The Rise of Clean Energy (2000s – present)
Report: IEA, “Renewables” (2023)
Report: IRENA, “Renewable power generation costs in 2023”

The “War on Terror” and the Environment (2001 – Present)
Book: The Pentagon, “Climate Change, and War: Charting the Rise and Fall of U.S. Military Emissions” by Neta C. Crawford, (MIT Press, 2022)
Report: “Oil Change International, Burning the Midnight Oil: How Oil Fuels War” (2019)
Report: Amnesty International, “The Human Cost of the War on Terror” (2021)
Documentary: “PBS Frontline: Iraq’s Los Generation” Website: Conflict and Environment Observatory (CEOBS)

Larsen B Ice Shelf Collapses (2002)
Website: NASA Earth Observatory, “Break-Up of the Larsen B Ice Shelf” (2002)
Article: Rignot, E. et al., “Rapid Acceleration of Ice Discharge in the Larsen B Embayment” (Geophysical Research Letters, 2004)
Video: “National Geographic: Antarctica’s Disappearing Ice” (2020)
Website: British Antarctic Survey: Climate Change in the Polar Regions
Classroom Activity: Model glacier flow using cornstarch and water

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007)
Website: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, “Indigenous Peoples”
Article: Anaya, S. J., & Wiessner, S., “The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Towards Re-empowerment” (Jurist, 2007)
Video: “UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues: The Story of UNDRIP” (2017/2022 Anniversary Retrospectives)
Website: International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA), “The Declaration Explained”
Classroom Activity: “Rights in Conflict”
Roleplay – Students represent Indigenous communities, government officials, and private corporations to negotiate land use based on the principle of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC).

Africa’s Great Green Wall (2007)
Report: UNCCD, “Great Green Wall
Initiative: 2022 Progress Report”
Documentary: “The Great Green Wall” (2020)
Book: “Restoring Earth: Africa’s Green Renaissance” by Ibrahim Thiaw (2020)

Climate Migration grows Worldwide (2008)
Website: International Organization for Migration (IOM): Environmental Migration
Article: Brown, O., “Migration and Climate Change” (IOM Research Series No. 31, 2008)
Video: TED-Ed: “The Era of Climate Migration” (2022)
Website: The Environmental Justice Foundation: Climate Refugees

The Anchorage Summit (2009)
Primary Source: “Anchorage Declaration” (2009)
Article: Kyle Whyte, “Indigenous Climate Change Studies” (2017)
Film: “Mother of the Forests” (Indigenous Environmental Network) and “Faith Communities Unite for the Planet” (2009)
Primary Source: Pope Francis, “Laudato Si’” (2015)
Primary Source: “Islamic Declaration on Global Climate Change” (2015)
Video: “Interfaith Power & Light: Faith for Earth Series”

Flooding in Bangladesh & Pakistan (2010)
Website: NASA Earth Observatory: Monsoon Flooding in Pakistan
Article: Gauhar, B. A. et al., “Lessons Learnt from Floods in Pakistan” (UN-Spider, 2011)
Video: BBC News: “Pakistan Floods: One-fifth of country under water” (2010)
Website: Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre: Bangladesh Case Study
Youth rise for Global Action/Youth use the Courts for Climate Justice (2012)
Website: Our Children’s Trust: Juliana v. United States
Article: Marris, E., “The Youth vs. the Government” (Nature, 2018)
Video: National Geographic, “The Kids Suing the Government Over Climate Change” (2017)
Website: Youth4Climate: The Manifesto
Classroom Activity: The Moot Court – Students research a landmark youth- led case (like Held v. Montana) and act as plaintiffs, defense, and judges to argue whether a “stable climate” is a constitutional right

Indigenous Youth Lead Global Climate Movements (2012)
Report: “Indigenous Climate Action, Youth Voices for Climate Justice” (2024)
UN/UNESCO: “Decade of Indigenous Languages and Knowledge” (2022-2032)
Documentary: “Earth Guardians Documentary: Voices of the Land” Classroom: Create a community action plan led by local youth

Black Lives Matter (2013)
Website: BlackLivesMatter.com, Herstory/About
Article: Garza, A., “A Herstory of the #BlackLivesMatter Movement” (The Feminist Wire, 2014)
Video: PBS NewsHour, “The History and Evolution of the BLM Movement” (2020)
Website: Black Lives Matter at School: Resources
Classroom Activity: The Power of the Hashtag – Students analyze how social media is used to organize protests and create their own “Social Justice Campaign Plan” for a local issue.

The People’s Climate March (2014)
Website: PeoplesClimate.org “The 2014 NYC March Archive”
Article: Fisher, D. R., “The Pulse of the Movement” (Nature Climate Change, (2015)
Video: Democracy Now! “The Largest Climate March in History” (2014)
Website: 350.org “Mobilizing the Masses”
Classroom Activity: Art as Activism – Students study the “contingents” of the 2014 march (Indigenous groups, labor unions, scientists) and design a protest poster that represents a specific community’s stake in the climate crisis

The Russian Invasion of Ukraine (2014)
Website: Council on Foreign Relations “Conflict in Ukraine”
Article: Mearsheimer, J. J., “Why the Ukraine Crisis Is the West’s Fault” (Foreign Affairs, 2014), a widely debated seminal text on the geopolitical shifts of that year
Video: Vox “How the war in Ukraine began” (2014/2022 Updates)
Website: The Atlantic Council: UkraineAlert

The Paris Agreement (2015)
Video: “The Paris Agreement Explained” (UN Climate Change)
Primary Source: Full text of the “Paris Agreement” (2015)
Website: Climate Action Tracker
Book: “The Future We Choose” by Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac
Classroom: Simulate a COP negotiation

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (2015)
Website: UN Sustainable Development Goals Knowledge
Platform Article: Sachs, J. D., “The Age of Sustainable Development” (Columbia University Press, 2015)
Video: United Nations: “We the People for the Global Goals” (2015)
Website: The Global Goals, Resources for Educators
Classroom Activity: SDG Scavenger Hunt – Students identify 5 problems in their own neighborhood and match them to the specific SDG intended to solve them, proposing a local “target” for 2030

Hurricanes, Harvey, Irma, & Maria (2017)
Website: National Hurricane Center: 2017 Tropical Cyclone Reports
Article: Kishore, N. et al., “Mortality in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria” (New England Journal of Medicine, 2018)
Video: Frontline: “The Recovery in Puerto Rico” (2018)
Website: FEMA: 2017 Hurricane Season After-Action Report Classroom Activity: Disaster Response Simulation – Students are assigned roles (Governor, FEMA Director, Local Resident) and must allocate limited “emergency funds” across three different disaster zones based on immediate vs. long-term needs.

The Covid-19 Pandemic (2020)
Website: World Health Organization: COVID-19 Dashboard
Article: Morens, D. M. et al., “The Emergence of COVID-19 as a Pandemic” (Journal of Infectious Diseases, 2020)
Video: Khan Academy: “How a virus spreads and the science of masks” (2020)
Website: Johns Hopkins University: Coronavirus Resource Center
Israel’s Genocidal Attack on Gaza (2023-ongoing)
Website: OCHA (UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs): Occupied Palestinian Territory Article: “Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (South Africa v. Israel)” (International Court of Justice, 2024)
Video: Al Jazeera: “Gaza’s Infrastructure in Ruins” (2023)
Website: Breaking the Silence: Testimonies from Gaza

Climate Reparations and the Loss& Damage Fund (2024)
Website: UNFCCC: Introduction to Loss and Damage
Article: Schalatek, L., “The Loss and Damage Fund: Getting It Right” (Heinrich Böll Stiftung, 2024)
Video: Bloomberg Quicktake, “What are Climate Reparations?” (2023)
Website: Climate Funds Update: Loss and Damage Data
Classroom Activity: The Climate Debt Calculator – Students use historical CO2 emission data to calculate the “carbon debt” of G20 nations and debate how many billions should be paid into the fund to support “Least Developed Countries” (LDCs)