Lesson 3: Climate Scenarios
What would a 1.5, 2 or 3-degree world feel like? How would our everyday lives change?
In this course, learners will explore the potential impacts of different levels of global warming, including how it could impact their daily lives. They will also learn about the global efforts to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and the challenges associated with achieving this goal.
Complementary resources
Explore the material behind this lesson, or go deeper. These resources are optional.
83 results
A seven-part podcast series that explores how British Columbia's climate will change in just 30 years, how scientists are preparing and what that means for our daily life.
A witty and eye-opening book presenting 99 maps that reveal startling facts about our planet's environmental crisis.
"A Climate for Change" addresses global warming facts and misconceptions, offering a faith-based perspective from a climate scientist and a pastor.
In a post-climate change future, Kyo uncovers a diary revealing Earth's past and the events leading to humanity's downfall.
Climate change is landing blow after blow upon humanity and the planet, an onslaught that will only intensify in the coming years even if the world begins to bring down greenhouse gas emissions. UNEP’s Adaptation Gap Report 2022: Too Little, Too Slow – Climate adaptation failure puts world at risk finds that the world must urgently increase efforts to adapt to these impacts of climate change.
"After Nature: A Politics for the Anthropocene" explores the political implications of the Anthropocene era, where human impact shapes the planet.
A gripping saga of survival and hope in a post-apocalyptic world, where Myra and her daughter Pearl embark on a perilous journey to find Row.
In a dystopian future after a Second Civil War, Sarat navigates survival in a divided America ravaged by conflict and environmental collapse.
Filmmaker Davis Guggenheim follows Al Gore on the lecture circuit, as the former presidential candidate campaigns to raise public awareness of the dangers of global warming and calls for immediate action to curb its destructive effects on the environment.
Discover "Annihilation: A Novel," the first book in Jeff VanderMeer's acclaimed Southern Reach Trilogy. Award-winning and translated worldwide.
Generational starship travels to Tau Ceti's Aurora, questioning humanity's future in this compelling novel by Kim Stanley Robinson.
A paraplegic Marine on Pandora becomes torn between orders and protecting his new home. Jake Sully and Neytiri face a returning threat. Directed by James Cameron.
A look at how climate change affects our environment and what society can do to prevent the demise of endangered species, ecosystems and native communities across the planet.
"Braiding Sweetgrass" intertwines Indigenous wisdom and scientific knowledge, revealing profound ecological insights through the teachings of plants.
This movie shows how important and beautiful underwater corals are, and why we need to protect them.
We make Climate Risk understandable and climate information more accessible to the broader communities.
Free and paid cources by "shortlisted-productions" on climate change challenges and solutions.
Essential primer on climate change by Joseph Romm, offering clear, scientific answers on the state and impact of our warming planet.
Climate History features interviews and discussions about the history of climate change. Learn what the past can tell us about our present & future.
Climate One provides a comprehensive overview of the latest climate-related news, innovations, and policies.
Coursera partners with more than 275 leading universities and companies to bring flexible, affordable, job-relevant online learning to individuals and organizations worldwide.
Two low-level astronomers must go on a giant media tour to warn humankind of an approaching comet that will destroy planet Earth. Funny satire about the worlds current inactivity to act on the climate emergency.
This joint report by the IFRC, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) and Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre provides a sobering review of how just one of those challenges – the increase in deadly heatwaves – threatens to drive new emergency needs in the not-so-distant future.
Pulitzer Prize winner Annie Proulx explores the history and destruction of wetlands, highlighting their crucial role in preserving the environment.
Elizabeth Kolbert's updated classic on climate change, now with new chapters on ocean acidification, tar sands, and a carbon-neutral Danish town.
Flight Behaviour by Barbara Kingsolver delves into class, poverty, and climate change through a compelling and lyrical narrative.
Global Tipping Points, led by Professor Tim Lenton from the University of Exeter’s Global Systems Institute, features insights from over 200 researchers across 26 countries. Launched at COP28 on 6 December 2023, the report assesses risks and opportunities of tipping points in the Earth system and society.
Global Tipping Points, led by Professor Tim Lenton from the University of Exeter’s Global Systems Institute, features insights from over 200 researchers across 26 countries. Launched at COP28 on 6 December 2023, the report assesses risks and opportunities of tipping points in the Earth system and society.
This is the story of how we discovered the planet was warming, and why.
The story of how one man cost us a world with less than 2°C of warming in 1989.
"High Tide" reveals the immediate effects of climate change worldwide, blending firsthand accounts and scientific evidence.
A gripping tale of an African village fighting environmental ruin caused by an American oil company, spanning generations.
Bill Gates outlines strategies to achieve net-zero emissions and shares insights on climate change solutions and technological innovations.
A team of explorers travel through a wormhole in space in an attempt to ensure humanity's survival.
A poignant tale of survival and hope in a dystopian future, highlighting the journey of Lark and his family fleeing persecution and disaster.
Roy Scranton's "Learning to Die in the Anthropocene" blends memoir, philosophy, and science to address climate change's existential threat.
Love in the Anthropocene blends fiction and philosophy to explore future environmental decline and the enduring power of love.
From the unique vantage point in space, NASA collects critical long-term observations of our changing planet.
Bestselling author Kim Stanley Robinson envisions a future New York City in 2140, where rising sea levels transform every street into a canal.
"Nomad Century" reveals how climate change-induced mass migration will reshape the world, offering compelling solutions and benefits of migration.
In 1983, the U.N. formed the World Commission on Environment and Development to address global sustainability, led by Gro Harlem Brundtland.
Leading ecologist Peter F. Sale explores coral reef extinction, environmental issues, and solutions in "Our Dying Planet."
Our Only Home by The Dalai Lama calls for urgent climate action, highlighting the severe impacts of climate change and advocating for a sustainable future.
A field scientist tracks Blakiston's Fish Owl in eastern Russia, revealing the challenges and beauty of their conservation.
Parable of the Sower: A New York Times bestseller by Octavia E. Butler. A gripping dystopian novel where a young woman navigates a chaotic world.
Discover what happens if CO2 turned pink in this engaging, timely book for kids and adults on climate change and imagination.
In 2075 Alaska, climate refugees flee north as global warming causes food, fuel, and shelter scarcity across the globe.
Filmmaker Louie Psihoyos, along with activists, scientists and others, draws attention to mankind's role in a potential loss of at least half of the world's species.
A lyrical exploration of climate change's impact on America's shores, blending personal stories and reportage to reveal stark realities.
Science Vs is your team of friendly fact checkers that blow up your firmly held opinions and replace them with science. Science Vs has an ep for that.
An in-depth look at global warming's impact, Six Degrees details future environmental consequences through accessible prose based on scientific research.
Storming the Wall delves into climate change, migration, and border security, highlighting the impacts of global warming and the militarization of borders.
Stories of climate change and inequality from global writers, revealing the impact on vulnerable communities worldwide. Anthology edited by John Freeman.
A gripping novel by James Lawrence Powell, "The 2084 Report" explores a future ravaged by climate change through vivid, fictional oral histories.
This report provides evidence that children are on the front lines of the climate crisis.
Jack Hall, paleoclimatologist, must make a daring trek from Washington, D.C. to New York City to reach his son, trapped in the cross-hairs of a sudden international storm which plunges the planet into a new Ice Age.
A gripping tale of the Larsen-Hall family facing upheaval and transformation after a catastrophic hurricane upends their privileged life.
J.G. Ballard's 1962 novel "The Drowned World" envisions a future where global warming transforms London into a primal jungle dominated by giant creatures.
Geologist Jan Zalasiewicz envisions Earth's future, exploring humanity's legacy through rock strata and fossilized remnants in a thought-provoking journey.
A seminal work on environmental crisis by Bill McKibben, addressing issues like the greenhouse effect, acid rain, and ozone depletion.
A pioneering work on climate change, blending personal reflection with scientific insight, essential for understanding our environmental crisis.
Explore Earth's past mass extinctions and survival through volcanic apocalypses and lethal oceans in Peter Brannen's insightful book.
A collection of the New Yorker's critical reporting on climate change, featuring influential works from Bill McKibben, Elizabeth Kolbert, and more.
Amitav Ghosh's "The Great Derangement" explores our failure to grasp climate change's scale through literature, history, and politics.
A contemporary tale of adventure, love, and identity set in the Sundarbans, from award-winning author Amitav Ghosh.
A visionary novel by Kim Stanley Robinson, depicting climate change through fictional accounts, chosen by Barack Obama as a favorite read of 2020.
The Overstory: A Novel intertwines diverse fables from antebellum New York to the Pacific Northwest's Timber Wars, revealing humanity's bond with trees.
A post-apocalyptic novel by Cormac McCarthy about a father and son's survival journey through a desolate America. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize.
Scientists are monitoring a sixth mass extinction, more devastating than the dinosaurs' extinction, caused by human actions.
Discover abrupt climate change through ice cores in Richard B. Alley's updated edition of "The Two-Mile Time Machine."
Detailed and bleak account of the potentially catastrophic consequences of global warming if the world fails to take significant action to reduce carbon emissions by Wallace-Wells published in the New York times in 2017.
David Wallace-Wells' "The Uninhabitable Earth" details the severe impacts of climate change, from food shortages to climate wars, urging immediate action.
In the near future, water is scarce. A spy, a journalist, and a migrant become pawns in a corrupt game in this genre-bending thriller.
An eye-opening account of rising sea levels, sinking cities, and the future remaking of our world by acclaimed journalist Jeff Goodell.
An international best seller, Tim Flannery's "The Weather Makers" offers a comprehensive account of climate change history, status, and future impact.
Incisive portrait of two scientists, Norman Borlaug and William Vogt, whose opposing views shape our future on food, water, energy, and climate change.
A visual guide to climate change with infographics on scientific findings, human impact, frequent storms, and ocean changes.
Discover what climate science truly reveals and what remains uncertain in Steven Koonin's "Unsettled," a Wall Street Journal bestseller.
A young couple faces emotional and literal turmoil in a Vermont town threatened by a catastrophic storm in "We Are Unprepared."
The book "What About Me?" by Paul Verhaeghe explores the impact of neoliberalism and market-based society on individual identity and mental health.
Discover why scientific knowledge's social character makes it trustworthy. Naomi Oreskes defends science through history, philosophy, and expert insights.
When an extreme weather event occurs, people often ask: is climate change to blame? World Weather Attribution runs studies and models to find out.
What to do with this
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Individual
ImpactEffortAn in depth knowledge of climate science and numbers will help you make better decisions and have more impactful conversations.
Individual
ImpactEffortDo the Climate Guide, a comprehensive video course on climate change and individual action. Learn about the climate crisis, its ties to daily life, and the impactful steps you can take to help mitigate it. By completing the climate actions in the climate guide, you will create the biggest impact an individual can have! Try adding this action to your account, by clicking **"🎯 I am working on it"**.
Community
ImpactEffortExpand your impact by inviting a friend to join the Climate Guide. Together, you can learn, act, and make a significant difference in tackling climate change. The more people we reach and involve in climate action, the greater the collective impact. Your invitation could set off a ripple effect of change.
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