Climate Education Training

Here we will prepare material to describe the importance of climate Science in understanding our planet. Topics will include:

Earth’s Atmosphere

• • Composition and layers of atmosphere
• • Weather vs. climate
• • How is climate determined, climate change through the ages (millions of years), and what is known about the reasons for those changes?
• • Atmospheric circulation and global wind patterns

Climate science

• • Natural and man-made factors
• • Greenhouse effect and the role of greenhouse gasses
• • Climate variability and long-term climate trends

• • The Earth’s changing climate over millions of years
• • Historical observations of a changing climate using proxy records and the last century
• • Climate change due to human activities
• • Changes in land and ocean temperature changes
• • Past extreme events, cryosphere, sea level rise, etc.

• • Importance of studying future climate change scenarios
• • Uncertainties and limitations of climate models in predicting future climate
• • Science tends to underestimate observed changes!
• • Linking emissions scenarios to socioeconomic factors and policy decisions
• • Future extreme events, sea level rise, etc
• • Combining climate change with other stresses on society

• • Impact on the ecosystem, biodiversity, and natural resources
• • Impact on regions – focus on Midwest US and Chicago region
• • Potential impacts on the Great Lakes
• • Potential effects on immigration into the Midwest

• • Introduction to mitigation strategies and approaches
• • Urban climate mitigation solutions (electric vehicles, photovoltaics, green infrastructure, etc.)
• • Clean energy transition (transportation and energy sector)
• • Other issues with getting to “zero emissions”
• • Sustainable land use and forest conservation
• • Carbon capture and storage technologies

• • Overview of adaptation measures and strategies
• • Pathways to resiliency
• • Assessing vulnerability and building resilience
  • ○ Sector-specific strategies: agriculture, infrastructure
    ○ Location-specific adaptation: coastal, inland, arid
    ○ Ecosystem adaption: Nature-based adaptation
    ○ Community resiliency and environmental justice
• • Incorporating early warning preparedness (near real-time, seasonal to subseasonal and long-term scales)
• • Integrating traditional knowledge and indigenous practices in adaptation planning

• • ESG goals
• • Requirements coming from TCFD, TNFD
• • High-level overview of climate and nature-based financial disclosures