This article details how modestly increasing carpooling can significantly reduce the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere by 2050, supporting other important climate solutions.
Students will learn about the cost-saving and environmental benefits of increasing carpooling and get practice reading a brief scientific report.
Teaching Tips
Positives
It provides an example of a simple, no-cost solution that many people can participate in.
The sidebars, headings, subheadings, and clickable links will help students comprehend the concepts presented.
Additional Prerequisites
Students should understand the concepts of carpooling and carbon emissions.
Differentiation
Cross-curricular connections can be made in social studies classes when learning about human behaviors that can make a difference for the climate or in math classes that are working with real-world examples of equations.
Try using this resource in conjunction with another article from Project Drawdown and have students compare and contrast the feasibility and impacts of each of the proposed actions.
After reading and discussing the details presented in the article, have students create a flier urging people to carpool more often.
Scientist Notes
This website introduces a solution to reducing emissions by making carpooling more feasible. A brief introduction of reducing emissions by reducing the emissions of single occupancy vehicles, by encouraging the use of carpooling is provided. A methodology, scenario, and a model are provided; along with a results and discussion section concerning the feasibility of making carpooling more attractive. This site would be a great addition to a lesson discussing alternative methods to reducing carbon emissions. This resource is recommended for teaching.
Standards
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
HS-ESS3-6 Use a computational representation to illustrate the relationships among Earth systems and how those relationships are being modified due to human activity.
Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CCSS.ELA)
Reading: Science & Technical Subjects (6-12)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.4 Determine the meaning of symbols, key terms, and other domain-specific words and phrases as they are used in a specific scientific or technical context relevant to grades 9-10 texts and topics.
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.11-12.2 Determine the central ideas or conclusions of a text; summarize complex concepts, processes, or information presented in a text by paraphrasing them in simpler but still accurate terms.