This collection of articles from The Nature Conservancy features 30 solutions and 23 case studies that focus on protecting communities from natural hazards.
The solutions and case studies can be organized by hazard type, region, community type, scale, and cost.
Students can click on specific solutions and case studies to read more about each one.
Teaching Tips
Positives
Students can find solutions tailored to their community's challenges.
Many of the solutions proposed are nature-based solutions.
Additional Prerequisites
The regions listed are specific to the continental United States, but many of the solutions can be applied globally.
Students can download a PDF of the specific strategies that align with each natural hazard.
Differentiation
Teachers could assign communities and students could find solutions for them.
Students could debate the best solution for their community.
Students could read a case study and present the solution to the class.
Other resources related to these topics include this video on using natural solutions to combat climate change, this data set on urban water risks and solutions, and Project Drawdown's Table of Solutions.
Scientist Notes
The resource spotlights local strategies deployed to control natural hazards such as storm surges and coastal flooding in communities. It is suitable for students to learn these strategies and replicate them in their environment. This is recommended for teaching.
Standards
Science and Engineering
ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
MS-ESS3-2 Analyze and interpret data on natural hazards to forecast future catastrophic events and inform the development of technologies to mitigate their effects.
MS-ESS3-3 Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.
HS-ESS3-4 Evaluate or refine a technological solution that reduces impacts of human activities on natural systems.
ETS1: Engineering Design
HS-ETS1-2 Design a solution to a complex real-world problem by breaking it down into smaller, more manageable problems that can be solved through engineering.
Social Studies
Civics & Government
Civics & Government 1 (D2): Students understand the basic ideals, purposes, principles, structures, and processes of constitutional government in Maine and the United States as well as examples of other forms of government in the world by comparing how laws are made in Maine and at the federal level in the United States.
