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Teaching Material

Explainer: Climate Tipping Points

Target GroupBachelor, Master, PhDResource TypeArticle, Research ArticleDomainConcepts of Sustainability and SDGs, Global Key Challenges, Growth and boundaries, Biodiversity and ClimateDuration1h to ≤ 2hAuthorDavid A. McKay
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Summary

  • Students learn about critical climate system thresholds and their cascading effects. Develops understanding of complex climate system interactions and the urgency of climate action based on latest scientific evidence.

Relevant SDGs

Icon für SDG 4Icon für SDG 8Icon für SDG 14Icon für SDG 16

How to use

  • Valuable for advanced environmental science, climate science, or sustainability courses. Can be used as a primary reading for modules on climate change impacts or Earth system dynamics.
  • Faculty should focus on the paper’s key visualizations and threshold estimates. Consider using the seesaw metaphor to explain tipping point dynamics and organizing discussions around specific tipping elements.
  • Includes detailed scientific references and data visualizations that can support in-depth analysis.

Teaching format tip

Article

Structure engagement around personal connection and critical reflection. Students should process challenging ideas while relating content to their own experiences and developing perspectives. Use articles to stimulate thinking and encourage deeper engagement with complex topics.

Research Article

Provide reading guides focusing on methodology, evidence quality, and logical structure. Students should identify key arguments, evaluate supporting evidence, and assess limitations. Use articles as springboards for generating research questions or comparing methodological approaches. Have students present critical analyses to peers, emphasizing how findings connect to broader theoretical frameworks.

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Sustainability in Academia
Integrating Sustainability into Higher Education
  • Resources
    Subject area
    • General KnowledgeThis section provides general frameworks and concepts related to sustainability that can be used in any discipline and across industries.
    • Specific KnowledgeThis section provides sustainability related content that would enable students following a business or management degree or course to be better equipped to face sustainability related challenges.
      • Economics
      • Management
      • Finance, banking, insurance
      • Marketing and advertising
    Competence area
    • Problem-solving
    • Critical thinking
    • Self-awareness
    • Collaboration
    • Normative awareness
    • Anticipatory thinking
    • Systems thinking
    • Strategy
    Learning approach
    • Cognitive learning
    • Socio-emotional learning
    • Behavioural learning
    • Subject area
      • General KnowledgeGeneral knowledge represents foundational understanding across multiple disciplines needed for sustainable development. It creates an integrated mindset that connects basic and advanced topics across various knowledge domains.
      • Economics
      • Management
      • Finance, banking, insurance
      • Marketing and advertising
    • Skill area
      • Problem-solving
      • Critical thinking
      • Self-awareness
      • Collaboration
      • Normative awareness
      • Anticipatory thinking
      • Systems thinking
      • Strategy
    • Learning approach
      • Cognitive learning
      • Socio-emotional learning
      • Behavioural learning
  • Communities
  • Education for sustainability
  • About us
  • Resources
    Subject area
    • General KnowledgeThis section provides general frameworks and concepts related to sustainability that can be used in any discipline and across industries.
    • Specific KnowledgeThis section provides sustainability related content that would enable students following a business or management degree or course to be better equipped to face sustainability related challenges.
      • Economics
      • Management
      • Finance, banking, insurance
      • Marketing and advertising
    Competence area
    • Problem-solving
    • Critical thinking
    • Self-awareness
    • Collaboration
    • Normative awareness
    • Anticipatory thinking
    • Systems thinking
    • Strategy
    Learning approach
    • Cognitive learning
    • Socio-emotional learning
    • Behavioural learning
    • Subject area
      • General KnowledgeGeneral knowledge represents foundational understanding across multiple disciplines needed for sustainable development. It creates an integrated mindset that connects basic and advanced topics across various knowledge domains.
      • Economics
      • Management
      • Finance, banking, insurance
      • Marketing and advertising
    • Skill area
      • Problem-solving
      • Critical thinking
      • Self-awareness
      • Collaboration
      • Normative awareness
      • Anticipatory thinking
      • Systems thinking
      • Strategy
    • Learning approach
      • Cognitive learning
      • Socio-emotional learning
      • Behavioural learning
  • Communities
  • Education for sustainability
  • About us
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