State Climate Summaries 2022: Oregon

• This summary report discusses the many documented effects of rising temperatures in Oregon, including a higher risk of drought and fires in the summer, changes to the snowpack in the mountains, and the risks of sea level rise along the coast.
  
• Students will learn about the importance of Oregon's snowpack, how rising temperatures will affect agriculture and recreation in the state, and how a higher emissions pathway will lead to more severe warming in the future.

Positives

• This paper analyzes multiple sub-regions within Oregon to provide local information for various areas.
• There are several graphs in this article that enhance comprehension and the facets of each graph are explained in detail.

Additional Prerequisites 

• Students need to know what emissions are in the context of climate change and be familiar with reading graphs and charts.
• Students should know how snowpack can be important to communities downstream of higher elevations.

Differentiation

• This summary could be used to show a connection between political decisions regarding the Earth's climate and how those decisions have impacted Oregon and its sub-regions.
• Students could use this report in a research project that explains how climate change causes a scarcity of key natural resources, leads to an increase in natural disasters and their severity, and decreases the quality of life for humans and other species.
• For ELLs, it may be useful to define some words before these students dive into the reading.
• Language arts students could be asked to summarize the central ideas of the article and answer questions that gauge their comprehension of the material.
• This report could supplement a science lesson about the water cycle that specifically looks at how, when, and where snow and ice accummulate and how this storage of water is important for various plants and animals.