How the World Can Adapt to Climate Impacts
Provided by: Council on Foreign Relations|Published on: January 9, 2025|Last updated: September 26, 2026
Grades: 9, 10, 11, 12, AP
Type: Articles/Websites
Subjects: Biology, Earth and Space Sciences, Civics, Geography
Authors: CFR Education
Location: Earth
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 collection of articles gives a multi-faceted yet concise overview of the global issues due to climate change.
- Students will read about increasing food and water shortages, economic issues, biodiversity loss, climate displacement, increasing conflict and war, health impacts, and the increase in inequality due to climate change.
Teaching Materials
Positives
- This resource includes strategies for reducing climate change impacts, which can help students who feel anxious about the gravity of the situation.
- The resource includes many graphics to support what the text says.
Prerequisites
- Students should understand the causes of climate change.
Differentiation & Implementation
- Reading about the various ways climate change threatens our lives can be difficult for students. Teachers may want to use the Climate Emotions Wheel to help students process difficult emotions.
- After reading these articles, students can choose a climate impact they feel passionate about and research it more in-depth.
- After reading the section about biodiversity loss, students can research the impact of invasive species on this loss, and how this element can also be exacerbated by climate change. The Invasive Species Student Lab provides a collection of resources to assist with student research.
- After reading the section on threats to infrastructure, students can research an infrastructure problem and design a solution, creating a model and testing its efficacy.
- This role play lesson, No Option Except Escape, can act as a powerful companion for the section about climate displacement.
This resource from the Council on Foreign Relation (CFR) Education provides teachers with a website to explore the impact of climate change and how the world can adapt. The website provides several tabs containing issues associated with climate change. Each tab provides additional information, data, maps, graphs, and links to even more related information. The references and sourced material utilized for this lesson plan are from reliable organizations and present up-to-date information. This activity would be a valuable resource for educators seeking to enhance climate-related learning experiences in the classroom.
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.
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