IPCC teaching activities for Primary and Secondary to tackle Global Warming
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change. It was created to
- provide policymakers (governments) with regular scientific updates about climate change;
- highlight the impact climate change will have on the planet in the future; and,
- offer some ideas about how to tackle the challenges of climate change’s potential effects on the planet.
In 2021-22, the IPCC released Part 1 of the Sixth Assessment Report. This is the most up-to-date physical understanding of the climate system and climate change.
The report makes a number of important points:
- It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land (A1).
- Global surface temperature will continue to increase until at least mid-century under all emissions scenarios considered. Global warming of 1.5°C and 2°C will be exceeded during the 21st century unless deep reductions in CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions occur in the coming decades (B1).
If we want to keep global warming at less than two degrees, which the IPCC says is the best-case scenario, we need to reduce our CO2 and greenhouse gas emissions significantly – and start right away.
So, what can we do?
In response to this report, Cool has created a range of resources to contextualise the report for Australian Primary and Secondary students, and use our Hope and Optimism framework to provide an approach to social actions involving students’ families and broader communities in tackling the challenge of climate change.
We know it’s challenging for teachers to incorporate it into lessons, and harder for students to understand it without guidance. We also know that this can be a challenging and sometimes overwhelming topic. The task that the report sets before us is a big one. But we believe this real-world issue is essential for students to understand, and these resources are designed to look objectively at a situation, make a conscious decision to focus on the good, have a belief that you can make an impact, and then identify what needs to be improved and work on the skills to be able to go out and do it.
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