KIM NICHOLAS
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Climate Science 101: Five things everyone needs to know 

Since 2011, I've structured my teaching on climate change based on these five points, which my friend Denise Young calls my "climate haiku" (if you don't count syllables too exactingly):  
1. It's warming
2. It's us 
3. We're sure
4. It's bad
5. We can fix it ​

We're also working on a climate change curriculum for university courses based on these points, drawn from an analysis of the last IPCC Synthesis Report.

Seth Wynes and I published a peer-reviewed analysis of Canadian curricula based on these five points in 2019, "
Climate science curricula in Canadian secondary schools focus on human warming, not scientific consensus, impacts or solutions."

I have helped popularize this framing through wide use on social media and at demonstrations. I first made these points into a footnoted protest sign for the People's Climate March in September 2014. 

We're teaching & learning sustainability science & bike-marching for climate in Lund, Sweden. #peopleofclimate #PCM pic.twitter.com/V7z8dYXlW0

— Dr Kim Nicholas (@KA_Nicholas) September 20, 2014
I made a smaller version of my footnoted protest sign for the Stand Up for Science rally at AGU in December 2016, which spread widely on social media and was used in the March for Science, April 2017.
Picture
Footnotes from the sign:
1. "Warming of the climate system is unequivocal" IPCC AR5 WG1, 2013
2. "Extremely likely (95%) human influence has been the dominant cause of observed warming since mid 20th C" IPCC WG1 SPM, 2013
3. 928 to 0 scientists convinced (Oreskes, 2004); <3% (Anderegg et al, 2015)
4. Widespread impacts on water, food, energy systems, IPCC WG2 SPM, 2014
5. See kimnicholas.com/we-can-fix-it-world-cafe.html

Source: 
​
I first heard these five points articulated by 
Jon Krosnick at in a lecture at Stanford in 2010, and from Susan Hassol. These points are elaborated in a journal article (Krosnick et al., 2006, Climatic Change), and have subsequently been used in further research, e.g., this article by Ding et al. (2011) in Nature Climate Change on scientific certainty and support for climate policy.

Connect

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  • Home
  • About
  • Book
    • UNDER THE SKY WE MAKE
    • Book Seminar
    • Teach UNDER THE SKY WE MAKE
    • Discussion Questions
    • Book Clubs
    • Support the Book
    • Press Kit & Images
    • Request from Local Bookstore/Library
    • How to order outside US/Canada
    • Behind the Scenes
    • If My Book Were Music
  • Research
    • Lab Members
    • Peer-Reviewed Publications
    • Flying Less >
      • The Takeoff of Staying on the Ground
      • Policy Briefs
      • Ingen ny tid för avgång
      • Academics Flying Less
    • Radically Reducing Lund's Emissions
    • Climate Solutions >
      • What Can I Do? 2 >
        • What Can I Do?
        • High School Teaching Materials
        • Fyra klimatsmarta livsstilsval
        • Press Release: 4 Lifestyle Choices That Most Reduce Your Carbon Footprint
        • The Climate Mitigation Gap: Study & Video Abstract
        • Study FAQs
      • Climate Science 101
      • Climate Policy >
        • IPCC Report on 1.5°
        • Kims Klimatval
        • COP21 (Paris Agreement)
      • Farmer adaptation
      • Harnessing biodiversity
    • Climate Education
    • Sustainable Land >
      • Global land use
      • European farming systems
      • Swedish land use
      • Ecosystem Services & OPERAs
      • REDD+
      • Land Acquisitions
    • Sustainable Food >
      • Urban Food Forestry
      • Local food in Iceland
      • One Great Meal
      • Dietary choices & climate change
      • Crop yields & climate
    • Wine, Climate, & Sustainability >
      • Wine & Climate: Impacts & Solutions
      • Wine Diversity for Climate Adaptation
      • Wine yields & quality under climate change
      • Farmer climate adaptation
      • Vineyard ecosystems & landscapes
      • European Wine Case Studies (OPERAs)
    • For Kids (K-12)
  • Writing
    • Newsletter
    • Peer-Reviewed Publications
    • Magazines & Popular Science
    • Blog
  • Speaking
  • Teaching
    • Teaching Overview
    • Climate Change Curriculum
    • We Can Fix It World Cafe >
      • We Can Fix It World Cafe 2017
      • We Can Fix It World Cafe 2016
      • We Can Fix It World Cafe 2015
      • We Can Fix It World Cafe 2014
    • Courses >
      • Writing for Change >
        • Course Readings
        • Apply
        • Course Information
    • Advice for Students
    • Peer Writing Tutors >
      • Instructions for Peer Tutors
      • Apply to be a writing tutor!
    • Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
    • Early Career
    • R Tutorials >
      • R tutorial 1: Basic calculations and graphs
      • R tutorial 2: Data Visualization
    • Student-Led Exams >
      • Simplified Self Grading
      • DIY Exam Teaching Notes
      • Peer Grading
      • Self Grading
  • Activism
  • Contact