How Do Healthy Ecosystems Help Protect Us From Droughts, Heatwaves, and Flooding?

• These three brief videos introduce the importance of natural ecosystems to protect us from the effects of climate change, conserve water resources, and reduce our emissions.
• The videos and article explain the effectiveness of different climate solutions like greening urban areas, protecting mangrove forests, and reducing deforestation.

Positives

• The graphics in the videos make concepts like sea level rise and urban planning easy to understand.
• The videos highlight the importance of protecting nature and help introduce students to some of the impacts of climate change.

Additional Prerequisites

• Before watching the videos, students should be familiar with the causes of climate change.
• Students should understand terms like groundwater, drought, urban, and fossil fuels.
• The videos can be viewed in any order and the smaller videos can be viewed in full-screen mode.

Differentiation

• Students may find it easier to visualize the solutions if they are also given examples of where extreme weather events or sea level rise have taken place.
  
• Older students can expand on the solutions presented in one of the videos and research areas where the solutions have made a difference.
• Social studies students can focus on the impacts of deforestation and water scarcity to rural and Indigenous communities that rely on rainwater to grow or harvest their food.
  
• Have students research other ideas they have for adding nature to urban areas, protecting nature in coastal areas or in the oceans, and protecting trees in their communities or nearby forests. They can work in groups and then present their ideas for enacting their nature-based climate solutions.
  

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