Teacher Tested Online Resources

Bringing Climate into the Classroom

Conservation and Solutions

H2O Conserve
H2O Conserve is an online resource that offers lesson plans for teachers, water conservation projects, and tools to calculate your water footprint.
Water Calculator

The Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy has developed a carbon footprint calculator that allows users to see how much they contribute to greenhouse gas emissions individually or for a household.
Carbon Footprint Calculator

Colorado Climate Action Plan
Governor Bill Ritter's office has created the Colorado Climate Action Plan, outlining the impact of a changing climate on the state of Colorado while providing strategies and solutions to address climate change.
Climate Action Plan

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has created a document that provides solar radiation data from flat-plate and concentrating solar collectors around the country, as well as climactic data.
Renewable Energy Data

Biomass Power Member Association Facilities
This document gives state-by-state information about the locations, owners, and megawatt capacities of biomass power facilities in the U.S.
Biomass Power Facilities

Climate Change - The Science and Data

The Colorado Climate Center
The Colorado Climate Center's website provides information, data, and resources about climate throughout the state.
Colorado Climate Center at Colorado State University

Colorado Precipitation Levels
A report of precipitation levels throughout the state of Colorado from 1800 to the present.
Precipitation Levels

Colorado Temperature Report
A report of temperatures throughout the state of Colorado from 1800 to the present.
Temperature Report

Snow Pack Data
Year-by-year data of snow pack levels in Niwot Ridge from 1938 to 2008.
Snow Pack Data

Snow Pack Graph
A graph showing snow pack data from 1938 to 2008 and highlighting the overall decreasing trend.
Snow Pack Graph

Clean Air Markets Data and Maps EPA
Comparison of CARMA and EPA Data on CO2 Emissions
CO2 Emissions Data

The Environmental Protection Agency
The Environmental Protection Agency has prepared a document that provides a variety of data associated with emissions trading programs for power plants in each state. Data includes CO2 intensity, emissions, and total energy output.
Clean Air Markets Data and Maps

Curriculum and Lessons

ClimateChangeEducation.org
ClimateChangeEducation.org provides lesson plans, curriculum, and materials for a variety of K-12 subjects, with a focus on climate change.
Climate Change Education

The Climate Discovery Teacher's Guide
Produced by the National Center for Atmospheric Research, the Climate Discovery Teacher's Guide provides lesson plans for grades 5-9 on a variety of Earth system science topics that facilitate student learning about our planet's climate system.
Climate Discovery Teacher's Guide

The National Geographic Xpeditions Program
The National Geographic Xpeditions Program has developed "Climate Controls" lesson plans for grades K-12, allowing students to consider how various parts of the world and the United States are affected by climate controls.
National Geographic "Climate Controls" Lesson Plans

Teaching Climate Change: Lessons from the Past
This resource allows educators to locate and use the best resources for teaching about Earth's climate system and the changing climate over the past one million years.
Climate Change Lessons from the Past

ACRF - Education and Outreach Program
The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Climate Research Facility (ACRF) Education and Outreach Program creates basic science lessons related to weather and climate for K-12th grade.
ACRF Weather and Climate Lessons

PBS Newshour Segment on Climate Education
Watch a short webcast of a PBS Newshour segment discussing how K-12 teachers are incorporating climate education into their classrooms. Features Cheryl Manning, creator of Learn More About Climate's "Mountain Pine Beetles" lesson
PBS Newshour: Climate Education

Pine Bark Beetles

Mountain Pine Beetle Mania
A resource designed to bring the biology and issues surrounding the mountain pine beetle into the spotlight for junior high science students, centered on the impacts of the beetle in Alberta, Canada.
Mountain Pine Beetles

Colorado State University Forest Service
Colorado State University Forest Service has created a website containing several documents about the effects of the Mountain Pine Beetle on the local environment.
CSU Forest Service Pine Beetle Information

Colorado State University Forest Service
A PDF with information about bark beetles, trees affected by the beetle, and solutions for protecting and treating trees.
CSU Forest Service: Pine Beetles and Trees

GlobalChange.gov
This document connects the effects of climate change to the expanding mountain pine beetle problem in western forests and mountains.
Pine Beetles and Climate Change

Boulder Magazine
An article featured in Boulder Magazine about the mountain pine beetle, its origins, and its capacity to dramatically alter natural landscapes.
Boulder Magazine Pine Beetle Article

USDA Forest Service
The USDA Forest Service's Climate Change Resource Center provides information about the mountain pine beetle problem, likely environmental changes, and options for management.
USDA Forest Service Pine Beetle Information

Learn More About Climate

Professor Thomas Veblen discusses the relationship between bark beetle outbreaks and climate change in this interview from CU-Boulder's Learn More About Climate Change video series.
Thomas Veblen Interview

University of Colorado

Jeremy Smith from CU-Boulder's Department of Geography discusses why the mountain pine beetle population has erupted in the last decade.
Why has the Mountain Pine Beetle Population Erupted in the Last Decade?

The U.S. Forest Service
The U.S. Forest Service shares information and links about mountain pine beetles, the epidemics, forest mortality, and resulting impacts.
Pine Beetle Impacts

Environmental Protection Agency
A lesson plan for grades 5-8 about the impact of climate change on the mountain pine beetle and western forests.
Mountain Pine Beetle Climate Change Lesson Plan

Jeff Mitton
A handout about the mountain pine beetle's unprecedented summer generation. Appeared in the April 26th issue of the Daily Camera.
The Mountain Pine Beetle's Unprecedented Summer Generation