scholarly or academic purposes, (2) the internal use of your business, or (3) your own personal non-commercial use. You may not reproduce, sell, rent, lease, loan, distribute or sublicense or otherwise transfer any Data, in whole or in part, to any other party, or use the Data to create any derived product for resale, lease or license. Notwithstanding the foregoing, you may incorporate limited portions of the Data in scholarly, research or academic publications or for the purposes of news reporting, provided you acknowledge the source of the Data (with express references to the YPCCC, as well as the complete title of the report) and include the following legend: The YPCCC bears no responsibility for the analyses or interpretations of the data presented here. THE DATA IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARISING BY LAW OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF COMPLETENESS, NON-INFRINGEMENT, ACCURACY, MERCHANTABILITY, OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE USER ASSUMES ALL RISK ASSOCIATED WITH USE OF THE DATA AND AGREES THAT IN NO EVENT SHALL YALE BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANY THIRD PARTY FOR ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DAMAGES FOR THE INABILITY TO USE EQUIPMENT OR ACCESS DATA, LOSS OF BUSINESS, LOSS OF REVENUE OR PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTIONS, LOSS OF INFORMATION OR DATA, OR OTHER FINANCIAL LOSS, ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF, OR INABILITY TO USE, THE DATA BASED ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, BREACH OF CONTRACT, BREACH OF WARRANTY, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF USER HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. The YPCCC has taken measures to ensure that the Data is devoid of information that could be used to identify individuals (e.g., names, telephone numbers, email addresses, social security numbers) who participated in or who were the subject of any research surveys or studies used to collect the Data ("Personally Identifying Information"). However, in the event that you discover any such Personally Identifying Information in the Data, you shall immediately notify the YPCCC and refrain from using any such Personally Identifying Information. This license will terminate (1) automatically without notice from the YPCCC if you fail to comply with the provisions of this agreement, or (2) upon written notice (by e-mail, U.S. or otherwise) from the YPCCC. Upon termination of this agreement, you agree to destroy all copies of any Data, in whole or in part and in any and all media, in your custody and control. This agreement shall be governed by, construed and interpreted in accordance with the laws of the State of Connecticut. You further agree to submit to the jurisdiction and venue of the courts of the State of Connecticut for any dispute relating to this Agreement. Please use the following citation in any work that makes use of the data and documentation as follows: Howe, Peter D., Matto Mildenberger, Jennifer R. Marlon, and Anthony Leiserowitz (2015). "Geographic variation in opinions on climate change at state and local scales in the USA." Nature Climate Change, doi:10.1038/nclimate2583. Direct any questions to the YPCCC at climatechange@yale.edu.

Frequently Asked Questions

What do these maps depict?

The maps depict estimates of the percentage of American adults (age 18 and over) who hold particular beliefs, attitudes, and policy preferences about global warming. The estimates were generated from a statistical model that incorporates actual survey responses, but combines these responses with demographic data from the U.S. Census to estimate opinions for different groups of people based on information such as their gender, race and ethnicity, and educational attainment; they also take into account changes in public opinion over time.

Where do the survey data underlying the estimates come from?

The data underlying the maps come from a large national survey dataset ( >28,000 respondents) collected between 2008 through 2021 as part of the Climate Change in the American Mind project led by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication. Reports from the individual surveys are available here: CCAM Reports.

How many people did you survey in my state/county? / How can you say anything about opinions in my geography if you didn't survey anyone there?

The number of respondents surveyed varies for each geographic unit but is very large across the US as a whole. Since our surveys are nationally representative, the number of respondents in each state and county is proportional to its share of the national population. In other words, larger states and counties will have more respondents than smaller states and counties. In some smaller counties, very few, if any, respondents may have been surveyed. In those cases, our model uses information about the population of the county, information from other counties in the same state and region, and information about the characteristics of the county (such as how the county voted in previous elections) to make its estimates. While this may sound surprising, it makes sense when we consider the strongest influences on a person's individual opinions about climate change in the US - political views. Knowing the political leanings of a county's (or other unit's) residents, along with the proportion of different demographic groups within that county, allows us to predict resident's climate opinions very well. Adding additional information (e.g., about rural/urban context, carbon-intensive activities, etc.), further improves predictions. Moreover, for any given geographic unit, information is pooled from nearby units and from higher-level geographies (e.g. state level information is included for all counties within that state). All of this information together allows us to produce reliable estimates (see next question) for all counties even if the number of individuals sampled within a specific county is small.

How accurate are the estimates?

No model is perfect and there are uncertainties in the model estimates. To validate the model, we conducted independent surveys in four states (CA, TX, OH, CO) and two metropolitan areas (Columbus, OH and San Francisco, CA) and compared the survey results to our model estimates. On average, the model estimates differed from the survey results by 2.9 percentage points among the four states and 3.6 percentage points among the two metropolitan areas, within the survey margins of error. A series of technical simulations estimate that the model has an average margin of error of ±7 percentage points at the state and congressional district levels, ±8 percentage points at the metro and county levels. Such error ranges include the error inherent in the original national surveys themselves, which is typically ±3 percentage points. The model uncertainties are smaller at broad geographic scales (e.g., the state level), and are larger at finer geographic scales (e.g., at the county and city levels). The model estimates also tend to be conservative, so geographic areas with extremely high or low measures are not estimated as well as areas with values closer to the national average for each survey question.

What does the gray color mean on some of the bars beneath the maps?

The gray area reflects people who refused to answer the question or said "don't know". We do not provide specific values for the gray areas because we did not develop estimates for these particular responses.

Do the maps account for differences in population density across the country?

No, the maps depict the estimated proportion of people within each geographic area who would answer each question as indicated. We have not adjusted the maps based on population density differences. It is important to keep in mind that some geographic areas may be large, but have few residents (e.g., Wyoming), while other geographic areas may be small, but have many residents (e.g., New Jersey). For reference, Wikipedia has a population density map here. The type of map used in this tool is called a choropleth map, which means the colors on the maps reflect the percentage of the population in a given geographic unit. These kinds of maps are used to represent everything from election results (e.g.,the red state / blue state maps common during presidential elections) to census and economic data (e.g., per capita income or unemployment rates).

Do these maps reflect changes in opinions due to recent extreme weather events like Superstorm Sandy?

Perhaps. The maps may reflect the impacts that specific extreme weather events had on public opinion in a given geographic unit. If public opinion in a particular area has been influenced by local events it is possible that the model would detect such an influence. However, data from specific events or types of events are not explicitly built into the model as predictor variables.

Can I use the data?

Yes. We encourage you to explore the maps and use the results in your own work. The data are available on our Data Download tab at the top of this page so that you can do your own analyses and create your own visualizations. If you publish an academic paper using these data please acknowledge the source by using the following citation:

Howe, P., Mildenberger, M., Marlon, J., & Leiserowitz, A. (2015) "Geographic variation in opinions on climate change at state and local scales in the USA," Nature Climate Change. DOI: 10.1038/nclimate2583.

If you publish a news article, visualization, blog post, or other publication using these data or maps, please include the link to the Yale Climate Opinion Maps website and attribution to the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.

How do the YCOM maps compare from year to year?

We originally created YCOM in 2014 and then updated it in 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021. Public concern about global warming has generally increased since 2014. However, improvements to our model, including new data that increase our ability to resolve differences between jurisdictions, and data for adults 18+ (prior estimates only included data for adults 25+) may have contributed to shifts in our current estimates as compared with those of 2014. As a result, we recommend caution interpreting any changes over time because we can't easily disaggregate what is a true shift between any particular year and what reflects the model's improved ability to map climate beliefs at the local scale. We are currently working on a new tool which will show changes in opinions over time for each state. Join our mailing list via the "Subscribe" button below on the right to be alerted when we release this new tool.

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Yale Climate Opinion Maps 2021 - Yale Program on Climate Change Communication

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Use the Yale Climate Opinion Maps to explore climate change beliefs, risk perceptions, and policy support at every geographic level in the United States.

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MSU Forest Carbon and Climate Program's Open Source Library

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MSU Forest Carbon and Climate Program's Open Source Library

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The Open Resource Library (FCCP ORL) is an online space dedicated to sharing educational outputs from our for-credit and non-credit course offerings to a wide audience of practitioners, educators, and members of the public. The primary goal of the FCCP ORL is to increase access to educational imagery, tools, and content regarding topics of forests and climate. This resource will be continuously updated to ensure visitors have access to up-to-date and relevant content from the FCCP.

Current resources include:

Open Resource Images - a collection of graphics that are available for use by interested parties with attribution

Tree Measurement Video Series - a collection of free educational videos demonstrating various tree measurements and how to convert these field measurements into carbon measurements

FCWG Webinar Recordings

USFS Animated Videos

Resources that are in development include:

Downloadable and Interactive Forest Carbon Calculator - a downloadable tool that allows users to calculate carbon storage totals in live biomass, calculate carbon storage totals in harvested wood products (HWPs), and budget for carbon project expenses (i.e. buffer pools, overhead costs, etc.) and profit over time for a variety of locations, tree types, and forest management activities

USFS Forest Carbon Tool Exercises - these downloadable exercises can be used with existing USFS tools to explore tool inputs and outputs, opportunities and limitations

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The Open Resource Library (FCCP ORL) is an online space dedicated to sharing educational outputs from our for-credit and non-credit course offerings to a wide audience of practitioners, educators, and members of the public. The primary goal of the FCCP ORL is to increase access to educational imagery, tools, and content regarding topics of forests and climate.

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En-ROADS is a freely-available online simulator that provides policymakers, educators, businesses, the media, and the public with the ability to test and explore cross-sector climate solutions.
Explore the En-ROADS Simulator ❯

En-ROADS is a global climate simulator that allows users to explore the impact of roughly 30 policies-such as electrifying transport, pricing carbon, and improving agricultural practices-on hundreds of factors like energy prices, temperature, air quality, and sea level rise.

Developed by Climate Interactive, the MIT Sloan Sustainability Initiative, and Ventana Systems, En-ROADS is a system dynamics model carefully grounded in the best available science, and has been calibrated against a wide range of existing integrated assessment, climate, and energy models. En-ROADS runs on an ordinary laptop in a fraction of a second, is freely available online, offers an intuitive user-friendly interface, and is available in over a dozen languages.

En-ROADS helps people make connections between things they care about and the possibilities available to help ensure a resilient future. Users can quickly see the long-term effects of the global climate policies and actions they imagine. The goal? To break through the noise and equip elected officials, business leaders, and others with the knowledge they need to implement equitable and high-leverage climate solutions. You can learn more about the science behind the simulator here.

Open the En-ROADS Simulator ❯

Experiencing En-ROADS changes how people think about climate change and how they feel about it at a visceral level. In government offices around the world, in classrooms and corporate boardrooms, we have seen how testing alternate scenarios motivates users to step up and take action. More than 300,000 people in 85 countries-including more than 130 members of the US Congress-have taken the time to use En-ROADS. Beyond the numbers, peer-reviewed studies have demonstrated that those who engage with En-ROADS are empowered to take action, with a strengthened connection and improved understanding of climate issues.

En-ROADS can be used individually online, but it is most often used as part of a facilitated group learning experiences: the En-ROADS Climate Workshop, the Climate Action Simulation game, or the En-ROADS Guided Assignment. These interactive events help participants gain key insights from the simulator, adopt new perspectives, and build grounded hope in a fun and engaging format. These experiences can be offered either in-person or via online platforms, and all materials are free.

We encourage you to join our online trainings to learn more about En-ROADS, its related experiences, and more. Our trainings cover: climate and energy system dynamics, interdisciplinary climate solutions, advanced facilitation tips, and more.

Join our free Training Program ❯

Watch a three minute demonstration of its operation and features below.

Anyone can lead En-ROADS events

A wide range of people have led En-ROADS events, including several national government leaders, a president of a major philanthropic foundation, chief sustainability officers, university professors, citizen leaders, and educators the world over. Facilitators from diverse backgrounds bring En-ROADS insights to their community through our interactive group experiences.
Anyone with enough interest can learn how to run an En-ROADS event for their desired audience.
Our event resources are:

Find the event that's right for you ❯

En-ROADS Climate Ambassadors

The En-ROADS Climate Ambassador Program is a unique leadership opportunity intended for highly-motivated facilitators who run En-ROADS events. En-ROADS Climate Ambassadors are committed to mastering our tools and spreading data-driven climate insights across the globe. Our team works closely with our Ambassadors to grow our network, run international events, and deliver crucial insights to decision-makers using the En-ROADS Simulator. Joining the Ambassador program is free, and applications are open to any member of the public who has completed the Mastering En-ROADS Trainings program.

If you are interested in having an Ambassador run an event for your group, you can explore our global network and connect with our Ambassadors.

Learn more about the ambassador program ❯

Our facilitators and En-ROADS Climate Ambassadors are running events all around the world. Each marker shows an En-ROADS workshop or game that has been held. Zoom in on the map and click on markers to see more details about each unique event. If you've run an En-ROADS event, be sure to register it to ensure we can put it on the map too!

Register Your Event ❯

The En-ROADS User Guide
A comprehensive online guide that provides background on the dynamics of En-ROADS, tips for using the simulator, general descriptions, real-world examples, slider settings, and model structure notes for the different sliders in En-ROADS.

Mastering En-ROADS Training Program
This free 8-week program will advance your understanding of both the En-ROADS Simulator and its complementary learning experiences. The course will explore the dynamics driving our climate and energy system, interdisciplinary climate solutions, advanced facilitation tips, themes of equity and justice, event planning, and more.

En-ROADS Videos
However you are using En-ROADS, you can improve your understanding of the model's dynamics by exploring some of our En-ROADS video library. Check out these videos to explore an array of topics - from deep dives on the science driving specific dynamics of the model, to real-life examples of people leading our game and workshop.

See more press ❯

Looking for communications material to help share En-ROADS? Be sure to explore our communications kit.

" En-ROADS lit my brain on fire....in one screen, the model communicates the urgency of the climate change threat, powerfully debunks cherished myths, confirmed the importance of current commitments and emphasizes how much more we have to do."

"We found that the Climate Interactive simulator and workshop helped us remove ego from the strategic conversations. It really allowed us to see the interconnectedness of all the solutions so that we could work together and not in isolation. "

"The Simulation engaged leaders from across sectors in an interactive, thought-provoking and solutions-focused discussion about strategies and policies to address global climate change. I think we all walked away with a better understanding of the complex energy and climate system and hope in our collective ability to drive a more sustainable future. "

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En-ROADS is a freely-available online simulator that provides policymakers, educators, businesses, the media, and the public with the ability to test and explore cross-sector climate solutions. Explore the En-ROADS Simulator ❯ En-ROADS is a global climate simulator that allows users to explore the impact of roughly 30 policies-such as electrifying transport, pricing carbon, and improving agricultural practices-on hundreds of factors like energy prices, temperature, air quality, and sea level rise.

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PLT, Project WET, and Project Wild's Climate Workshop - 2022

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Explore how climate is projected to change in any county in the United States.

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The Climate Explorer allows you to view historical and projected climate variables and assess the impacts of climate change on the things you care about

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Globe has lots of resources for climate and weather.

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Atmosphere

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Atmospheric conditions can have an important impact on the types of plants and animals that live in a particular area as well as soil formation. The atmospheric measurements collected by GLOBE students are important to scientists studying weather, climate, land cover, phenology, ecology, biology, hydrology, and soil.

Students and scientists investigate the atmosphere through the collection of data using measurement protocols and using instruments that meet certain specifications in order to ensure that data are comparable. Learning activities aid in the understanding of important scientific concepts, the understanding of data and data collection methodologies. The investigation appendix contains data sheets for all atmosphere and climate protocols, cloud and contrail images and descriptions and a glossary of terms. Additionally, data sheets (from the Appendix) and field guides (from the individual protocols) are available individually.

The GLOBE Atmosphere Investigation is available in the six United Nations languages (select any of the following links to open the corresponding document): Arabic (2005 edition), Chinese (1997 edition), French (2005 edition), Portuguese (1997 edition), Russian (1997 edition), and Spanish (2005 edition).
​​​​​​​

​​​​General Atmosphere Documents

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​​​​​​​ Atmospheric conditions can have an important impact on the types of plants and animals that live in a particular area as well as soil formation. The atmospheric measurements collected by GLOBE students are important to scientists studying weather, climate, land cover, phenology, ecology, biology, hydrology, and soil.

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Audubon scientists took advantage of 140 million observations, recorded by birders and scientists, to describe where 604 North American bird species live today-an area known as their "range." They then used the latest climate models to project how each species's range will shift as climate change and other human impacts advance across the continent.

The results are clear: Birds will be forced to relocate to find favorable homes. And they may not survive.

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Survival by Degrees: 389 Bird Species on the Brink

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Audubon scientists took advantage of 140 million observations, recorded by birders and scientists, to describe where 604 North American bird species live today-an area known as their "range." They then used the latest climate models to project how each species's range will shift as climate change and other human impacts advance across the continent.

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Preparing Wildlife for Climate Change: How Far Have We Come?

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Nodes are locations in the document that facilitate reading from beginning to end. You can navigate node by node or select one to jump to.

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Climate Change Atlas - Northern Research Station, USDA Forest Service

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When autocomplete results are available use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. Touch device users, explore by touch or with swipe gestures.

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Nature's Notebook-Phenology and Citizen Science 

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Nature's Notebook-Phenology and Citizen Science 

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Help your students gather phenological data on nearby plants and animals and contribute to climate science.

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Learn how your data are being used

INVASIVE SHRUBS HAVE A LEAFY ADVANTAGE OVER NATIVES

Invasive, non-native shrubs frequently leaf out earlier in the spring and hold onto leaves later in the fall than natives, out-competing native plants and shading the forest floor at times when other species depend on the sunlight. Authors of a new study used data collected by Nature's Notebook participants to find leaf period was up to 77 days longer for invasive species compared to natives. Better knowledge of how invasive shrubs negatively impact natives can help stem the purposeful spread of these plants by humans and protect native species and their ecosystems.
Learn More "

Create your own Local Phenology Program

Interested in what's happening to plant and animal populations, either on a seasonal or long-term basis? Turn your interest into a valuable collaborative community science program!
Learn More "

Our bi-monthly e-newsletter for observers covers new resources, tools and phenology information.

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Invasive, non-native shrubs frequently leaf out earlier in the spring and hold onto leaves later in the fall than natives, out-competing native plants and shading the forest floor at times when other species depend on the sunlight.

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Our team of educators and scientists has reviewed and organized the best free teaching resources for K-12 through college.

Get Started Teaching Climate and Energy

Easy-to-read explanations of science and policy, designed to step students through the key principles of climate and energy

Suggested teaching approaches, selected for various grade levels

Spanish-language versions

Supporting materials from the CLEAN reviewed collection

Culturally relevant climate teaching

Explore Teaching Climate and Energy

Posted: Oct 18 2023

Join us for the second Accelerating Climate Capacity, Engagement, and Leadership Summit (ACCELS), convened by the CLEAN Network! Thursday, November 16 th 2-5pm ET

Posted: Apr 1 2023

Check out CLEAN's new pages about helping teachers address Climate Mental health and our upcoming webinar on this topic.

Posted: Mar 1 2023

CLEAN has translated more of our pages into Spanish including elementary teaching, culturally relevant teaching, and controversial teaching! Check out the Guidance and Toolbox pages

Posted: Jan 15 2023

Register for the Spring 2023 CLEAN Webinar Series! Topics include teaching about climate, systems thinking, consequences & solutions, and energy!

RSS

Teaching Climate and Energy with NGSS

Our resources are aligned to the standards. You can explore the key standards related to climate and energy or find a resource that supports a specific standard.

Find NGSS-tagged materials in the CLEAN collection

Design your own three-dimensional classroom units

Explore Teaching Climate and Energy with NGSS

Strengthen your Teaching

Find professional development tools and support for teaching climate and energy.

Whether you're designing lessons, adapting to online teaching, or building a constructive classroom atmosphere, we have tools to help.

Educator Toolbox

Get Involved with CLEAN

CLEAN is a community effort, brought to you by scores of educators, scientists, and curriculum developers. There are many ways to become part of this project.

Get Involved

About CLEAN

CLEAN is the Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network.
Our primary efforts are:

to steward a reviewed collection of free, high-quality teaching materials for teaching climate and energy

to support the CLEAN Network, a community of professionals committed to improving climate and energy literacy.

Learn more about CLEAN
CLEAN recognizes the disproportionate impact climate change has on Communities of Color and the importance of incorporating social and environmental justice into climate education. Please see our cultural acknowledgements pages for more information.

Key:

Events in blue: Events from CLEAN

Events in black: Professional development opportunities from CLEAN

Events in green: Events from the Climate and Energy Literacy Community

Suggest an event

See Ongoing Events and Opportunities

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teach the earth incorporating societal issues climate change

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CLEAN: Committed to Climate and Energy Education

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Our team of educators and scientists has reviewed and organized the best free teaching resources for K-12 through college. Go Entire Collection Activities Videos Visualizations Featured Resource HEART Force ...

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Funding for species with unmet conservation needs

Ohio's 2015-2025 State Wildlife Action Plan is a tool to secure conservation funding for critical habitats and species of greatest conservation need in Ohio. This funding is available through the State Wildlife Grants (SWG) Program, which was created by Congress to provide for the management of species with unmet or under-funded conservation needs. To be eligible for SWG funding, states must have a federally-approved State Wildlife Action Plan in place. Ohio's original 10-year Action Plan was created in 2005. The Division of Wildlife, in cooperation with our conservation partners throughout the state, revised the plan for 2015-2025.

A unifying force for conservation

Ohio's State Wildlife Action Plan is a strategic look at the integrated conservation efforts needed to sustain the broad array of wildlife species across the state. The Action Plan is not intended to be a work plan for the Division of Wildlife or any other conservation organization - it is meant to support, complement, and unite the work of multiple conservation and management entities within Ohio. The Action Plan is designed to build upon, coordinate, and focus these efforts - as well as identify information gaps and further needs - to create a comprehensive vision for future conservation activities across the state.
In a nutshell, Ohio's State Wildlife Action Plan is the vehicle to bring together all Ohioans with an interest in conservation, and help prioritize and direct conservation efforts for habitats and species so that they are as scientifically effective and financially efficient as possible.
Financial support provided by the State Wildlife Grants Program will enable coordination and implementation of many projects through Ohio's State Wildlife Action Plan. The Action Plan is an adaptive plan that will continually be updated, revised, and improved based on the input of all those interested in wildlife conservation. Working together, Ohioans can shape a future that is filled with abundant wildlife resources that define the state and provide for the enjoyment, recreation, and livelihood of its citizens and visitors.

Download the State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP) [pdf]

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Ohio's State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP)

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Ohio's 2015-2025 State Wildlife Action Plan is a tool to secure conservation funding for critical habitats and species of greatest conservation need in Ohio. This funding is available through the State Wildlife Grants (SWG) Program, which was created by Congress to provide for the management of species with unmet or under-funded conservation needs.

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Pay particular attention to the Systems Thinking module in this Toolkit

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The Conservation Education Strategy Tool Kit contains resources developed by the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (AFWA) to support conservation educators who offer fish and wildlife based programs. It includes resources developed as part of AFWA's Conservation Education Strategy:

NEW!! Making It Last Toolkit
This national conservation outreach strategy is an opportunity for each state agency to significantly increase awareness of its role in protecting and conserving wildlife among target audiences. This campaign toolkit makes specific recommendations on how states can approach and implement this effort using both nonpaid and paid media and includes a flexible creative approach, allowing states to use their own imagery and messaging relevant to specific goals.

NEW!! Natural Pathways
The Natural Pathways Project was conducted to meet the overarching objectives of the CE Strategy to maximize states' investments in their conservation education programs as well as recruitment and retention programs; achieve excellence in conservation education; build NGO and community partnerships; and ultimately, enhance public understanding and appreciation of fish and wildlife management while shaping long-term conservation and sustainable enjoyment of natural resources.

Teaching about the Magnificent Monarch: Resource Recommendations for Conservation Educato rs
This guide is designed for classroom teachers and non-formal wildlife educators to support high-quality conservation education efforts that align with academic standards as well as the AFWA Conservation Education Core Concepts and Framework (Appendix A). The resources included in this guide represent the best-available resources for educators to use when teaching about monarch butterflies.

Conservation Educations Foundations & Poster of Top 11 Core Conservation Concepts
W hat environmentally literate citizens should be expected to know, feel and do related to fish and wildlife conservation.

Landscape Investigation Guidelines
Challenges K-12 students to engage in social science inquiry by applying spatial thinkng to real world situations that consider fish, wildlife and other natural resources as integral parts of landscapes.

Sustainable Tomorrow-Applying Systems Thinking to Environmental Education Curricula for Grades 9-12
Demonstrates how to use systems concepts and tools to apply systems thinking to environmental education curricula using lessons from Project WILD, Project WET and Project Learning Tree for grades 9-12

Outdoor Skills Education Handbook
Designed to help agencies and NGOs work with schools to deliver outdoor skills through health or physical education courses; includes everything a CE professional needs to know about communicating with school administrators, correlating to standards and more.

Benchmarks for Conservation Literacy
Identifies in chart-form what students should know and be able to do at the 5th, 8th and 12th grade levels to guide them on their way to becoming involved, responsible, conservation-minded citizens.

The toolkit is not a conservation education curriculum. Rather, these resources are designed to work with your existing curriculum to enhance your ongoing conservation education programs, and to provide a tool for communication between the state fish and wildlife agency and state department of education.

Why a toolkit? In today's educational system it's critical that any subject content address states' education standards. The resources in this kit will help make those connections between your conservation education programs and science and social studies standards.

Technology for Field Investigations
Technology used by natural resource scientists and managers to ensure a healthy environment for all life has change dramatically, which educators
need to convey to K-12 students. The effort to reform science education in particular, through "A Framework for K-12 Science Education:

Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas" (National Research Council, 2011) emphasizes the need to reflect scientific and engineering practices in the workplace in K-12 science education.

Resources:
State Science Standards & K-12 Field Science Practice
Value of Field Investigation Models to Natural Resource Conservation Education
Alignment of Outdoor Skills with National Standards and the Framework for 21st Century Learning
Literature Review of the Benefits of Outdoor Skills
Indicators and Data Sources for Assessing Conservation Education and Outdoor Recreation Participation
Correlations of Outdoor Skills Programs to National Standards

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North American Conservation Education Strategy :: Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies

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The Conservation Education Strategy Tool Kit contains resources developed by the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (AFWA) to support conservation educators who offer fish and wildlife based programs. It includes resources developed as part of AFWA's Conservation Education Strategy: NEW!!

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The Climate Change, Wildlife and Wildlands Toolkit for Formal and Informal Educators is an updated and expanded version of the award-winning and very popular Climate Change, Wildlife and Wildlands Toolkit for Teachers and Interpreters, which was first published in 2001. The kit is designed for classroom teachers and informal educators in parks, refuges, forest lands, nature centers, zoos, aquariums, science centers, etc., and is aimed at the middle school grade level. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in partnership with six other federal agencies-National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, NOAA, NASA, U.S. Forest Service, and Bureau of Land Management-developed the kit to aid educators in teaching how climate change is affecting the Nation's wildlife and public lands, and how everyone can become climate stewards.

Get started: see the full video, browse Toolkit materials, and explore America's eco-regions.

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wildlife-wildlands-toolkit-map-small.png The Climate Change, Wildlife and Wildlands Toolkit for Formal and Informal Educators is an updated and expanded version of the award-winning and very popular Climate Change, Wildlife and Wildlands Toolkit for Teachers and Interpreters, which was first published in 2001.

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The Toolbox for Teaching Climate & Energy has been created to organize and highlight resources from numerous educational and science partners and programs all working toward the supporting teachers and education systems.

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This website is the digital version of the 2014 National Climate Assessment, produced in collaboration with the U.S. Global Change Research Program.

For the official version, please refer to the PDF in the downloads section. The downloadable PDF is the official version of the 2014 National Climate Assessment.

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This website is the digital version of the 2014 National Climate Assessment, produced in collaboration with the U.S. Global Change Research Program. For the official version, please refer to the PDF in the downloads section. The downloadable PDF is the official version of the 2014 National Climate Assessment.

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Conservation, Climate Change, and COVID-19

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Below you will find each of the five lessons that make up the Project WILD curriculum, Weather, Wildlife, Climate, & Change. Each of the lessons have been aligned with national education standards. By clicking 'here' under each lesson title, you will be taken to a PDF copy that you can print for your personal use.

Lesson 1: Weather, Climate, & Wildlife

To access the lesson, click here

Description: Students collect and graph local weather data and overlay it with 30-year average temperatures for that location. They then play a game to understand the difference between weather and climate and the impacts of each on local wildlife species.

Lesson Objectives:

Collect and graph local weather and climate data

Describe the difference between weather and climate

Explain that daily weather is highly variable compared to long-term climate data

Describe how weather is more variable than climate.

Identify ways in which weather and climate events may affect local wildlife species.

Lesson 2: Climate and Habitat

To access the lesson, click here

Description: Students create maps for average temperature and rainfall in their state. They then overlay these with vegetation and wildlife range maps and use the comparisons to consider factors that affect regional climate and how these determine wildlife habitat.

Lesson Objectives:

List key factors that contribute to regional climate.

Describe the links among precipitation, vegetation and habitat, using maps as supporting evidence.

Describe the relationships among climate, habitat, vegetation types and wildlife species.

Hypothesize how changing regional climates may affect wildlife.

Lesson 3: Adapting to Change

To access the lesson, click here

Description: Students engage in a jig-saw activity in which student groups become experts on one major climate-related impact on wildlife (sea level rise, transforming habitats, and changing seasonal cues) or a management response (adaptive management, collaboration, or habitat conservation and restoration). Teachers then shuffle these groups so that a representative from each expert group is represented in a new small group. These groups are then asked to consider what likely impacts will affect a local wildlife species and what a good management response would be.

Lesson Objectives:

Identify both natural and human-caused reasons for climate change.

Identify three key impacts climate change will have on wildlife.

Identify three ways in which wildlife managers are planning for climate change.

Identify potential climate change impacts on local species and create an action plan for helping protect these species.

Lesson 4: Doing Our Part

To access the lesson, click here

Description: Students complete an online ecological footprint calculator and complete an activity to connect personal actions to building wildlife resilience to climate change.

Lesson Objectives:

Identify their impacts on the planet.

List at least five specific ways they can take action on climate change.

Connect the actions they can take to benefits for society, individuals or local communities and wildlife.

Communicate with others the importance of "doing our part" to reduce impacts on the planet.

Lesson 5: Adapting to Change

To access the lesson, click here

Description: This lesson was added as a part of our new Intergenerational Transfer project. Students participate in a service-learning project with a community partner, interview their parents/guardians, and complete a reflective blog post.

Lesson Objectives:

Participate in a service-learning project with a community partner.

Reflect on the experiences of the curriculum, parent interview, and service-learning project using critical thinking skills.

Think of ways that they can help mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change.

Appendix A: Species Cards Part 1

*This appendix is split into two parts due to upload size

To access appendix A part 1, click here

This Appendix contains all the species cards needed in the module. These cards are needed to complete lessons 1 and 3.

Appendix A: Species Cards Part 2

*This appendix is split into two parts due to upload size

To access appendix A part 2, click here

This Appendix contains all the species cards needed in the module. These cards are needed to complete lessons 1 and 3.

Appendix B: North Carolina Maps

To access appendix B, click here

This Appendix contains all the species cards needed in the module. These cards are needed to complete lessons 2.

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Wildlife, Weather, Climate & Change Module

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To access the lesson, click here Description: Students collect and graph local weather data and overlay it with 30-year average temperatures for that location. They then play a game to understand the difference between weather and climate and the impacts of each on local wildlife species.

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MADECLEAR: Maryland and Delaware Climate Change Education, Assessment and Research

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MADE CLEAR, in collaboration with Jane Hawkey of Integration and Application Network, developed five posters for educators to use to introduce climate change concepts and impacts for grades 7 - 12. The focus is especially relevant to the Mid Atlantic area. Posters and teaching notes are available at…

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Project WILD Climate and Wildlife Webinar. August 29, 2018

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The Network supports the diverse, collective voice of the natural resource community on issues related to climate adaptation and is made up of representatives from federal, state, tribal, academic, and non-profit organizations. The mission of the Network is to provide leadership, coordination, and collaboration to navigate change and advance climate adaptation strategies for the fish, wildlife, and plants of the United States. The Network runs the Climate Adaptation Leadership Awards program and continues to promote the National Fish, Wildlife, and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy.

Learn more about the Network (link coming soon)
NEW REPORT: Advancing the National Fish, Wildlife, and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy into a New Decade REPORT FACT SHEET: MANAGEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS REPORT FACT SHEET: INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGES AFWA and the National Fish, Wildlife, & Plants Climate Adaptation Network:
The Network and AFWA's Climate Adaptation Committee are closely linked as the committee chair and vice-chair serve on the Network's Steering Committee in addition to several other committee members who represent the states within the Network. While the committee and its initiatives are state-led and focus on climate adaptation within state fish and wildlife agencies, the Network represents the natural resource community's interests equally and provides a forum that transcends management jurisdictions.
Climate Adaptation Leadership Awards:
The Climate Adaptation Leadership Awards (CALA) recognizes outstanding efforts to increase the resilience of America's valuable living natural resources and the many people, businesses and communities that depend on them. Established in 2016, each year CALA recognizes exemplary leadership by individuals, agencies, businesses, and other organizations to reduce impacts and advance adaptation of the nation's vital natural resources in a changing world.
Congratulations to our 2021 Winners & Honorable Mentions! Learn more about their outstanding work here.
Award FAQ | Eligibility Requirements | Previous Winners
National Fish, Wildlife, & Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy:
In response to increasting impacts of climate change and other stressors on America's natural resources, the United States Congress called for the development of a national, government-wide strategy to safeguard fish, wildlife, plants, and the natural systems upon which they depend. With input from a broad range of federal, state, and tribal partners, with active engagement with non-government organizations, industry groups, and private landowners, the National Fish, Wildlife, and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy was released in 2012. The purpose of the Strategy was to inspire and enable natural resource professionals and other decision makers to take action to conserve the nation's fish, wildlife, plants, and ecosystem fucntions, as well as the human uses and values these natural systems provide, in a changing climate.
The website for the Network is currently under construction. For inquiries about the Network, CALA, or the Strategy, please email mjohnson@fishwildlife.org. Thank you for your patience!

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Climate Adaptation Network :: Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies

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The Network supports the diverse, collective voice of the natural resource community on issues related to climate adaptation and is made up of representatives from federal, state, tribal, academic, and non-profit organizations. The mission of the Network is to provide leadership, coordination, and collaboration to navigate change and advance climate adaptation strategies for the fish, wildlife, and plants of the United States.

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Project Learning Tree Shop | Southeastern Forests and Climate Change

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Project Learning Tree’s Southeastern Forests and Climate Change e-unit is designed for educators seeking to teach high school students about climate change impacts on forest ecosystems, the role of forests in sequestering carbon, and strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to c…

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Designed for 6th-8th grade teachers, Carbon & Climate provides activities and resources to help educators introduce students to some of the complex issues involved in climate change.

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Science & information for a climate-smart nation

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Wildlife and Climate Change National Page

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Wildlife and Climate Change National Page

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Teaching about climate change is a challenge. Project WILD materials and training can help!

Using wildlife as an integrating context helps make teaching about climate change more concrete. Use best practices in climate change education and gain access to quality, science-based, wildlife management principles that address this complicated issue. Your students will be outdoors, interacting with one another and the community, and learning from trusted sources.

Using Project WILD to Teach about Climate Change

Project WILD activities are ideal for exploring subjects that are complex and interdisciplinary. Using simulations and systems thinking, students explore the ecological, social, and economic aspects of environmental issues and phenomena. They work collaboratively to understand and articulate multiple viewpoints and stakeholder interests in order to find constructive actions geared toward environmental stewardship. The resources listed below will help educators select and implement Project WILD activities as part of their climate change education curriculum.

project Wild: Climate & wildlife

Formal and nonformal and nonformal educators can now receive professional development training that focuses specifically on integrating topics on Climate Adaptation into their curriculum. As part of the training, educators will receive the 64-page booklet titled Climate & Wildlife: An Activity Module for Grades 6-12 Educators. This resources features a collection of eight activities from Project WILD publications that connect closely to the the National Fish, Wildlife, and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy.
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The activities include content on the following subject matter:
* Shifting phenology and ranges,
* Interdependence of species,
* Balancing ecological, cultural, recreational, and commercial uses of land and resources,
* Community messaging and engagement,
* Assessing species vulnerability, and
* Reducing non-climate stressors to species and ecosystems.

See how the activities in the module align

Professional development for using the Climate & Wildlife module will be offered starting in January 2022. Training will be offered into the spring in five states: Kansas, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oregon, and Texas. Additionally, the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies will soon be offering a self-paced online course for educatrors on Climate & Wildlife.

To inquire about Climate & Wildlife professional development training opportunities in your state, contact your Project WILD State Coordinator.

National fish, wildlife, and Plants climate adaptation strategy

The Strategy describes eight goals that help federal, state, and tribal agencies collaborate and adapapt management practices for species and landscapes impacted by climate change. These goals also provide a framework for student learning about climate adaptation.

For links to the Strategy, a fact sheet, and other related resources, visit the National Fish, Wildlife, and Plants Climate Adaptation Network page.

"You can't go back and change the beginning,

but you can start where you are and change the ending." ~ C.S. Lewis

Acorn woodpecker. Photo credit: George Andreiko, Arizona Game & Fish

Make it Happen!

Find a Project WILD Coordinator near you.

Take part in an an amazing workshop, where you'll learn about local educator resources.

Take action! Create a habitat on your school site: build nest boxes, conduct a stream clean-up, or plant native plants.

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Wildlife and Climate Change :: Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies

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Using wildlife as an integrating context helps make teaching about climate change more concrete. Use best practices in climate change education and gain access to quality, science-based, wildlife management principles that address this complicated issue. Your students will be outdoors, interacting with one another and the community, and learning from trusted sources.

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The original National Fish, Wildlife, and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy (PDF) was published in 2012. Though the website that accompanied the guide is no longer accessible, an update titled Advancing the National Fish, Wildlife, and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy into a New Decade (PDF) was published in January 2021. A two-page overview of the update (PDF) is also available.

As outlined in the original strategy, people can take steps to help the country's valuable natural resources-and the communities and economies that depend on them-be resilient as climate changes. The National Fish, Wildlife, and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy describes a set of goals and actions developed by teams of federal, state, and tribal managers and researchers, with input from many other organizations and the public.

The Strategy is organized around seven major goals that will help fish, wildlife, plants, and ecosystems adapt to changing conditions, and provides a list of practical actions that can be taken-or at least initiated-in the next five to ten years. These goals include:

Goal 1. Conserve habitat to support healthy fish, wildlife, and plant populations and ecosystem functions in a changing climate.

Goal 2. Manage species and habitats to protect ecosystem functions and provide sustainable cultural, subsistence, recreational, and commercial use in a changing climate.

Goal 3. Enhance capacity for effective management in a changing climate.

Goal 4. Support adaptive management in a changing climate through integrated observation and monitoring and use of decision support tools.

Goal 5. Increase knowledge and information on impacts and responses of fish, wildlife, and plants to a changing climate.

Goal 6. Increase awareness and motivate action to safeguard fish, wildlife, and plants in a changing climate.

Goal 7. Reduce non-climate stressors to help fish, wildlife, plants, and ecosystems adapt to a changing climate.

The Strategy represents a significant effort to take effective action to reduce risks and increase the resiliency of natural resources by providing a common framework for collective action. It also allows us to understand individual climate adaptation actions in the broader context of adaptation across our living natural resources.
Image credit: Rainbow Trout in Hand at Gechiak Creek, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. CC-BY-2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/, via Flickr.

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National Fish, Wildlife, and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy

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The original National Fish, Wildlife, and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy (PDF) was published in 2012. Though the website that accompanied the guide is no longer accessible, an update titled Advancing the National Fish, Wildlife, and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy into a New Decade (PDF) was published in January 2021.

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Climate Change Education for Sustainable Development-UNESCO

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Climate Change Education for Sustainable Development-UNESCO

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Yale Program on Climate Change Communication

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Home / For Educators: Grades 6-12

For Educators: Grades 6-12

Climate change is a complex topic to teach. In addition to teaching the science behind climate change, it is critical to help students become effective climate change communicators.

We have developed materials for teachers who are interested in using our resources in their classrooms, such as the Yale Climate Opinion Maps and Yale Climate Connections. These materials were developed based on recommendations from educators across the United States. They aim to immerse students in climate change issues in an accessible, digestible, and interactive way. While these NGSS and Common Core-aligned activities were designed for middle and high schoolers, you can easily convert them to Word documents using free platforms like https://simplypdf.com/ so that you can customize them for your students. We'd also love to hear about your experience using our materials with your students! Please fill out this brief survey .

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For Educators: Grades 6-12 - Yale Program on Climate Change Communication

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Home / For Educators: Grades 6-12 Climate change is a complex topic to teach. In addition to teaching the science behind climate change, it is critical to help students become effective climate change communicators. We have developed materials for teachers who are interested in using our resources in their classrooms, such as the Yale Climate Opinion Maps and Yale Climate Connections.

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The U.S. government has identified seven goals to help fish, wildlife, plants, and ecosystems cope with the impacts of climate change (National Fish, Wildlife and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy). These goals are designed to inspire and enable natural resource managers, legislators and other decision makers to take effective steps toward climate change adaptation over the next five to ten years:

Conserve habitat to support healthy fish, wildlife, and plant populations and ecosystem functions in a changing climate.

Manage species and habitats to protect ecosystem functions and provide sustainable cultural, subsistence recreational, and commercial use in a changing climate.

Enhance capacity for effective management in a changing climate.

Support adaptive management in a changing climate through integrated observation and monitoring and use of decision support tools.

Increase knowledge and information on impacts and responses of fish, wildlife, and plants to a changing climate.

Increase awareness and motivate action to safeguard fish, wildlife, and plants in a changing climate.

Reduce non-climate stressors to help fish, wildlife, plants, and ecosystems adapt to a changing climate.

These goals are excerpted from the report National Fish, Wildlife, and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy (PDF), Chapter 3.

Developing and providing access to the relevant information and tools needed to meet these goals are among the greatest ongoing challenges in protecting and enhancing the resilience of ecosystems. Efforts are underway to collect information on the changes that are happening and that will occur in the future, and to integrate the data into research and analysis that supports our understanding of possible outcomes for ecosystems.

For more information, see Federal Agency Coordination for Natural Resource Management.

To meet the demand for information, federal agencies have established several networks of science and data providers, developed many types of climate tools and services, and provided numerous innovations in modeling and prediction. However, the federal government alone cannot address all of the implications of climate impacts on our natural resources. Addressing climate change and fostering the resilience of our natural resources will require leveraging the skills, tools, and innovations of the entire nation. Fostering this level of innovation and adaptive capacity to address changes will require improved collaboration and strengthening the ability of all parties to bring resources to the table to help the nation sustain and restore its natural resources.

One of these efforts is this U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit, which serves as a web-based resource providing authoritative, accessible, usable, and timely information, data, and tools to help decision makers and the public maintain ecosystems and the services they provide.

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Protecting and Enhancing the Resilience of Ecosystems

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The U.S. government has identified seven goals to help fish, wildlife, plants, and ecosystems cope with the impacts of climate change (National Fish, Wildlife and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy).

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Climate Literacy: The Essential Principles of Climate Science is an interagency guide that provides a framework and essential principles for formal and informal education about climate change. It presents important information for individuals and communities to understand Earth's climate, impacts of climate change, and approaches for adapting and mitigating change. Principles in the guide can serve as discussion starters or launching points for scientific inquiry. The guide can also serve educators who teach climate science as part of their science curricula.

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Climate Literacy: the Essential Principles of Climate Science | GlobalChange.gov

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Climate Literacy: The Essential Principles of Climate Scienc