The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued its report today in Paris. You can read a good summary of it at USA Today. The report says that global warming is very likely man-made caused by over a century of CO2 emissions. Warming of the Earth is very well documented, and the causual relationships are very likely known. Of course, the results will continue the controversy that exists, especially in the US, but the results of the report are clear, and as the scientists who have produced the report say, it is time to do something about it.

As a teaching tool, the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (download full report in pdf) provides teachers and students with a very good resource to look at the breadth of research that has contributed to the data in the report. The topic of climate change is an important concept in science, and the creation of teaching plans around the rubric of climate change would involve students in historical geology, paleoclimatology, physical science, glaciology, and a host of other interesting fields of science.