2020 New Jersey Scientific Report on Climate Change

Scientific Reports

Grades9, 10, 11, 12Biology, Earth and Space Sciences

Scientist Reviewed

Provided by New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection

Open Resource

What it is

This 205-page scientific report, commissioned by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, provides an overview of greenhouse gases, regional and global climate change, and the specific effects of climate change on New Jersey.
The report is broken up into chapters and there is an executive summary for quick reference.

Teaching tips

Positives

This report is written in a clear, easy-to-understand style.
Clicking on the sidebar menu at the top left-hand corner enables a navigable table of contents.

Prerequisites

The Executive Summary will help students understand the scope and purpose of the report because it provides a broad overview of many of the topics covered.

Differentiation & Implementation

Civics classes could use the report to compare and contrast state environmental policies such as New Jersey's Executive Order 89 or the New Jersey Global Warming Response Act with international agreements such as the Kyoto Protocol.
Health and biology classes could locate and read sections of the report that explain how climate change impacts human health.
Other resources on this topic include this resiliency map of New Jersey's coastal areas, this video about climate change impacts on New Jersey from Rutgers Climate Institute, and this Grist video on infrastructure improvements in Hoboken, New Jersey.

From the scientist review

This resource contains a detailed report on the state of the environment of New Jersey between 1970-2020 and ways to manage climate risk. This report has been reviewed by scientists and experts, and it's recommended for students to gain deep insights.

How we review resources

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Hosted on dep.nj.gov

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At a glance

Grades: 9, 10, 11, 12
Subjects: Biology, Earth and Space Sciences
Other types: Data, Graphs, and Maps
Format: PDF
Language: English
Location: North America > United States > New Jersey
Provider: New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
Authors: New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
Published: April 27, 2021
Last updated: July 16, 2026
: Reviewed by our climate scientists How we review

Standards alignment · D2.Civ.1.9-12 + 13 more

Core

College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Standards

D2.Civ.1.9-12Distinguish the powers and responsibilities of local, state, tribal, national, and international civic and political institutions.
D2.Civ.12.9-12Analyze how people use and challenge local, state, national, and international laws to address a variety of public issues.
D2.Geo.5.9-12Evaluate how political and economic decisions throughout time have influenced cultural and environmental characteristics of various places and regions.
D2.Geo.6.9-12Evaluate the impact of human settlement activities on the environmental and cultural characteristics of specific places and regions.
D2.Geo.9.9-12Evaluate the influence of long-term climate variability on human migration and settlement patterns, resource use, and land uses at local-to-global scales.

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)

HS-ESS3-D.1.Though the magnitudes of human impacts are greater than they have ever been, so too are human abilities to model, predict, and manage current and future impacts. (HS-ESS3-5)

Oregon Climate Education Hub

English Language Arts

9-10.RI.2Determine a central idea of a text and analyze in details its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details. Provide an evidence-based summary of the text.
11-12.RI.4Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze how an author uses and refines the meaning of a key term or terms over the course of a text.

Science

HS.ESS2.6Develop a quantitative model to describe the cycling of carbon among the hydrosphere, atmosphere, geosphere, and biosphere.
HS.ESS3.3Create a computational simulation to illustrate the relationships among the management of natural resources, the sustainability of human populations, and biodiversity.

Social Sciences

HS.C.PI.4:Using the Tribal History/Shared History resources and other primary and secondary source documents, identify and explain the development and mechanisms for the government-to-government relationship between Oregon and the nine federally recognized tribal governments.
HS.G.GR.1:Use geographic tools, various kinds of maps, and geospatial technologies to examine geographic components of past and current world events or to solve geographic problems.
HS.G.HE.11:Identify and describe how the relationship to land, utilization of natural resources, displacement, and land ownership affects historically underrepresented identities, cultures, and communities.
HS.G.HI.7:Assess the effect of human settlement activities on the environmental and cultural characteristics of specific places and regions.

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