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

CONTENTS OF CURRICULUM UNIT 22.05.01

  1. Unit Guide
  1. Introduction and Rationale
  2. Content Objectives
  3. Teaching Strategies
  4. Classroom Activities
  5. Appendix on Implementing District Standards
  6. Bibliography
  7. Notes

New Castle and Climate Change – Causes, Evidence, Impacts, and Potential Solutions

Michael A. Doody

Published September 2022

Tools for this Unit:

Bibliography

Angel, James R, Chris Swanson, Barbara Mayes Boustead, Kathryn Conlon, Kimberly R Hall, Jenna L Jorns, Kenneth E Kunkel, et al. 2018. “Chapter 21: Midwest. Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States: The Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume II.” https://doi.org/10.7930/NCA4.2018.CH21.

Carter, Lynne M., Adam Terando, Kirstin Dow, Kevin Hiers, Kenneth E. Kunkel, Aranzazu Lascurain, Douglas C. Marcy, Michael J. Osland, and Paul J. Schramm. 2018. “Chapter 19: Southeast. Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States: The Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume II.” https://doi.org/10.7930/NCA4.2018.CH19.

Conant, Richard T., Doug Kluck, Mark Anderson, Andrew Badger, Barbara Mayes Boustead, Justin D. Derner, Laura Farris, et al. 2018. “Chapter 22: Northern Great Plains. Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States: The Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume II.” https://doi.org/10.7930/NCA4.2018.CH22.

CSIRO. 2014. “State of the Climate 2014.” This is the source of the isotope composition graph, which is an excellent student resource.

DNREC. n.d. “Sea Level Rise and Delaware’s Wetlands.” Delaware.Gov. Accessed July 19, 2022. https://dnrec.alpha.delaware.gov/watershed-stewardship/wetlands/and-sea-level-rise/.

Dupigny-Giroux, Lesley-Ann, Ellen Mecray, Mary Lemcke-Stampone, Glenn A. Hodgkins, Erika E. Lentz, Katherine E. Mills, Erin D. Lane, et al. 2018. “Chapter 18: Northeast. Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States: The Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume II.” https://doi.org/10.7930/NCA4.2018.CH18. Regional impact report for the impacts of ACC on the Northeast - can be given to students with some scaffolding.

Easterling, D.R., J.R. Arnold, T. Knutson, K.E. Kunkel, A.N. LeGrande, L.R. Leung, R.S. Vose, D.E. Waliser, and M.F. Wehner. 2017. “Ch. 7: Precipitation Change in the United States. Climate Science Special Report: Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume I.” https://doi.org/10.7930/J0H993CC. Good teacher resource for understanding the relationship between ACC and changes to precipitation.

Friedland, Andrew, and Rick Relyea. 2019. Environmental Science for the AP Course. 3rd ed. New York: Bedford, Freeman, and Worth. Course textbook - forms the framework of the course.

Garfin, Gregg M., Patrick Gonzalez, David Breshears, Keely Brooks, Heidi E. Brown, Emile Elias, Amrith Gunasekara, et al. 2018. “Chapter 25: Southwest. Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States: The Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume II.” https://doi.org/10.7930/NCA4.2018.CH25.

Hayhoe, Katharine, Donald J. Wuebbles, David R. Easterling, David W. Fahey, Sarah Doherty, James P. Kossin, William V. Sweet, Russell S. Vose, and Michael F. Wehner. 2018. “Chapter 2: Our Changing Climate. Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States: The Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume II.” https://doi.org/10.7930/NCA4.2018.CH2. Excellent report on the overall topic of ACC - can be given to students with some scaffolding.

Herring, D., and R. Lindsay. 2020. “What Evidence Exists That Earth Is Warming and That Humans Are the Main Cause? | NOAA Climate.Gov.” Climate.Gov. October 29, 2020. https://www.climate.gov/news-features/climate-qa/what-evidence-exists-earth-warming-and-humans-are-main-cause.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 2014. “Mitigation of Climate Change Summary for Policymakers (SPM).” Cambridge University Press, no. 1: 1–30.

Khan Academy. 2021. “Greenhouse Effect and Greenhouse Gases.” YouTube. 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpfxiDktSoI. Excellent student resource for understanding the greenhouse effect

Kloesel, Kevin, Bill Bartush, Jay Banner, David Brown, Jay Lemery, Xiaomao Lin, Cindy Loeffler, et al. 2018. “Chapter 23: Southern Great Plains. Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States: The Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume II.” https://doi.org/10.7930/NCA4.2018.CH23.

Kossin, J.P, T. Hall, T. Knutson, K.E. Kunkel, R.J. Trapp, D.E. Waliser, and M.F. Wehner. 2017. “Ch. 9: Extreme Storms. Climate Science Special Report: Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume I.” Edited by D.J. Wuebbles, D.W. Fahey, K.A. Hibbard, D.J. Dokken, B.C. Stewart, and T.K. Maycock. https://doi.org/10.7930/J07S7KXX. Good teacher resource for understanding how ACC will impact extreme storms.

Lempert, Robert J., Jeffrey R. Arnold, Roger S. Pulwarty, Kate Gordon, Katherine Greig, Catherine Hawkins-Hoffman, Dale Sands, and Caitlin Werrell. 2018. “Chapter 28: Adaptation Response. Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States: The Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume II.” https://doi.org/10.7930/NCA4.2018.CH28. Good teacher resource for learning about mitigation strategies.

Martinich, Jeremy, Ben DeAngelo, Delavane Diaz, Brenda Ekwurzel, Guido Franco, Carla Frisch, James McFarland, and Brian O’Neill. 2018. “Chapter 29: Mitigation: Avoiding and Reducing Long-Term Risks. Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States: The Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume II.” https://doi.org/10.7930/NCA4.2018.CH29. Good teacher resource for learning about adaptation strategies.

May, Christine, Charles H. Luce, Joseph H. Casola, Michael Chang, Jennifer Cuhaciyan, Meghan Dalton, Scott E. Lowe, et al. 2018. “Chapter 24: Northwest. Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States: The Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume II.” https://doi.org/10.7930/NCA4.2018.CH24.

NASA. 2022a. “Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet.” Climate.Nasa.Gov. 2022. https://climate.nasa.gov/effects/.

———. 2022b. “Global Warming vs. Climate Change.” Global Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet. 2022. https://climate.nasa.gov/global-warming-vs-climate-change/.

National Research Council. 2012. A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas. A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas. Washington, D.C.: National Acadmies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/13165. Excellent resource for teachers wishing to understand more about NGSS.

NOAA. 2020. “How Do We Know the Build-up of Carbon Dioxide in the Atmosphere Is Caused by Humans?” Climate.Gov. 2020. https://www.climate.gov/news-features/climate-qa/how-do-we-know-build-carbon-dioxide-atmosphere-caused-humans. Good short student resource.

———. 2021. “Climate Change Impacts.” 2021. https://www.noaa.gov/education/resource-collections/climate/climate-change-impacts. Good short student resource.

———. 2022a. “NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Climate at a Glance: National Time Series, Published March 2022.” Climate at a Glance. 2022. https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/.

———. 2022b. “Past Weather - Wilmington New Castle Airport, DE.” National Centers for Environmental Information. 2022. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/past-weather/19720. Student resource for obtaining historical weather data - can easily be adapted for other locations.

———. 2022c. “Relative Sea Level Trend - Reedy Point, Delaware.” Tides and Currents. 2022. https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/sltrends/sltrends_station.shtml?id=8551910. Student resource for obtaining historical sea level data - can easily be adapted for other locations.

———. 2022d. “Sea Level Rise Viewer.” 2022. https://coast.noaa.gov/slr/#/layer/slr. Excellent visual resource for studens to understand the impacts of sea level rise in their communities.

Powell, James Lawrence. 2020. The 2084 Report. Second. New York: Atria Paperback. Student resource - ths science fiction novel can be used to support student understanding of the impacts of ACC as well as provide a powerful human component.

Runkle, J., K.E. Kunkel, D.R. Easterling, R. Frankson, S.M. Champion, B.C. Stewart, D. Leathers, A.T. DeGaetano, and J. Spaccio. 2022. “Delaware State Climate Summary 2022.” Silver Spring, MD. https://statesummaries.ncics.org/chapter/de/. Good succint summary of ACC and Delaware that students may find useful. Parent site has summaries for all states.

Sawe, Benjamin. 2017. “US States With The Lowest Average Elevations.” WorldAtlas. 2017. https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/us-states-with-the-lowest-average-elevations.html.

SciShow. 2013. “A History of Earth’s Climate.” YouTube. 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dC_2WXyORGA. Good student resource for learning about how ACC compares to other climatic changes in Earth's geologic history.

Sweet, W.V., R. Horton, R.E. Kopp, A.N. LeGrande, and A. Romanou. 2017. “Ch. 12: Sea Level Rise. Climate Science Special Report: Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume I.” https://doi.org/10.7930/J0VM49F2. Good teacher resource on the connection between ACC and sea level rise - can be given to students with some scaffolding.

United Nations. n.d. “What Is Climate Change?” Accessed July 19, 2022. https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/what-is-climate-change.

———. 2022. “UN Climate Report: It’s ‘Now or Never’ to Limit Global Warming to 1.5 Degrees | | UN News.” Climate and Environment. April 4, 2022. https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/04/1115452.

Vose, R.S., D.R. Easterling, K.E. Kunkel, A.N. LeGrande, and M.F. Wehner. 2017. “Ch. 6: Temperature Changes in the United States. Climate Science Special Report: Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume I.” https://doi.org/10.7930/J0N29V45. Good teacher resource on how ACC will impact temperature in the US - can be given to students with some scaffolding.

Whittinghill. 2016. “8.2: Earth’s Energy Balance.” Biology LibreTexts. 2016. https://bio.libretexts.org/Courses/University_of_Pittsburgh/Environmental_Science_(Whittinghill)/08%3A_Atmosphere_and_Air_Pollution/8.02%3A_Earth’s_Energy_Balance.

WHO. 2021. “Climate Change and Health.” 2021. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/climate-change-and-health.

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