Suggestions and resources for connecting your lecture to climate change

Faculty do not have to be climate change experts to participate, nor invest heavily in preparation. One way to get students involved in the topic is for faculty to speak for 10 minutes on a subject area close to their discipline, and then help lead a half an hour of discussion in the classroom. Faculty may also ask the class to attend one of the other events or open lectures that day.

Examples of class topics include:

• A psychology class focusing on obstacles to change with the professor talking about denial.
• A journalism professor leading her class in a discussion about the media’s coverage of global warming.
• An engineering, economics or business class investigating technological and economic opportunities.
• An advertising class debating the success or failure of green marketing in changing consumer behavior.
• An art history class discussing why polar bears have become such iconic images in recent years.
• A philosophy or religious studies class discussing the moral implications of mass extinction posed by climate change.

Faculty & Staff Resources

The national Focus the Nation website has compiled a list of non-environmental disciplines and suggestions for climate change topics within them. Focus the Nation at CU has arranged additional resources to facilitate discussion of climate change in your lecture.

• Climate Ambassadors To stimulate classroom discussion, a student will come to your class and provide a brief summary key climate change issues. To schedule a climate ambassador, email FTN@colorado.edu
• Recycling and climate change presentation
  Few people think of the connection between recycling the benefits to mitigating climate change. For example, it takes a lot less energy to make something from recycled materials than it does from virgin materials. Also, deforestation (largely for paper products) is the second leading cause of climate change emissions, behind electricity generation.

Jack DeBell, Recycling Program Development Director at the CU Environmental Center will come to your class with a 15 minute guest presentation on zero waste and the benefits of recycling to climate change. To request a presentation, email debell@colorado.edu

• Free faculty workshop, January 23, 3-5 pm, CIRES Auditorium
  "Making Climate Hot: Effectively Communicating Climate Change"

The CU Environmental Center can help you green your office and lower your impact on climate change at work.