In this Ted Talk, Pope Francis delivers a speech describing our collective moral responsibility to act in the fight against climate change.
Pope Francis outlines three courses of action to address the global climate crisis, including recognizing that environmental problems and human needs are intertwined, focusing on access to water and nutrition for all, and transitioning to clean energy sources.
Teaching Tips
Positives
Students can listen to a religious leader describe the importance of taking action against climate change.
A transcript of the Pope's speech is provided with a read-along feature.
Additional Prerequisites
Students should already have an understanding of climate change before watching this video.
The video is an English voiceover of the Pope's speech in Italian.
There may be an ad before the video.
Differentiation
Providing subtitles or a printed version of the transcript may be helpful for students.
Students in Social Studies classes can use this resource to talk about the shared responsibilities of world leaders and citizens to address the climate crisis or to analyze the effectiveness of the Pope's speech.
Pair this resource with this speech writing activity or this guided activity for creating a TED-style climate talk.
Scientist Notes
This 13-minute TED talk given by Pope Francis (dubbed in English) discusses the urgency of the climate crisis and the moral imperative for us to act. This resource touches on many topics including morality, ecology, economics, and politics. Three major approaches for addressing the climate crisis are outlined. This resource is recommended for teaching.
Standards
Social Studies
Civics & Government
Civics & Government 1 (F2): Students understand the ideals, purposes, principles, structures, and processes of constitutional government in the United States and in the American political system, as well as examples of other forms of government and political systems in the world by explaining how and why democratic institutions and interpretations of democratic ideals and constitutional principles change over time.
Civics & Government 1 (D1): Students understand the ideals, purposes, principles, structures, and processes of constitutional government in the United States and in the American political system, as well as examples of other forms of government and political systems in the world by evaluating and comparing the relationship of citizens with government in the United States and other regions of the world.
