Support for Making Fossil Fuel Companies Pay for Climate Damages
Provided by: Yale Program on Climate Change Communication|Published on: April 27, 2021|Last updated: September 26, 2026
Grades: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Type: Data, Graphs, and Maps
Subjects: Economics, Geography
Authors: Xinran Wang, Anthony Leiserowitz
Location: North America, North America > United States
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 map from Yale Program on Climate Change Communication shows how Americans feel about making fossil fuel companies pay for climate damage.
- The map is interactive. Students can zoom in and click on different demographic areas to view data by metro area, congressional district, state, or county.
Teaching Materials
Positives
- This beautiful interactive map is incredibly useful in exploring Americans' attitudes on the question "who should pay for climate change?"
- Students will enjoy interacting with the map because they can view local climate opinions as well as climate opinions from any other place in the United States.
Prerequisites
- On the left side, students can sort by national, state, congressional district, metro area, or county.
- Teachers should remind students to pay careful attention to how the key changes when a new question is selected.
Differentiation & Implementation
- This map can be used at the end of a climate change lesson to show the link between burning fossil fuels and climate change. Students can interact with their map while responding to the following prompt: who should pay for climate change?
- Social studies classes can discuss the connection between the opinions in each region and the local industries in that region.
- Other resources on this topic include this video on carbon taxes and this video on who should pay to fix climate change.
This resource presents data on the American people who want to hold fossil fuel companies responsible for the local damages of global warming. Notably, burning fossil fuels accelerates greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere which in turn increases global mean temperatures. The model used in this study simplifies the dataset on the perception of lawsuits against fossil fuel companies. The sample size is representative of the population with a 95% level of confidence. This resource is recommended.
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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