What Will Life Look Like as Major Rivers Run Dry?

• This video highlights the ways in which major river systems and reservoirs around the world are being impacted by climate change, focusing on changes to the water cycle and increasing global droughts and looking at the impacts of reservoirs in the Colorado River Basin.
• Students will learn about the demands for major shifts in water efficiency, particularly in agriculture and irrigation, and hear some examples of innovative practices that are already in place.

Positives

• This video has an articulate, easy-to-follow narrator and includes engaging photographs, maps, and other graphics.
• This video provides students with a chance to think about their own water use and how to make changes in their daily lives.

Additional Prerequisites

• There are two advertisements at the beginning of this video.
• Be prepared for an advertisement at the end of the video for a PBS series about Suicide Prevention Month, beginning at 11:08.  

Differentiation

• Consider providing students with a note-taking guide that breaks the video up into chunks, including the three significant drought areas, the Colorado River Basin, success stories, or agriculture and irrigation impacts.
• This video would be a great addition to another resource on climate change impacts and the water cycle, such as this comprehensive lesson.
• Have students write a paragraph explaining the relationship between climate change and droughts with reasons and evidence to support their explanation, citing information from the video or other resources on droughts.
• Language arts classes could be asked to further research a major river system, such as the Yangtze, the Danube, or a river system in the United States, and discuss the impacts of climate change on this river system.
• Put students into groups to brainstorm ways that they can conserve water in their daily lives or how they might take action in their own communities to conserve water.
• Science classes can use this video to connect to lessons about phases of matter, the water cycle, hydrogen bonds, and exponential vs. linear relationships.