This short video clearly explains the difference between natural climate change and climate change being experienced today.
In the past, climate changes have been caused by volcanic eruptions, changes in ocean currents, changes in the Earth's orientation to the sun, and asteroids, among other things. Climate change being experienced today has been caused by burning fossil fuels for the past 150 years.
Teaching Tips
Positives
This video summarizes global warming in a way that is easy to understand and uses animation to further clarify the information presented.
This resource is a great introduction to the idea of climate change and its causes.
The video ends on a positive note and empowers the viewer to fight climate change.
Additional Prerequisites
There may be an ad before the video.
Students should be familiar with the concepts of CO2, greenhouse gases, and fossil fuels.
Differentiation
This would be a great video to use in a science class when beginning the discussion of climate change and its causes.
This resource explains how the usual natural causes of climate change are not the culprit of the global warming that we have seen over the last 150 years. This resource is recommended for teaching.
Standards
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
MS-ESS3-5 Ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the rise in global temperatures over the past century.
Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CCSS.ELA)
Speaking & Listening (K-12)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.7.2 Analyze the main ideas and supporting details presented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) and explain how the ideas clarify a topic, text, or issue under study.
