Teaching about Climate Change: Cool Schools Tackle Global Warming.

Within the last couple of decades, the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has increased significantly due to human activities. Today climate change is an important issue for humankind. This book provides a starting point for educators to teach about climate change, although there are obstacles caused by the industrialized structure of society and its political structure. The activities presented in this book are based on an interdisciplinary approach, and most of them can be implemented at the elementary and secondary grade levels. The content of the book is divided into five sections. Chapters include: (1) "A Climate of Change: The Context" (Louise Comeau and Dave Mussell); (2) "The Educational Challenges: A Framework for Teaching about Climate Change" (Milton McClaren and William Hammond); (3) "The Greenhouse Effect" (Louise Comeau and Tim Grant); (4) "Gases and Greenhouses: Simple Activities for Exploring Key Concepts" (Gail Littlejohn and Alex Waters); (5) "Understanding Climate Variability" (Gail Littlejohn); (6) "Is Climate Change Good for Us?" (Jackie Oblak); (7) "Energy: Making the Right Choices" (Kitty Cochrane); (8) "Introducing Solar Electricity" (Robert Vogl and Sonia Vogl); (9) "Solar Box Cooking" (Sue LeBeau); (10) "Solar Car Sprints" (Aisling O'Shea); (11) "Renewable Energy: K-12 Activities" (Sue LeBeau); (12) "A New King of Bus Afoot" (Elise Houghton); (13) "Building a Community of Life-long Cyclists" (Ken Croxford); (14) "It Takes a Whole Bus to Educate a Child: A Reading" (Arthur Orsini); (15) "Investigating Public Transit" (Tim Grant, Gail Littlejohn, and Arthur Orsini); (16) "Going Off-Ramp: A Car Trip Reduction Plan for Schools" (Arthur Orsini); (17) "From Gridlock to Global Warming" (Rebecca Watts Hull); (18) "Counting the Real Costs of Cars" (Pembina Institute for Appropriate Development); (19) "Taking Action on Climate Change: Inside and Outside Our Schools" (Denise Philippe and Richard Kool); (20) "What Cool Schools Can Do" (Tom Yohemas); (21) "Getting into Hot Water" (Joe Umanetz); (22) "The Clean Air Game" (Deborah Avalone-King); (23) "Visiting a Sustainable Living Site" (Barbara Wallace); (24) "Cycling for a Better World" (Gilles Belisle); and (25) "Climate Change Round Table" (Toronto Environmental Alliance). (YDS)