Natural Gas: Water & Climate Impacts

• In this activity, students will examine and decode information on natural gas extraction from Wikipedia, America's Natural Gas Alliance, and Food and Water Watch. 
• This resource includes a lesson plan, a student handout, a student worksheet, and a PowerPoint presentation. 

Positives

• The lesson plan offers discussion questions for many academic subjects.
• Teachers can use this lesson for virtual learning or in-person learning.

Additional Prerequisites

• Teachers must create a free account to access the materials.
• The worksheet asks students to evaluate the reliability of the sources; this handout will teach students how to analyze media messages.
• Teachers may want to research the sources to understand the viewpoints and biases.

Differentiation

• Students could respond to questions individually or in small groups before discussing the answers as a class.
• The reading for this activity is a bit dense, so a structured reading process may help some students.
• Students could compare the Wikipedia article from the resource with the current Wikipedia article and note the differences. The class could discuss the pros and cons of using Wikipedia for scientific research.
• Other resources on this topic include this interactive map on natural gas reserves, this podcast on the health and climate risks of using natural gas, and this article that compares different nonrenewable energy sources.
  

This resource illustrates the role that producers of natural gas play in providing smarter energy solutions while protecting U.S air, land, and water. In as much as natural gas comes from fossil fuel, this is still not smart. It is nonrenewable and contributes to climate change. It is good for students to understand this concept so they can engage in good climate conversations and advocate for clean energy that is pollution-free, environmentally friendly, and affordable. This resource is recommended for teaching.