This fact sheet provides concise information and a graphic image about the many ways aviation impacts the climate.
Students will learn about the CO2 and non-CO2 climate impacts from aviation and ways to reduce these emissions.
Teaching Tips
Positives
This resource focuses on the other impacts of aviation besides CO2 emissions.
Students will learn that aviation's impact on the climate is almost always undercounted.
Additional Prerequisites
The bar graph is somewhat complex, so it might be good to review the components of the graph with students to ensure understanding.
Students should understand how greenhouse gas emissions cause climate change.
Differentiation
Students could discuss ways to reduce aviation including alternative means of travel and the cultural shift toward slow travel.
Teachers can connect this resource to issues of environmental justice by discussing the oversized impact of the actions of a small percentage of the global population on the entire planet.
In civics courses, students can research policies and international agreements that could help minimize the negative impacts of the aviation industry.
Scientist Notes
This resource is suitable for teaching. It is recommended to understand cumulative emissions, current levels of emissions, and projected levels of emissions from aircraft.
Standards
College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Standards
Dimension 4: Taking Informed Action
D4.7.6-8 Assess 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.
D4.7.9-12 Assess options for individual and collective action to address local, regional, and global problems by engaging in self-reflection, strategy identification, and complex causal reasoning.
Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CCSS.ELA)
Reading: Science & Technical Subjects (6-12)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.10 By the end of grade 8, read and comprehend science/technical texts in the grades 6-8 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.10 By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend science/technical texts in the grades 9-10 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.11-12.10 By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend science/technical texts in the grades 11-CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently.
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
HS-ESS3-4 Evaluate or refine a technological solution that reduces impacts of human activities on natural systems.
