Fires, Floods, and Droughts: Impacts of Climate Change in the U.S.

Introduction and Rationale

In July 2020, the average daily high temperature in New Castle County, DE was 32.2 ^oC. This represents a 2.0 ^oC increase over the average for the period between 1980 and 2010. That increase makes New Castle County feel like the city of Richmond, VA (located 200 miles to the south) used to in the late 20^th century. And the city of Richmond has experienced temperature increases that make it feel more like Atlanta, GA used to.¹ While two degrees doesn’t seem like that much, consider that an adult is said to have a fever when their body temperature rises by as little as half a degree, and is commonly associated with headaches, body aches, fatigue, an upset stomach, and general irritability. Fortunately, most fevers can be controlled by acetaminophen or other fever reducers, and many pass on their own, alleviating their hosts of any negative consequences. Unfortunately, the earth isn’t so lucky – there is no magic fever reducer that will alleviate the warming-induced sea level rise, heat waves, droughts, and more intense hurricanes that are predicted to occur. So, when the scientific community is raising alarms about the potential for a few degrees warming, think of how bad you felt the last time you had a significant fever.

Analogies like the one above are key to gaining the attention of my students, who, despite climate change being a mainstay in the news for the better part of twenty years, have a “so-what?” attitude around climate change. I often find myself wondering how it is that the greatest challenge of our time can come off as so “meh” decades after it came to the forefront. My theory is that climate change as a phenomenon seems abstract and non-local, it isn’t pressing, and students don’t feel empowered to make meaningful changes to avoid or reduce its impacts. With that in mind, the primary goal of this unit is to increase student understanding of and sense of urgency surrounding the issue of climate change by bringing the impacts to their doorstep.

In order to accomplish this goal, this unit asks students do the following: 1) learn the basic science behind climate change, 2) investigate the impacts of climate change on global, national, and local scales, and 3) research or generate their own mitigation and adaptation strategies. Designed specifically for AP Environmental Science (AP-ES), this unit spans three weeks of instruction and specifically focuses on climate change as it pertains to Delaware. This includes an analysis of relevant climate data and the state’s vulnerabilities to rising sea levels, changing precipitation patterns, and warmer temperatures and an enhanced urban heat island effect.

Demographics

William Penn High School is a public high school in the Colonial School District in New Castle County, DE. It is the only high school in the district and is the largest or second largest high school in the entire state, serving between 2,000 and 2,200 each year across grades 9-12. The district is considered suburban/urban fringe and serves a diverse population in terms of both race and income. To increase student enrollment and prevent flight to surrounding charter, private, and/or vocational-technical schools, William Penn has focused on anchoring students’ education into career-focused disciplines similar to college majors. In practice this has led to the growth of Career and Technical Education programs that provide opportunities for students to experience a vocational-type education while still being provided with the traditional college preparatory education typical of neighborhood public schools. Freshmen entering William Penn chose a degree program to specialize within one of three college academies: Business, Humanities, or STEM. Degree programs within the Business College Academy include Air Force JRTOC, Business Administration, Culinary Arts, Financial Services, and Accounting. Degree programs with the Humanities College Academy include Behavioral Sciences, Communications, Teacher Academy, Legal Studies, International Studies, and Visual and Performing Arts. The STEM College Academy offers degree programs in Agriculture, Allied Health, Computer Science, Construction, Engineering, Manufacturing, Mathematics, and Science. William Penn also offers twenty-five Advanced Placement courses and numerous Dual Enrollment opportunities for those seeking to earn college credit.

But why should this specific group of students, some of whom may be learning accounting, construction or culinary skills, care about climate change and its impacts? In a perfect world the answer to this question would be simple: because failing to act on climate change will lead to the untold suffering of millions of people and the dramatic alteration of our planet’s ecosystems.² But most teenagers (and probably most people in general) aren’t thinking about those things. Instead, they need to see the up close and personal impacts that climate change is and will have on the communities in which they live and work. They need to understand that higher temperatures will lead to increased incidences of heat stress on their loved ones, that more extreme precipitation events will flood roads more frequently and isolate people in their neighborhoods in times of emergencies, and that sea level rise will make certain areas uninhabitable and drive people from their homes. Such a wake-up call may also serve as a call to action to advocate for sensible climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies in their communities, or at least correct any misconceptions related to climate change disinformation.