Lesson Summary: Teachers will share pictures of Alaska that show examples of climate change. If time, show the documentary Chasing Ice. Then, ask the students to consider the implications of global warming for the Iditarod race. Finally, teach about the impacts of global warming to the villages along the coast. Have students come up with a plan to lesson their carbon footprint.
Worksheets (Click on the link to access the worksheet. You have my permission to alter, copy, and distribute.):
Iditarod and Climate Change
Worksheets (Click on the link to access the worksheet. You have my permission to alter, copy, and distribute.):
Iditarod and Climate Change
Resources
These resources would be excellent to share with your students and for self-education. I used these resources to help create the worksheets.
Short Articles and Reference Materials
*Alaska state information about climate change
Article with wildlife impacts of climate change in Alaska
Alaska starts growing its own food sources to mitigate climate change
Court dismisses youth case against climate change in Alaska
Long Articles
*Alaska Dispatch political article about national consequences of climate change in Alaska
**Alaska Dispatch article about climate change and adaptation in the village of Unalakleet
Fat tire bikers destroy Iditarod sled dog race record due to snowless year
Slate recent article on Climate Change and the Iditarod
Julia O'Malley's article about sea bird massive die offs in Alaska
Anchorage has to have snow brought in on freight trains from Fairbanks to start the race
And this fact even made CNN.
Updated Alaska Climate articles: It's worse than we thought
Sea ice loss on Bering Sea Coast
Websites
*Innovative mushing products for climate change
Videos
*Chasing Ice, excellent feature-length documentary about climate change and glaciers (available on Netflix Instant Streaming)
*Short gorgeous video about climate change in the Bethel area, including ice skating instead of skiing.
Nova film about climate change in the village of Shismaref
Documentary about Arctic sinkholes from Methane
Here is a Symbaloo containing all the resources I used for this project.