A Climate Future
Teacher Resources
Lesson 4.5 Teaching Guide
Assessments Guide
Three Close Reads for Graphic Biographies Tool
Driving Question: How will climate change shape health, jobs, and human systems in the future?
While we know that climate change is already having a very real impact on natural and human systems around the world, it can sometimes be difficult to see and feel the way melting sea ice or a few degrees’ rise in temperature will impact you personally. But climate change is subtly adjusting the ways we live our everyday lives. In this lesson, we will look at how climate change and our response to it will impact our health, our jobs, and our complex human systems. In doing so, you’ll think about future ways you might be involved in solving the climate problem.
- Evaluate the potential impact of climate change on human health.
- Investigate how climate change may reshape jobs, including the emergence of new job sectors and increased demand in some fields.
- Analyze the potential consequences of climate change on human systems, including energy and migration.
- Identify personal actions that can have an impact on climate change.
Opener
Start thinking about different career paths in which you might be interested. This will prepare you to dive into this lesson, in which you’ll explore future career plans tied to climate-change solutions.
Article
Explore the ways our health, our jobs, and the systems we use to manage a complex world will shift as climate change continues to impact our future and what we can do to create the future we want to inhabit.
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Skim
Before you read, you should quickly skim the article, by looking at the headings of each section and the charts. Read the questions below as well, so you know what to look for when you read!
Key Ideas
- What’s the good news when it comes to the relationship between human health and our environment?
- How might climate change negatively impact human health?
- How might job opportunities change in response to climate change?
- How will our response to climate change transform our energy systems? What are some things individuals can do to mitigate the effects of climate change?
- What’s one way climate change will impact human migration?
Evaluate
- The article lays out several informed ideas about the future, both how it will change and how we must change it. Do you agree with the future presented in this article? What do you think is missing from this vision? Provide at least one of your own ideas about how our health, our jobs, and human systems might change in the future.
Using the graphic biographies and careers chart, complete the Climate Expert Exploration activity below.
Activity
Consider your interests and explore the work of different climate experts that will help us combat climate change. We will need experts across a range of careers if we are to achieve our climate goals.
Article
These graphic biographies are about experts in a variety of fields working to develop climate solutions.
Activity
This resource provides key information that can be used for activities promoting and planning for climate-friendly careers.
Closer
You’ve learned how climate change is shaping our future in many ways. In this quick activity, you’ll use the information you’ve learned to make informed predictions for what that future may hold.
Assessment
This writing assessment is an opportunity for you to showcase your critical thinking, analysis, and argumentation skills by analyzing documents in response to a specific prompt.