Through this activity, my goals for student-understanding are the following:

• Climate change is a complex issue that is often misrepresented in the media; consequently, we need to read critically and evaluate the source of information.
• The scientific community supports evidence that climate change is happening and it's human-caused.
• Because some cultures and peoples are more profoundly and negatively affected by the consequences of climate change, this raises questions of social justice.
• We have many choices about how we respond to climate change: reactive vs. proactive.
• Community organization are working to build resiliency and they need support.
• Both our collective actions and our personal actions are important.

This activity was developed for an English 101 (English Composition I ) class of 20 students at a community college, but could be easily adapted for use in English 102 (English Composition II/Research Writing) or other composition classes. It could also be adapted for use in other disciplines. No special equipment is needed, but students may need your support in setting up and conducting the interviews with the community partners, especially if you are teaching younger students. In this case, I was teaching a class of Running Start students (students who are taking college classes while still enrolled in high school), so the average age was 17.

I developed the following handouts for Responding to Climate Change: Researching Community Resilience (see below) and am also including the course syllabus: "Exploring Our Home Ground" for context. All are Word.docx so they can be easily adapted.

English 101 Course Syllabus Exploring Our Home Ground [file 123411

Climate Change Readings: This assignment came a few weeks earlier in the quarter and provided foundational reading on climate change before a visit from a climate change policy analyst. Climate Change Readings.docx (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 155kB Jul31 17)

Team Project Instructions: This gives an overview of the assignment, the steps needed to complete it and the deadlines for each step. TeamProject.doc (Microsoft Word 46kB Jul31 17)

Team Contract: This was given to students when they formed teams, after a discussion of previous experiences working in teams--and how we can work together to ensure a positive experience. TeamContract.doc (Microsoft Word 25kB Jul31 17)

Research/Annotated Bibliography: This was given to students after several weeks discussing how to critically evaluate research, especially online research. Each team was required to turn in an annotated bibliography on the day of their presentation to the class. Research/Annotated Bibliography (Microsoft Word 27kB Jul31 17)

Team Presentation Outline: This is an example of how the team presentations could be organized using a Roman numeral outline with headings and subheadings. Team Presentations Outline (Microsoft Word 29kB Jul31 17)

Team Report: These are the instructions for the students to complete a collaborative report reflecting on their experience working as a team at the completion of their project together. Team Report (Microsoft Word 26kB Jul31 17)

Tips for Successful Interviews with Community Professionals and Citizen Leaders: This is a handout prepared by Jean MacGregor of The Evergreen State College that offers excellent guidelines for preparing students to conduct interviews in the community. Tips for Successful Interviews with Community Professionals (Acrobat (PDF) 242kB Sep5 17)

Final Reflection: Students were asked to reflect on the topic of climate change, what they learned about it, and what they learned researching their community partner, as well as reflections on their Place Journal which they'd kept all quarter long. (Briefly, each student was asked to select a place in their backyard or a nearby park where they'd spend 30 minutes each week observing and describing in a journal what they observed. As part of the final reflection, they were also invited to include a contemplative/creative response: drawing, sketching, writing music or a poem to be shared with their classmates on the last day. Final Reflection (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 112kB Jul31 17)

First, I felt it best to choose the community-partner organizations for the students for several reasons: 1) We were on the quarter system so had limited time; 2) I wanted to talk with each organization and make sure that staff-members were willing to be interviewed by the students; 3) Since I hadn't worked with these organizations before, I wanted to make sure that each would be able to provide an opportunity for the students to participate in some form of service learning. This paid off in that each group was able to conduct the interview and participate in a service learning project, although not every service-learning activity could involve the entire student group. The information that the students researched did show how the organization was building resiliency--and how students could continue to support their work. By vetting the organizations, I felt the students would be more likely have a positive experience. Note: My decision to contact and vet community organizations in advance results from past experiences where the organizations didn't have time/resources to work with students; I wanted to avoid repeating this scenario. I encourage you to contact and vet the organizations in advance, it is worth the extra time that it takes!

Second, depending on the age/maturity of your students, they will likely need your support in setting up the interviews with community members, as well as some coaching on conducting the interview itself. I went over some guidelines in class, then spent another class period having the students role-play the interview process. Because both the community partners and the students had busy schedules, some teams conducted the interview by email, so we also discussed protocol for an email interview. See above in the Description Section, Jean MacGregor's excellent handout on preparing students for interviews with members of the community: "Tips for Successful Interviews with Community Professionals and Citizen Leaders."

Each team gave a presentation that was assessed by both me and their classmates, using a rubric that we all developed together and which was handed out with the assignment. (See Handouts: Team Presentation Assessment) Each student also did a self-assessment of their contribution to the team, as well as a journal response reflecting on their understanding of climate change and whether their response to it had changed.

These responses were heartening, as most students acknowledged that their understanding of climate change was fairly superficial before the class, and that they better understood the necessity for critical thinking since climate change is a complex issue, often made more so by politicized media reports. The students' responses often acknowledged that they had a better understanding of climate change and how to get involved in their community, although many remarked that they still felt they were too busy to take personal actions now.

Here's a representative sample of their responses:

"I've been too busy to think about climate change; it's something that a lot of people have to point out for me to realize it's an ongoing problem. A lot of people like me get too caught up in their lives to remember there's more to it than what's on your calendar that week. Climate change affects everyone and sometimes people need reminders that it's not going to vanish without a lot of work from everyone."

"High school and college are busy times and I'm more focused on my own betterment for the time being. I'm just at a point in my life where I'm unable to make too much room for environmental issues."

"I have a better understanding of climate change now and the science behind it. I have no doubt that what scientists are saying is true. People need to stop denying that humans are causing global warming."

"I'm concerned and do what I can to spread awareness about climate change. I do use energy saving lights and take quick showers at home."

"I'm very interested in climate change and definitely want to get more involved in efforts to counteract it. It will impact me and everyone else, so we definitely need to understand it and take action however we can."

Overall, the students' presentations went well. Despite their relatively young age, the students rose to the occasion, worked together well (with a few exceptions), and their pride was evident in their enthusiastic presentations. Of course, there were a few students who were nervous and stumbled in the delivery, but overall, their enthusiasm for the work of each organization was evident. They also made good use of technology, putting together impressive Powerpoint or Google slide shows filled with strong images. They also made good use of social media/technology tools to work together remotely to build their presentation; I learned a few things from them!

I invited a climate change policy analyst, Geoff Hughes, to visit our class. In preparation for his visit, I asked my students to read two blog posts that appeared in the Port Townsend Leader and an article by Justin Gillis in The New York Times:

Blog 11 The Policy Options for Global Warming: http://ptleader.com/main.asp?SectionID=218&SubSectionID=820&ArticleID=33644&TM=71750.43

Blog 12 The Policy Options for Climate Change: http://ptleader.com/main.asp?SectionID=218&SubSectionID=820&ArticleID=33685&TM=71750.43

Gillis, Justin. "Short Answers to Hard Questions about Climate Change" The New York Times. November 11, 2015. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/11/28/science/what-is-climate-change.html?_r=0

More Reading on Climate Change Policy and Public Response

This article discusses the coming election and how climate change is being viewed by Americans, breaking the electorate into six groups, from "Alarmed" to "Dismissive" http://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/six-americas-2016-election/

This is a website that Geoff Hughes recommended that looks at climate skeptics/deniers and refutes their claims: https://www.skepticalscience.com/argument.php

From 2007-2016, Andrew Revkin wrote an excellent blog for The New York Times called Dot Earth that reported on climate change research and public response. Here are several posts that offer good material/research for discussion--and that I offered for extra credit:

http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/10/18/can-humans-go-from-unintended-global-warming-to-climate-by-design/?rref=collection%2Fbyline%2Fandrew-c.-revkin&action=click&contentCollection=undefined®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=5&pgtype=collectio

http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/10/17/todays-climate-progress-and-tomorrows-climate-challenges/?rref=collection%2Fbyline%2Fandrew-c.-revkin&action=click&contentCollection=undefined®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=6&pgtype=collection

http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/10/06/building-a-good-anthropocene-from-the-bottom-up/?rref=collection%2Fbyline%2Fandrew-c.-revkin&action=click&contentCollection=undefined®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=9&pgtype=collection

http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/10/20/climate-silence-goes-way-beyond-debate-moderators/

http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/09/30/as-warnings-build-is-there-a-spiral-of-silence-on-climate-change/

NOTE: Andrew Revkin wrote his last blog in December 2016 (the fall I taught this class), so I'm including it here, though it came too late to include in my class: https://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/12/05/after-nine-years-and-2810-posts-a-dot-earth-farewell/?module=BlogPost-ReadMore&version=Blog%20Main&action=Click&contentCollection=sustainability&pgtype=Blogs®ion=Body#more-58910