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Students learn about the greenhouse effect and how an increasing concentration of greenhouse gases are contributing to a rise in average global temperature. Students further their understanding of how humans are contributing to current climate change by reading an interactive text and watching a video. Students extend their thinking by exploring the implications of climate change in the regions be analyzed for the performance task.

In this unit students will analyze and create topographic maps of human cities as they consider how geographical features such as oceans, lakes, and mountains have influenced where humans have chosen to live. Students will also make predictions about how changes in the Earth's surface features that may take place?whether due to climate change or other factors?can influence the migration of human populations in the future.

The Regents Item Bank provides questions from past Regents exams aligned with the content of this unit.

Students learn about climate zones by collecting precipitation and temperature data from various climate zones around the world. After reading a text about climate and climate categories, students attempt to identify the climate category to which each location they explored belongs. Students then test out their ideas and misconceptions about climate and weather by reading a series of statements and classifying them as statements about either climate or weather.

The distribution of human populations over time has been largely influenced by the Earth's geography and climate. As global climate changes, the impact on geography and climate will be profound, inevitably causing challenges to the quality of life and survival of human and animal populations, forcing migration. Where would you want to live in the future in order to ensure that you're comfortable and safe? Consider current geography and climate and how these might be impacted by climate change in the year 2100.