This resource from the EPA provides detailed information about greenhouse gas emissions from the United States by economic sector.
Students will learn where our emissions come from, which greenhouse gases are associated with each sector, how emissions have changed over time, and ways to reduce emissions in each sector.
Teaching Tips
Positives
The data is presented in easy-to-interpret pie charts and line graphs.
All sources are cited and linked for more information.
This is a great resource to reference solutions already identified for reducing emissions by sector.
Additional Prerequisites
Students should know how to read graphs and charts.
Differentiation
Students could be divided into groups by sector to investigate the sources and solutions and then present their findings to the other groups.
Cross-curricular connections could be made with social studies classes when thinking about the human health and societal consequences of various emitting activities or pollutants.
Scientist Notes
The resource explains the sources of important greenhouse gases. It is useful for students to understand the sources, their residence time, and ways to reduce emissions. This resource is recommended for teaching.
Standards
Science and Engineering
ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
MS-ESS3-3 Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.
MS-ESS3-4 Construct an argument supported by evidence for how increases in human population and per-capita consumption of natural resources impact Earth’s systems.
MS-ESS3-5 Ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the rise in global temperatures over the past century.
HS-ESS3-2 Evaluate competing design solutions for developing, managing, and utilizing energy and mineral resources based on cost-benefit ratios.
HS-ESS3-5 Analyze geoscience data and the results from global climate models to make an evidence-based forecast of the current rate of global or regional climate change and associated future impacts to Earth’s systems.
