What Is Climate Change?
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Provided by: Crash Course|Published on: April 27, 2021
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Synopsis
- This information-dense video describes many lines of evidence for anthropogenic climate change, including glacial retreat, ice core data, sea level rise, and changes in weather patterns.
- Historic global climate patterns are explained in this video, along with the causes and implications of anthropogenic climate change.
- This video also details the human impacts of the climate crisis such as migration, adaptation, and property loss.

Subjects: Earth and Space Sciences, Geography
Authors: Crash Course
Region: Global
Languages: English
Teaching Materials
Positives
- This video comprehensively covers evidence for climate change, paleoclimatology, and the causes and implications of climate change.
Additional Prerequisites
- This video is dense with scientific vocabulary and concepts. Necessary background knowledge includes a basic understanding of weather, glaciers, climate, Earth history, and scientific evidence.
Differentiation
- This video could be broken up into the following different sections for viewing and summarizing: evidence for climate change, historic global climate change, and implications of climate change.
- Students could create a KWL chart and fill in the chart before, during, and after they view the video.
- Teachers could create a viewing guide with key questions for understanding to support student comprehension.
This video is aptly named "Crash Course" as it covers the basics of climate change science in 12 minutes. The information presented in this video is accurate and verifiable, with one exception. The video states that there is greater than 95% probability that humans are causing climate change. This video predates the release of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's 6th Assessment Report, which says "It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land." There is no longer any room for doubt in the cause of global warming. This resource is recommended for teaching.
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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 →
