Oregon's Climate Protection Program

• This podcast discusses what the program's goals are, how it addresses environmental concerns, how it will impact the average Oregonian, and how Oregon will be affected by climate change if emissions aren't lowered.
• Students will learn about the potential for extreme heat and droughts in Oregon, the program's regulations on fossil fuel companies within the state, the emission targets embedded in the program, and the program's commitment to foster environmental equity and contain costs.

Positives

• This podcast considers multiple perspectives when discussing the Climate Protection Program.
• This podcast gives listeners some key details about environmental regulation in Oregon.
  

Additional Prerequisites

• Students need to understand what equity is and how it relates to environmental justice.
• Students need to understand the nature of greenhouse gases, how they're produced, and how they impact the environment.

Differentiation

• This podcast could be used as evidence in a research project that examines how decreased availability of natural resources, increased occurrence of natural hazards, and changes in climate have impacted human activity.
• After listening to the podcast, students could be tasked with evaluating the effectiveness of Oregon's Climate Protection Program.
• In a classroom discussion, the teacher could ask students what incentives are present for Oregon's government, how these incentives lead to the Climate Protection Program, and what costs and benefits can be expected from the program's implementation.
• For a language arts class, students could evaluate the points of view, reasoning, use of evidence and rhetoric, word choice, points of emphasis, and tone within the podcast.