The TeacherFriendly Guide to Climate Change Ingrid Zabel

The Teacher-Friendly Guide™ to Climate Change Ingrid Zabel Don Duggan-Haas Paleontological Research Institution

Authors: Ingrid Zabel Don Duggan-Haas Robert Ross Alexandra Moore Ben Brown-Steiner Reviewers: Ben Brown-Steiner Warren Allmon Arthur De. Gaetano Alex Burrows Lou Derry Heidi Lux Carlie Pietsch Crystal Theesfeld Gang Chen Phoebe Cohen With input and guidance from many others, listed in the Acknowledgements

Contents 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. Why Teach About Climate Change? What Should Everyone Understand About Climate Change and Energy? What is Climate? Climate Change Through Earth History Evidence For and Causes of Recent Climate Change US Regional Climates, Current and Future Climate Change Mitigation Geoengineering Climate Change Adaptation Obstacles to Addressing Climate Change Perspective Frequently Asked Questions

3. What is Climate? • Climate is a System • Measuring Climate • Greenhouse Gases and Global Temperature • • Natural Causes of Climate Change

4. Climate Change Through Earth History • Why Past Climate Change Matters • Observing Climate Through Time in the Rock Record • History of the Earth's Climate • Climate Analogs and Models “One answer is pedagogical: Though understanding ancient climates is not likely to be the most important thing for students to know about current climate change, it may help students see that climates can change, put the kinds of changes we see today into a historical perspective, and help students understand how researchers use paleoclimates to study our currently changing climate. The idea that the Earth’s climate could potentially change is an abstract concept that is outside the range of our personal experiences and was, until a couple hundred years ago, a radical idea. Another answer is scientific and practical: Past climates help scientists understand how the Earth could change by understanding how the Earth has changed…There is no practical way to physically test hypotheses derived from [climate] models about the long-term rates of glacial retreat, changes in oceanic circulation, influences on organisms, and so on—we can’t recreate a global laboratory except in a computer simulation. Climate change events in Earth’s history, however, have performed some of the experiments for us. ”

5. Evidence for and Causes of Recent Climate Change • Changing Temperatures and Carbon Dioxide • Shrinking Ice Sheets and Glaciers • Changing Sea Ice Extent • Thawing Permafrost • Rising Sea Level • Causes of Recent Climate Change • What are the Likely Effects of Climate Change Going to Be?

6. US Regional Climates, Current and Future • • • Describing Climates Northeast Southeast Midwest South Central Northwest Central Southwest West Hawaii Alaska

7. Climate Change Mitigation • What is Mitigation? • Mitigation and Adaptation in Parallel • What We’re Up Against • Mitigation Pathways and Stabilization Wedges • Mitigation Strategies • Renewable Energy • Nuclear Energy • Energy Efficiency and Conservation • Carbon Capture and Storage • Land Use: Forests, Soils, and Agriculture • Waste Management • Social Innovation

8. Geoengineering • Counteracting Climate Change • Examples of Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) Techniques • Examples of Solar Radiation Management (SRM) Techniques • Geoengineering Choices “Given the concerns about geoengineering, why consider it at all? ”

9. Climate Change Adaptation • How Much Does Adaptation Cost? • Types of Adaptation Strategies • Adaptation to Different Climate Hazards • Sea Level Rise • Heat Waves • Heavy Rainfall • Drought • Extreme Weather • Reduced Snowfall and Snowpack • Equity and Social Justice Considerations IPCC: “Most aspects of climate change will persist for many centuries even if emissions of CO 2 are stopped. ”

Crowdfunding Campaign March 2017: Heartland Institute began sending “Why Scientists Disagree About Global Warming” book to US teachers May 2017: TFG to Climate Change published Summer 2017: PRI started crowdfunding campaign to send our book to teachers across the US bit. ly/Teach. Climate. Science Please help spread the word!