Can Trees Undo Climate Change?

Grades3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8Science, Earth and Space Sciences

What it is

This video from ClimateScience explores the effects of planting trees in relation to climate change.
Students learn the process of carbon sequestration, how best to plant trees to help the environment, and the drawbacks of planting trees improperly.

Positives

This video has beautiful graphics and straightforward information.
The video highlights the need for coordinating with local communities in reforestation projects to promote social sustainability.

Prerequisites

Students should have an understanding of climate change.
Students should be familiar with terms like carbon dioxide, gigatonnes, terrestrial life, and biodiversity.

Differentiation & Implementation

Teachers can show 1:20-2:03 of this video to teach 3rd-5th graders about carbon sequestration.
The section from 2:30-3:52 that outlines how to properly plant trees can be used in a class discussion with 6th-8th graders learning about tree planting as a climate solution.
Teachers can also use the section from 3:52-4:21 to explain the importance of forest preservation.
Click here for a time-lapse video of Earth’s forests.
Click here for an StC lesson plan for more solutions to climate change.

The resource provides a thought-out and well-coordinated approach to tree planting to sequester CO2. This is recommended for teaching.

Hosted on youtube.com

Add your location for local examples, questions, and action ideas.

Standards alignment · D4.7.6-8 + 5 more

College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Standards

D4.7.6-8Assess their individual and collective capacities to take action to address local, regional, and global problems, taking into account a range of possible levers of power, strategies, and potential outcomes.
D4.7.3-5Explain different strategies and approaches students and others could take in working alone and together to address local, regional, and global problems, and predict possible results of their actions.

Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CCSS.ELA)

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.7.2Analyze the main ideas and supporting details presented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) and explain how the ideas clarify a topic, text, or issue under study.

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)

MS-LS1-6.Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for the role of photosynthesis in the cycling of matter and flow of energy into and out of organisms.
5-ESS3-1.Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment.
5-LS1-1.Support an argument that plants get the materials they need for growth chiefly from air and water.