Solutions to climate change (US)

In this lesson, students will be immersed in, and connect with, the documentary film 2040, focusing on the topic of climate change. Students are introduced to this lesson by participating in a guided discussion around a clip from 2040. They then explore how actions for climate change can be categorized as either carbon reduction actions or carbon sequestration actions, before looking at examples of each from the 2040 documentary.

Students are then introduced to a range of natural solutions to climate change. They work collaboratively to research, read, analyze and reflect on one or more articles about natural solutions to climate change, before conducting a SWOT analysis of these solutions and engaging in a class discussion around their analysis.

Learning intentions:

• Students will understand key terms and processes relating to climate change
• Students will understand that the actions we can take for meeting the challenges of climate change broadly fall into two categories; actions for reducing carbon production and carbon sequestration
• Students will understand some of the natural solutions to climate change

Credits and acknowledgements:

Cool.org prepared the 2040 Curriculum Guide. Together Films adapted these lessons for US educators and will do an annual review of these resources to ensure they are still in line with the US Curriculum.

US Educator Note: Australian educational standards have been adapted and aligned by discipline, and when possible, to US standards.

Cool Australia, GoodThing Productions and Regen Studios would like to acknowledge the generous contributions of Good Pitch Australia, Shark Island Institute, Documentary Australia Foundation, The Caledonia Foundation, Global Health Film and our philanthropic partners in the development of these teaching resources.