Teach About Climate Change With 30 Graphs From The New York Times

A new collection to explore our planets warming oceans, intensifying storms and rising air temperatures, as well as its greenhouse gas emissions and climate solutions. Source: Berkeley Earth Land/Ocean Temperature Record How can we help students really see climate change when it is a planet-wide process gradually unfolding over decades? Any given hurricane, prolonged drought or scorching hot day (or ) might be more likely to occur because of the changing climate. But there will always be weather anomalies; just like in sports, records will be set. (like a ), and they can be an important resource in helping young people to see the effects of a warming planet. But perhaps no visual can tell the story of climate change more succinctly, and more effectively, than graphs. Because a single graph can show change over time. In this teaching resource, we have gathered 30 graphs previously published in The New York Times that relate to climate change. We organize them by topic: rising air temperature, intensifying storms and changing precipitation, warming oceans, greenhouse gas emissions, and climate solutions. Above each graph youll find the link to the original Times article. Scroll down to the bottom of this post to find teaching strategies for using one or more of these graphs in your classroom. Notes: Temperature categories are determined by the normal distribution for the baseline period, 1951 to 1980, so that about a third of temperatures fall in each of the main three categories: hot, cold and normal. Summer temperatures for each subsequent decade are compared to the 1951 to 1980 baseline. Source: , Columbia University Earth Institute, based on (and ) Annual average temperatures since 1850 Source: Berkeley Earth Land/Ocean Temperature Record Risk level (low to very high) Wildfires Extreme heat Hurricanes Water stress Rainfall Sea level rise Risk level (low to very high) Wildfires Water stress Extreme heat Hurricanes Extreme rainfall Sea level rise We are having trouble retrieving the article content. Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and your Times account, or for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? . Want all of The Times? .