This informative video explains how humans discovered ways to harness the power of fossil fuels to expand agriculture and industry and how the energy source led to climate change.
Students will learn about the causes of our changing climate and the crisis humanity is facing as the planet warms.
Teaching Tips
Positives
This video is entertaining and informative.
The video does an excellent job of mixing history and science.
Additional Prerequisites
An ad plays before the video.
Differentiation
This video would work equally well in history or science classes.
Cross-curricular connections could be made in language arts classes that are reading or writing about climate change or fossil fuels.
Before playing the video, have a whole class or partner conversation about the history of fossil fuels to prime student engagement. Revisit the conversation after the video to recap the main points.
Other related resources include this article about the history of American dependence on oil, this video about the cost of carbon, and this interactive graph about public climate change opinions.
Scientist Notes
Communities in the developing world have been the most severely impacted by the effects of climate change. This resource offers historical proof of the role fossil fuels have had in both the development of civilization and the considerable contribution they have made to climate change. There are no misconceptions in this resource, making it perfect for the classroom.
Standards
English Language Arts
Speaking & Listening (K-12)
6.SL.2 Interpret information presented in diverse media and formats and explain how it contributes to a topic, text, or issue under study.
11-12.SL.3 Evaluate a speaker's point of view, perspective, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric, assessing the stance, premises, links among ideas, word choice, points of emphasis, and tone used.
Science
ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
6.ESS3.5 Ask clarifying questions based on evidence about the factors that have caused climate change over the past century.
8.ESS3.4 Construct an argument supported by evidence for how increases in human population and per-capita consumption of natural resources impact Earth’s systems.
Social Sciences
Historical Thinking (K-12)
6.23 Explain and analyze the historical context of key people, cultures, products, events, and ideas over time including the examination of different perspectives from Indigenous people, ethnic and religious groups, and other traditionally marginalized groups throughout the Western Hemisphere.
Social Science Analysis (K-12)
8.34 Analyze how a specific problem can manifest itself at local, regional, and global levels over time, identifying its characteristics and causes, and the challenges and opportunities faced by those trying to address the problem.
