The Cost of Carbon
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Provided by: The Climate Reality Project|Published on: April 27, 2021
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Scientist Reviewed 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 video explains carbon pollution, provides a history of climate science (beginning with Joseph Fourier in the 1820s), and makes the connections to livelihoods, lives lost, and the economic costs of carbon pollution and climate change.
- It shows that all humans on Earth are impacted by climate change right now. These impacts include economic costs, personal costs, environmental costs, and geopolitical costs.
Subjects: Science, Economics, History
Authors: The Climate Reality Project
Region: Europe, North America, USA - Northeast, USA - West, USA - South, United States, Global, Oceania, New Jersey
Languages: English
Teaching Materials
Positives
- This video can be used to concretely connect climate change and its impacts on all people everywhere, every single day.
- It is useful to show that climate change is not distant in time or place but is affecting all of us now.
Additional Prerequisites
- Students should have some knowledge about weather (short-term changes in temperature and precipitation) vs. climate (long-term patterns of temperature and precipitation, usually over 30+ years).
- The video omits climate scientist Eunice Foote, who made great strides in the 1850s but has often been overlooked due to her gender.
Differentiation
- This video can be used as an introduction when studying climate disasters and their economic impact. It can be used to think about cost-benefit analysis. Should governments spend billions or trillions of dollars to mitigate climate change? What is the economic cost if we do nothing?
- This video can also be used when discussing a carbon tax or carbon cap-and-trade models. What is the actual cost of one tonne of carbon? Can we price it? Should we price it? Is that the best way forward?
- Other resources on this topic include this Table of Solutions to climate change, this video, and this article.
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About the Partner Provider
The Climate Reality Project
Climate Reality Project seeks to catalyze a global solution to the climate crisis by making urgent action a necessity across every sector of society. They recruit, train, and mobilize people to become powerful activists, providing the skills, campaigns, and resources to push for aggressive climate action and high-level policies that accelerate a just transition to clean energy.
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.
Learn about our review process →
