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MIT Climate Primer: Risks

Provided by: MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative |Published on: November 12, 2021

Articles/Websites Grades 9-12

Synopsis

This interactive resource begins with uncertainty and risk assessment and then explores several ways human civilization could be disrupted by climate change.
Students will interact with media about the risks of sea-level rise, increased heat and humidity, destructive storms, ocean acidification, food and water insecurity, and political and social instability.

Related Teaching Resources

Subjects: Biology, Earth and Space Sciences

Authors: MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative

Region: North America, United States, Global

Languages: English

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Teaching Materials

Positives

It is engaging, interactive, and applicable to a diversity of learning styles due to the variety of media presented.
It is user-friendly and frames the risks of climate change in an informative and digestible way.

Prerequisites

Students should be at a high school reading level and have a baseline ability to interpret and analyze data.
Students should have some understanding of how rising sea levels could impact modern civilization.

Differentiation & Implementation

ELA classes can have students write opinion pieces or debate their personal risk assessment analysis based on the evidence provided.
The figures and charts are all downloadable and there is a PDF version of the entire webpage.
The read-along feature provides highlighted text as the audio file plays, which may be helpful for some learners.
This is the third page of a four-part project and can be taught in tandem with MIT Climate Primer: Solutions.
Another resource related to this topic is Sea Level Rise: Climate Change Impacts.

Scientist Notes

Teaching Tips

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Resource Type and Format

About the Partner Provider

MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative

Founded in 2014, the Environmental Solutions Initiative (ESI) is MIT’s institute-wide effort to mobilize the substantial scientific, engineering, policy, and design capacity of the MIT community to contribute to addressing climate change and other environmental challenges of global import. ESI pursues multidisciplinary research, education, events, and partnerships to help move society toward an environmentally and socially sustainable future. Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts on MIT’s main campus, ESI is powered by a lean staff working closely with students and faculty across the full spectrum of disciplines. Led by architecture professor John E. Fernandez, a leading scholar in the emerging field of urban metabolism, ESI is advised by students, faculty, alumni, and thought leaders from many sectors of society.