This article explains why anyone who cares about climate change should, in turn, care about the United States' Farm Bill, which is passed every five years and has the power to substantially change how America deals with climate change.
Students will learn about what the Farm Bill is, the history of the Farm Bill, how legislation can impact the environment, specific facets of the bill and their impacts, climate-friendly farming, food system resilience, equity and accessibility, and some of the problems that the bill may face.
Teaching Tips
Positives
This article is well-written and laid out in a way that is easy to understand.
Students will benefit from the included text features, such as pictures, captions, and headings.
Additional Prerequisites
Students would benefit from a general understanding of how the United States government functions.
Differentiation
Connections can be made in health or science classes that are learning about where our food comes from or the huge effect that land use and agricultural practices have on greenhouse gases emissions and climate change.
Language arts classes could use this resource to work on non-fiction reading strategies.
Try creating a whole-class KWL chart on a classroom wall or chalkboard. Have students write on the board what they already know (K) and what they want to learn (W) before reading the article, then have them add what they learned (L) to the chart after reading.
Economics and civics classes could discuss the importance of using tax dollars to support farming activities that are healthy and sustainable.
Scientist Notes
This article explains what the Farm Bill is in the United States and how it is updated. The article then explains the different changes the NRDC and other climate-conscious people would like to see implemented in the bill to help improve the environmental impact of farming and agriculture in the United States. This includes things like phasing out factory farming, using different crops or farming techniques, increasing access for marginalized communities to become farmers, improving our food system resilience, and how to support farmers while they make these changes. While this article is focused on the upcoming bill and changes that can be made to it, the article does introduce and touch on many different concepts and practices that relate farming and agriculture to climate change and the environment. The information presented is accurate and this resource is recommended for teaching.
Standards
College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Standards
Dimension 2: Civics
D2.Civ.1.6-8 Distinguish the powers and responsibilities of citizens, political parties, interest groups, and the media in a variety of governmental and nongovernmental contexts.
D2.Civ.11.6-8 Differentiate among procedures for making decisions in the classroom, school, civil society, and local, state, and national government in terms of how civic purposes are intended.
D2.Civ.12.6-8 Assess specific rules and laws (both actual and proposed) as means of addressing public problems.
Dimension 2: Economics
D2.Eco.1.9-12 Analyze how incentives influence choices that may result in policies with a range of costs and benefits for different groups.
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
LS2: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
HS-LS2-7 Design, evaluate, and refine a solution for reducing the impacts of human activities on the environment and biodiversity.
Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CCSS.ELA)
Reading: Informational Text (K-12)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.3 Analyze a complex set of ideas or sequence of events and explain how specific individuals, ideas, or events interact and develop over the course of the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.10 By the end of grade 11, read and comprehend literary nonfiction in the grades 11-CCR text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range. By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend literary nonfiction at the high end of the grades 11-CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently.
National Health Education Standards
Standard 1: Students will comprehend concepts related to health promotion and disease prevention to enhance health.
1.12.3 Analyze how environment and personal health are interrelated.
