New Jersey's Changing Climate

• This one-page fact sheet shows how climate change is impacting New Jersey through increased rainfall, extreme weather, sea level rise, and higher temperatures. 
• It provides New Jersey-specific statistics about the increases that have occurred in each category over recent decades.
  

Positives

• This fact sheet is well organized and concise, making it a good introduction to the topic of climate change in New Jersey.
• The information sources are linked at the bottom of the PDF, providing additional information for more advanced students.
  

Additional Prerequisites

• The illustration depicts a number of topics (e.g., coral bleaching, less snow and ice, warmer oceans) that are not covered in the fact sheet. 
  

Differentiation

• Elementary or middle school science and writing classes could use this fact sheet to write a paragraph explaining the ways in which the climate of New Jersey would have been different fifty years ago or how it might be different in the future.
• Biology classes could use the topics listed in the illustration for mini-research projects or to connect to lessons about evolution, species extinctions, habitat loss, the carbon cycle, or ecology.
• Earth science and geography classes could read New Jersey's state climate summary (also linked in the fact sheet) and then work in pairs to discuss why New Jersey's climate change problems differ from climate change problems in other parts of the United States. 
• Other resources on this topic include this interactive map that shows Americans' opinions about climate change issues, this Grist video on how Hoboken, New Jersey has improved its infrastructure to reduce flooding, and this video on understanding climate change.