Hello Anne,

The Climate Literacy Principles were created by the U.S. Global Change Research Program to promote greater climate science literacy by providing this educational framework of principles and concepts. These pages offer easy-to-read explanations of science and policy, designed to step students through the key principles of climate and energy. Each page is illustrated with examples to bring these topics alive in your classroom, and includes relevant resources from the CLEAN Collection.

Climate Literacy Principle 1

The Sun is the primary source of energy for Earth's climate system.

The sun warms the planet, drives the hydrologic cycle, and makes life on Earth possible. The amount of sunlight received on Earth's surface is affected by the reflectivity of the surface, the angle of the sun, the output of the sun, and the cyclic variations of Earth's orbit around the sun.

The basic science of solar energy and the role it plays for Earth's climate can be understood by middle school students, but the complexities of the Earth's energy balance remains an area of active scientific research. Thus, this topic is both elemental and complex.

Climate Literacy Principle 2

Physical processes on Earth are the result of energy flow through the Earth's system.

When students learn about Earth's processes, they generally focus on the process itself, such as plate tectonics, tides, or streamflow. These ideas illustrate how all of Earth's processes are driven by energy. Energy transfer can be thought of as the driving force of the Earth system.

Most of the energy in the Earth's system comes from just a few sources: solar energy, gravity, radioactive decay, and the rotation of the Earth. Solar energy drives many surface processes such as winds, currents, the hydrologic cycle, and the overall climate system. Gravity makes rivers and other materials flow downhill and creates tides (from the Moon's gravitational pull). Radioactive decay creates heat in the Earth's interior, while Earth's rotational forces influence currents of air and water.

Climate Literacy Principle 3

Life on Earth depends on, is shaped by, and affects climate.

Life affects the composition of the atmosphere and therefore the climate because different life forms take in and release gases like carbon dioxide, methane and oxygen at different rates. Climatic conditions help to shape various ecosystems and habitats around the globe. A particular climate can be a boon to one species and a devastation to another. As the climate changes, species and ecosystems respond by adapting, migrating, or reducing their population. Gradual shifts in the climate are easier to adapt to than abrupt swings, and this is certainly true for humans as well as other species. Studies of Earth's climatic history indicate that climates have changed in the past and resulted in dramatic shifts in ecosystems. The most recent geological period the Holocene (about last 10,000 years), however, has been unusually stable.

Climate varies over space and time through both natural and man-made processes.

These key ideas illustrate the differences between weather and climate and unravel some of the processes that cause natural climate variability, and abrupt climate change, and human-caused climate change. Understanding climate variability such as the El Niño/Southern Oscillation is critically important in helping scientists tease apart natural variation from human-induced climate change. In this principle the human impact on the climate through burning of fossil fuels is clearly differentiated from naturally occurring climate processes.

Our understanding of the climate system is improved through observations, theoretical studies, and modeling.

When it comes to climate science, how do scientists know what they know? This aspect of climate literacy addresses the essential question of how we go about studying and understanding the climate system. Climate science follows the same methods and principles of all scientific research, and is based on asking questions, making observations, testing ideas, interpreting data, peer review, and communication of findings. The process of science has demonstrated its reliability over the course of hundreds of years, and it has brought benefits to all aspects of human society.

Human activities are impacting the climate system.

There is overwhelming evidence that human activities, especially burning fossil fuels, are leading to increased levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which in turn amplify the natural greenhouse effect, causing the temperature of the Earth's atmosphere, ocean, and land surface to increase. That greenhouse gases "trap" infrared heat is well established through laboratory experiments going back to 1856 when Eunice Foote first measured the effect.

The well-documented trend of increasing of CO2 in the atmosphere is caused by the burning of fossil fuels and massive land cover changes. The "smoking gun" that shows clearly that human activities are responsible for recent increases in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is provided by carbon isotopes (carbon atoms of different atomic weight). These isotopes allow scientists to "fingerprint" the source of the carbon dioxide molecules, which reveal that the increased CO2 in the atmosphere is caused by fossil fuel burning.

Climate change has consequences for the Earth system and human lives.

Most people are aware of the increasing frequency of extreme weather events, which is what climate scientists predicted for a warming world. The impacts of climate change on humans and environmental systems have become a focus for resource managers, medical professionals, emergency managers, insurance companies, and military planners. A great challenge of the 21st century will be to prepare communities to adapt to climate change while reducing human impacts on the climate system (known as mitigation). Additional factors such as poverty, a lack of resources, the absence of political will, and the necessity for nations to work together add further complexity to this challenge. Many jobs and industries will be affected by the changes that are happening or are anticipated for the future.

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