Living Planet Report 2024 Youth Edition
Scientific Reports
Grades6, 7, 8, 9, 10Biology, Earth and Space Sciences
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Provided by World Wildlife Fund
What it is
- This youth-created and youth-focused report details biodiversity loss and environmental degradation, global efforts to protect nature, sustainable solutions, and how young people can take action.
- This colorful report includes an introduction to why this topic matters, what ecosystem services are, the drivers of ecosystem decline and biodiversity loss, ecological tipping points, and youth perspectives about taking action.
Teaching tips
Positives
- This report does an excellent job of defining content-specific terms for students within the text.
- The report includes quotes from young people, which can help students see that they are not alone in how they feel or inspire them to care about climate change and biodiversity loss.
- The list of actions students can take is a great call to action for students.
Prerequisites
- Some students may need more instruction about the importance of biodiversity, though the term is defined in the report.
- Some of the additional resources linked in the Learning Resources section may be broken.
Differentiation & Implementation
- This report references the UN Sustainable Development Goals. To familiarize themselves with the goals, high school students can benefit from this lesson, and younger students can do this media literacy activity.
- The graphic detailing Drivers of Change is an excellent resource teachers can use to select topics to study in the future or one students can use for independent research projects.
- Consider making this into a unit using the supporting materials listed, this video about how whales help fight climate change, this lesson about sustainable forestry, and this video about biodiversity.
- Students may become upset, stressed, or anxious when reading about climate tipping points. Teachers may want to take breaks between each tipping point section or provide students with resources for processing their feelings, such as the Climate Emotions Wheel.
From the scientist review
These resources focus on how scientists measure the health of the planet through biodiversity. In addition, readers will learn how humans and our actions have impacted the earth's biodiversity and health as well as what can be done to help. The resource focuses a lot on action, especially youth action, which can be empowering and add optimism to the subject. The information presented is accurate and this resource is recommended for teaching.
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