This video details the sinister history of fossil fuel companies and their decades-long knowledge of the detrimental impacts of their products.
Students will learn about the early climate research done by fossil fuel companies, the unquestionable connections between fossil fuels and our warming planet, fossil fuel companies' decisions to stop conducting and listening to climate research, disinformation campaigns by fossil fuel companies, and the birth of the carbon footprint.
Teaching Tips
Positives
This video is well-produced, includes interesting visuals, and will be engaging for students.
The video makes a solid argument that fossil fuel companies should be held accountable for the damage they have done to the environment.
Additional Prerequisites
Ads may play before and during this video.
Differentiation
This video would work equally well in science or social studies classes. Students could discuss how fossil fuel companies convinced the public that the scientific fact that burning fossil fuels causes climate change was inaccurate or unimportant.
Cross-curricular connections could be made in language arts classes working on debate or persuasive writing, as this video would make a great resource for students arguing that fossil fuel companies should be held accountable for their inaction.
After watching, have students brainstorm ways that individuals, communities, or governments can make changes that could impact these companies and their actions around climate change.
The video emphasizes how indifferent major polluters have been to the fact of climate change. Their goal is to deceive the public into not believing that our climate system is changing, despite their denial of the evidence. The significance of making a coordinated effort to identify the primary causes of climate change and disseminate this truth backed with scientific evidence is also emphasized by this resource.
Standards
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
MS-ESS3-4 Construct an argument supported by evidence for how increases in human population and per-capita consumption of natural resources impact Earth's systems.
MS-ESS3-5 Ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the rise in global temperatures over the past century.
College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Standards
Dimension 2: History
D2.His.1.6-8 Analyze connections among events and developments in broader historical contexts.
D2.His.1.9-12 Evaluate how historical events and developments were shaped by unique circumstances of time and place as well as broader historical contexts.
Dimension 4: Taking Informed Action
D4.6.6-8 Draw on multiple disciplinary lenses to analyze how a specific problem can manifest itself at local, regional, and global levels over time, identifying its characteristics and causes, and the challenges and opportunities faced by those trying to address the problem.
