Travel and Climate Change
Provided by: MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative|Published on: October 18, 2022|Last updated: September 26, 2026
Grades: 9, 10, 11, 12
Type: Lesson Plans
Subjects: Social Studies, Engineering, Computer Science
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
- This lesson provides students with first-hand experience in sustainable city planning, transportation, and transit system design through group activities, research, and critical thinking exercises.
- The podcast provides context, discussing the environment and climate-related issues with transportation in cities today while highlighting important solutions like complete streets, urban street design, and sustainable transport.
Teaching Materials
Positives
- This resource includes all necessary teaching materials, an educator's guide on how to use the activities, resources for your own better understanding, and additional discussion questions.
- This resource provides an easy-to-understand general overview of how city planning and transportation systems are linked and their critical role in causing and mitigating climate change.
- Each activity can be used as a standalone or in sequence.
Additional Prerequisites
- Once directed to the main case studies page in the first activity, students should use the search tool to find case studies relevant to the activity.
- The first two activities require access to the internet for research.
- Before starting the lesson, students should know that gas- and diesel-powered vehicles release carbon dioxide and how that contributes to climate change.
Differentiation
- If it is not possible for all groups to access the internet, the third activity can be completed if the teacher prints out a map for each group.
- These lessons can be used in social studies classes during lessons about urban policy-making and city planning, in environmental science classes when analyzing emissions by source and end-use, and in engineering classes during lessons about civil engineering applications.
- Have students look into how their city plans to address emissions from transportation as a follow-up activity.
- Have students research the top climate solutions, according to Project Drawdown, to assess the relative impact of transportation on addressing climate change.
This resource accentuates the role of the transportation sector in supporting the net-zero ambition and Paris goals. It compares transportation systems in developed and developing economies and also highlights the immediate, short-term and long-term strategies to switch to a low-carbon transportation system. As a matter of fact, it tasks students to design a multi-modal transit system for their cities or communities. This is commendable and suitable for learning. The podcast has been verified and there are no misconceptions in the resource. Hence, 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.
Learn about our review process →
