Feeling Guilty About Climate Change

Provided by: Hot Mess |Published on: April 27, 2021

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Synopsis

This video from Hot Mess focuses on how feelings of guilt can influence the way people think about climate change and what they do about it.
Students will learn that having complicated views on things like fossil fuels, which have made life better while simultaneously hurting the planet, is more beneficial than ignoring reality.

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Subjects: Civics

Authors: Hot Mess

Region: Global

Languages: English

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Teaching Materials

Positives

The video challenges students to cultivate a nuanced view about their ability (or lack thereof) to personally address climate change and the feelings that go along with it.
The discussion of the relationship between values and behavior (4:45-5:03) is especially well-illustrated.

Prerequisites

The video begins with an advertisement.
Students will need to have a basic understanding of the role that fossil fuel emissions play in creating climate change.

Differentiation & Implementation

In science or writing classes, students can work in pairs to complete a writing activity to explore the positive and negative effects of fossil fuels on the world. Each student can take one side and then combine their paragraphs and include renewable energy solutions that maintain the benefits without the negatives.
Ethics, life skills, government, or civics classes can use the video as a tool for discussing climate change or other topics that inspire complicated feelings. Teachers can pose the following questions:
- What makes this topic complicated?
- How do you feel when someone you care about has different feelings on the topic?
- What do you think is the most effective way to share your feelings on the topic?
Social studies or ethics classes can use the video to talk about why some people are in a position to make "good" choices when it comes to climate action, while others are not.
Other resources on this topic include this Project Drawdown video on individual and large-scale climate solutions and this EcoAmerica article that offers tips on having effective climate change conversations.

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Feeling Guilty About Climate Change

Synopsis

Teaching Materials

Scientist Reviewed

Related Teaching Resources