4.5.1: Understanding the Science of Climate Change
Climate change, driven largely by human activity, is causing irreparable harm to the earth’s ability to regulate temperature and causing droughts, fires, extreme rain events, sea water rises, and mass extinctions of creatures who cannot adapt to the disappearance of their habitats.
Guiding questions:
- Who are the speakers in this film? What kind of expertise and authority do they have?
- What are three dangers the film details from climate change?
- Who does the film claim will be most affected, among people and other living creatures?
- Where do you think the people of Tuvalu go?
- List three areas of evidence for climate change the film details, such as glacier melts.
- What effects of climate change have you noticed? Have your elderly family members mentioned change between their childhoods and today, such as their access to water, or the strength of storms?
- What “solutions” are there, such as those detailed by Dr. Ben Abbott? Are these solutions just for humans, or will they steward the lives and well-being of other creatures as well?
Video Credit: “Understanding The Science Of Climate Change | Earth’s Survival | Spark.” Content licensed from TVF International to Little Dot Studios. 2019. “Made in consultation with the IPCC and world-leading climate scientists, this groundbreaking documentary explains the headlines that are addressed in the Fifth Assessment Report in 2015, and how we may be in the middle of the most crucial moment of Earth’s history. It decodes thousands of pages of scientific data into digestible, easy to understand science, punctuated in places by clever, creative CGI.”
Thumbnail: Polar bear cubs. Alaska Region U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, 2010. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
