Hitting the "Emergency Brake" on Climate

• This article highlights the need to prioritize specific climate solutions that have an immediate impact on greenhouse gas concentrations in order to achieve the targets set out in the Paris Agreement.
• The author describes the "low-hanging fruit" of climate solutions like stopping deforestation, preventing methane leaks, and reducing black carbon emissions over the next ten years.

Positives

• This article communicates the urgency of solving climate change clearly and concisely, using graphs to depict climate projections.
• The article is entirely solutions-oriented and includes increasing efficiency and reducing waste as top solutions with immediate impact.

Additional Prerequisites

• Before reading the article, students should have an understanding of the causes of global warming.
• Students should be comfortable reading and interpreting graphs.

Differentiation

• More advanced students can be asked to discuss the factors most likely to limit progress toward the 2030 and 2050 goals.
• As a follow-up activity, students can each research a specific climate solution that individuals can participate in directly and then, as a class, rank them.
• Social studies and civics classes can discuss the incentives or regulations that could help motivate individuals, businesses, and municipalities to act immediately on these specific climate solutions.
• Engineering students can discuss the many ways to reduce methane leaks or clean-up cook stoves and reduce black carbon emissions using technology.
  
• Use these articles to have students learn more about some of the solutions presented in the article, including building efficiency, clean cooking, and land sinks.
  

This resource addresses the listed standards. To fully meet standards, search for more related resources.