Grade specific suggestions:

Government -  Consider using this primary source set that uses documents from the court case Juliana v. United States to examine the rights and responsibilities of citizens and the federal government during the era of climate change, with a comparison to a similar case in the Netherlands. Alternatively, students can examine the respective priorities, authority, and impacts that the state and the federal government have in matters related to climate change. The federal Environmental Protection Agency’s climate change webpage provides an overview of Washington’s approach and linked resources that will help students make comparisons between California’s and the federal government’s climate agenda. Consider framing the discussion around one or more of these questions from the government chapter of the HSS Framework: Why are powers divided among different levels of government? What level of government is the most important to me—local, state, tribal, or federal? What level of government is the most powerful— local, state, tribal, or federal?

Economics – Consider reviewing an aspect of this United Nations guidance document on budgeting for climate change to inform a class discussion on what the short and long-term economic impacts of climate change are, and are predicted to be, and how a country’s budget can begin to account for these. Consider comparing Newsom’s proposed budget with a historic California budget from the early 2000s to examine what were the costs of addressing climate change (wildfires, sea level rise, etc.) then versus now, followed by a discussion on how the state can fiscally address expected climate change impacts.

11th grade U.S. History – California’s response to climate change is far-reaching and involves multiple government agencies. Consider a comparison between Newsom’s proposed budget and the role of state agencies in addressing climate change in the short and long-term with President Roosevelt’s New Deal program designed to address the Great Depression. The HSS Framework question, How did the New Deal attempt to remedy problems from the Great Depression?, can help guide discussion.

Ethnic studies – Consider constructing an environmental justice timeline and analyzing progress made in addressing historic and systemic environmental racism. Key events to consider: Delano Grape Strike and United Farm Workers movement throughout the 1960s; Martin Luther King Jr.’s support of the sanitation workers’ strike in Memphis in April 1968; James Farmer’s address on the first Earth Day, 1970; 1982 Afton, NC protest to PCB landfill; 1983 General Accounting Office (GAO) report on race and waste sites in the SE; United Church of Christ report on race and waste in the country; creation of the Indigenous Environmental Network in 1990; First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C. in 1991; creation of environmental justice office in the Environmental Protection Agency and federal definition of environmental justice. Students can add local and regional events and developments to the timeline, and include points related specifically to activism to address climate justice.

Geography/California connections – Consider using this National Geographic map of land ownership in California to consider the scope of the role that the state government plays in protecting and preparing for climate change. Are there regions of the state where the state has concentrated land ownership? Areas where the state has limited land ownership? How might this impact its reach in addressing climate change?