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MyClimateHero
  • Home
  • About
    • This Website
    • Mission
    • Value Statements
    • Who is a Climate Hero
  • Reduce CO2 Footprint
  • Charts at a Glance
  • Resources
  • Renewable Electricity
  • Teachers
  • Get Involved
  • News
  • Trending Climate News

Resources for Teachers

Tools/Teaching Aids

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Individual/Family Carbon Footprint Calculator https://www3.epa.gov/carbon-footprint-calculator/ The most effective way to reduce your carbon footprint is to make cuts in the areas where you generate the most carbon pollution. This calculator lets you discover how much CO2 you add to the atmosphere and the sources of your carbon.


“Energy Kids” https://www.eia.gov/kids/ is a U.S. Energy Information Administration website that explains energy and renewable energy to children. This site provides a teacher guide.


Guide to Green Shopping

This guide is recommended by an elementary school class that was doing environmental research and learning about sustainability.  "According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the energy used to produce, transport, process, and even dispose of the things that people purchase makes up approximately 42 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions in the United States."  You can make a difference!

https://www.jomashop.com/blog/articles/guide-to-green-shopping 




News Sites/Publications

Inside ClimateNews 

https://insideclimatenews.org The journalists at Inside ClimateNews provide you with the latest news about climate change in the form of articles, videos and books. In the organization’s own words, its “a Pulitzer Prize-winning, non-profit, non-partisan news organization dedicated to covering climate change, energy and the environment.”


Skeptical Science

https://skepticalscience.com Skeptical Science’s goal is: “Getting skeptical about global warming skepticism.” This site “looks at the many climate myths, exposes the techniques and fallacies used to distort the science and then puts them in their proper context by presenting the full picture.” Skeptical Science is maintained by John Cook, a research assistant professor at George Mason University’s Center for Climate Change Communication and an adjunct researcher at the University of Queensland’s (Australia) Global Change Institute and a number of volunteers

YouTube and Videos

“Friendly Guide to Climate Change -and what you can do to help”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CM_KkDuzGQ

This animation literally draws you a quick picture of climate change and how to reduce your CO2 footprint.  It’s brilliant! 


“How humans disrupted a cycle essential to all life”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5&v=jOht6qmuG-k

This video by Vox illustrates in an easy to understand manner how the burning of fossil fuels disrupted the balance of the carbon cycle and is leading to global warming.


“What YOU Can Do AboutClimate Change”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTfgNFz1DBM 

This is a great place to start: a short 10-minute video on YouTube explaining what climate change is and the actions you can take as an individual to reduce your carbon footprint. This video is part of the free “Climate Insights 101” series produced by the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions (PICS), a collaboration between of British Columbia, Canada’s four research intensive universities. PICS was created by the Canadian Province of British Columbia, a leader in climate action. The link to the full course is: https://pics.uvic.ca/education/climate-insights-101


"If I Just Explain The Facts, They’ll Get it, Right?”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=459&v=nkMIjbDtdo0 

If your friend doesn’t believe in global warming watch this video before you try to convince him or her by citing the science. This video explains that starting with the science sometimes closes off communication. This video will give you guidance on howto avoid that and keep your communication lines open.  


Climate Adam

https://www.youtube.com/user/ClimateAdam  Climate Adam has a channel on YouTube where he explains climate science in entertaining, easy to understand videos perfect for young and old alike. In Adam’s own words: “Doctor in climate science from Oxford[England]. Trying to make sense of it all via silly YouTube vids.”  It’s definitely worth a look!  Have fun.


Books

Being the Change: Live Well and Spark A Climate Revolution, Peter Kalmus, New Society Publishers, Gabriola Island, BC, Canada, 2017 Written by an atmospheric scientist, this book gives a comprehensive introduction to the science of climate change for non-scientists in the first chapters.  It’s bleak yet essential reading.  The second part of the book, which is more upbeat, is a distillation of how the author came to terms with what climate breakdown means, what he is doing about it, and what we can do about it as individuals and as a community.  Kalmus mourns the loss of the world we were born into and shows the reader how he found the emotional courage to confront our impending loss and find the joys in creating the carbon free world that civilization must move towards in order to survive. The author’s holistic approach allowed him to cut his carbon footprint by 90 percent of what it was.  There is a documentary based on the book.  For information see www.beingthechangefilm.com  Kalmus also has a twitter account at Peter Kalmus@ClimateHuman

Articles

“Children Change Their Parents’ Minds about Climate Change” (Source: Scientific American, May 6, 2019) https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/children-change-their-parents-minds-about-climate-change/

This article discusses a study published in the May 6, 2019 edition of Nature Climate Changethat finds that intergenerational learning can successfully build climate change concern. Middle school aged children who learn about global warming and share what they learn with their parents are able to raise their parents’ level of concern about climate change. A team of social scientists and ecologists from North Carolina State University report that fathers and conservatives show the greatest change in attitude and that daughters are most effective in influencing parents. 


“Avoiding meat and dairy is ‘single biggest way’ to reduce your impact on Earth” (Source: The Guardian, May 31, 2018) https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/31/avoiding-meat-and-dairy-is-single-biggest-way-to-reduce-your-impact-on-earth

To make a large contribution to reducing your carbon footprint and improving biodiversity, reduce your meat and dairy consumption. This article relates the details of a study in the journal Science explaining how meat and dairy consumption impact the climate and planet. 


“9 Things You Can Do About Climate Change” (Source: Forbes, January 23, 2017) 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2017/01/23/nine-things-you-can-do-about-climate-change/#53b7a706680c 

This is a list from Forbes magazine with nine things you can do to cut your carbon footprint.


“WHAT WAS THE PLANET LIKE A DECADE AGO? THE EARTH'S #10YEARSCHALLENGE” 

https://www.activesustainability.com/climate-change/earth-10yearschallenge

In the interest of transparency, this article is sponsored by a Acciona, a company that makes some of its money selling wind and solar energy solutions.  


“How to avoid climate change REALLY FAST”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iw2AHyMmGT8Spanish Version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3X-Z0kMfh4M 

This video gives an entertaining summary of climate change, our options to mitigate it and the mechanics of the climate change “debate.”  In the interest of transparency, this video is sponsored by a Acciona, a company that makes some of its money selling wind and solar energy solutions.

Organizations / Groups

Citizens Climate Lobby 

https://citizensclimatelobby.org/about-ccl/Citizens 

Climate Lobby is a non-partisan, non-profit group that is building a grassroots movement to encourage Congress to pass legislation levying a carbon fee on fossil fuels and returning the money raised as a dividend to every household in the country.  This will gradually make fossil fuels more expensive, leveling the marketplace and making renewable energy competitive, leading to huge CO2 emissions cuts.  If you are looking to get involved with a group of people committed to climate action at the national level, you may sign up for online information meetings that take place every Wednesday at 8:00 pm Eastern time to learn more.  There are plenty of opportunities to contribute with your skills and passion. 


Climate Parents/Sierra Club 

https://www.climateparents.org/dirty-energy-clean-energy.htmlClimate 

Parents is a program under the Sierra Club umbrella.  Since 2012, the organization has been fighting dirty energy and pipelines and advocating for clean energy in order to leave a healthier world to the next generation.  Two of Climate Parents programs include getting school districts to transition to 100 percent clean energy and protecting the rights of K-12 students to learn climate science in school. 


League of Conservation Voters  

https://www.lcv.org Do you want to know about the environmental voting record of your representatives in Congress?  The League of Conservation Voters produces a score card that also includes information about individual votes.  See http://scorecard.lcv.org

However, the League of Conservation Voters does much more: it works to turn environmental values into policy at the Federal, State, and Local levels.  The League of Conservation Voters is a part of the Conservation Voter Movement which also includes 34 state organizations.  (To find score cards and news relevant to your state, see: https://www.lcv.org/state-affiliates/ )     


RepublicEn 

http://www.republicen.org/about_us

RepublicEn is an organization for “conservatives, libertarians and, pragmatists” who believe climate change is real and is driven by human activities. This group believes that if a true level playing field can be established in the marketplace, private enterprise will be able to solve climate change.  RepublicEn is looking for solutions that avoid subsidies and regulation.


My Friend Doesn’t Believe in Climate Change...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=459&v=nkMIjbDtdo0 

If your friend doesn’t believe in global warming watch this video before you try to convince him or her by citing the science.  This video explains that starting with the science sometimes closes off communication.  This video will give you guidance on howto avoid that and keep your communication lines open.

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