National Security and Climate Change
Provided by: MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative|Published on: April 27, 2021|Last updated: September 26, 2026
Grades: 9, 10, 11, 12
Type: Lesson Plans
Subjects: Earth and Space Sciences, Civics, Geography
Authors: MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Synopsis
- In this lesson, students will learn about the many ways climate change affects national security, interpret maps, explore case studies all over the United States, and investigate adaptation solutions identified by the IPCC.
- The lesson mentions California, Honduras, Guatemala, New Orleans, Norfolk, Virginia, and El Salvador.
Teaching Materials
Positives
- The podcast describes the negative impacts of climate change on communities and entire countries, highlighting the importance of planning for policy-makers.
- The IPCC file includes region-specific risks and solutions for communities all over the world.
Additional Prerequisites
- The NOAA maps no longer have "sliders" available, so you will need to have students open different maps for various times to compare them.
- You will need sets of dice for each group of students to play the game.
Differentiation
- Social studies or civics classes could conduct a Model UN-style simulation and use the mass movement game provided to examine how governments implement climate change-related policies.
- Science classes could analyze data on the precipitation and drought maps and propose solutions that protect people, wildlife, and our environment.
- Other resources on this topic include this online tool for analyzing the impacts of flooding and this article about climate migrants.
This resource underscores the interrelationship between climate change and security. It highlights how climate change has deepened the level of vulnerability of households, forced communities to migrate, and threatened local and national security architecture. It presents the need for government to respond and implement sustainable climate change policies to avert a climate crisis. This is recommended for teaching.
Teaching Tips
Standards
Resource Type and Format
Scientist Reviewed
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Our review process ensures that every resource in our library reflects the current state of climate science.
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