Hello! My name is Kristi and I appreciate you stopping in to check out the Earth School class! The purpose for this asynchronous self-paced class is to provide students with the information and inspiration needed to save our planet. We must cut greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. Luckily, we know exactly how to do it. This class will equip high-school-aged students with the knowledge and actions to help achieve this global goal. 

This class is structured to cover a typical school semester (half a school year), mid-August through mid-December, with a Thanksgiving break built into the schedule. Following is a table of how the class will be structured into weeks, dates, topics, and sub-topics that will be studied. For reference, I will be posting in Central Time zone: 

Week 1: October 2 - 8, 2023	       
       Electrify Transportation
              What's the best fuel?
              The shipping industry may finally be turning to wind power
              The surprisingly long history of electric cars
	      What’s in the air you breathe?

Week 2: October 9 - 15, 2023	       
       Electrify Transportation	
              Why electric cars are finally taking over
	      The future of flying is electrifying
       Decarbonize the Grid
              How do solar panels work?
	      Should gas stoves be banned?

Week 3: October 16 - 22, 2023
       Decarbonize the Grid	
              How do wind turbines work?
	      How coal made us rich — and why it needs to go
	      Iceland's superpowered underground volcanoes
	      How much electricity does it take to power the world?

Week 4: October 23 - 29, 2023	
       Decarbonize the Grid
              How powerful is the world's biggest battery?
	      Meet the retired oil exec plugging forgotten wells to reduce emissions
	      Stanford researchers find high emissions of greenhouse gases and toxic pollutants from gas stoves
       Fix Food	
              Food expiration dates don’t mean what you think

Week 5: October 30 - November 5, 2023	
       Fix Food	
              Can we create the "perfect" farm?
	      The diet that helps fight climate change
	      Underwater farms vs. Climate change
	      The problem with rice no one is talking about

Week 6: November 6 - 12, 2023	
       Fix Food	
              Why beef is the worst food for the climate
	      A climate change solution that's right under our feet
	      Food waste causes climate change. Here's how we stop it
       Protect Nature	
              What if there were 1 trillion more trees?

Week 7: November 13 - 19, 2023	
       Protect Nature	
              This country isn't just carbon neutral — it's carbon negative
	      The sharks that hunt in forests
	      The living forest: the Amazonian tribespeople who sailed down the Seine

Week 8: November 20 - 26, 2023 --- Thanksgiving Break	

Week 9: November 27 - December 3, 2023	
       Protect Nature	
              The global movement to restore nature's biodiversity
	      What would happen if every human suddenly disappeared?
       Clean Up Industry	
              The life cycle of a t-shirt

Week 10: December 4 - 10, 2023	
       Clean Up Industry	
              Green steel: Can we make steel without CO2 emissions?
	      The material that could change the world... for a third time
	      The cruel irony of air conditioning

Week 11: December 11 - 17, 2023	
       Clean Up Industry	
              Can the circular economy solve our plastics problem?
       Remove Carbon	
              Carbon capture technology, explained
	      Can mass carbon capture really work?

Week 12: December 18 - 24, 2023	
       Remove Carbon	
              Why the world needs more algae, not less
	      A natural solution to climate change
       Win Politics and Policy	
              Whatever happened to the hole in the ozone layer?

Week 13: December 25 - 31, 2023 --- Christmas Break	

Week 14: January 1 - 7, 2024
	Win Politics and Policy	
              A new way to invest in clean energy innovation: Breakthrough energy catalyst
	      Carbon pricing, explained with chickens
	      Why are we subsidizing fossil fuels?

Week 15: January 8 - 14, 2024
       Win Politics and Policy	
              More money is flowing into green energy than ever before. Here’s why
       Turn Movements into Action	
              Why the "wrong side of the tracks" is usually the east side of cities
	      Why tracking carbon emissions is suddenly a billion dollar opportunity

Week 16: January 15 - 21, 2024
       Turn Movements into Action	
              Education is a fundamental right for every child
	      These South Florida 4th-graders have a message for their elected officials about climate change
	      Climate justice can't happen without racial justice

Week 17: January 22 - 28, 2024
       Innovate	
              1816: The year with no summer
	      How cheap hydrogen could become the next clean fuel
	      Can sustainable aviation fuel clean up flying?

Week 18: January 29 - February 4, 2024
       Innovate	
              What you need to know about carbon removal
	      How green hydrogen could end the fossil fuel era
       Invest	
              Is this island the best in the world?

Week 19: February 5 - 11, 2024
       Invest	
              How the $1 trillion green bond market works
	      Can green investment change the world?
	      Climate damage: How and why rich countries should pay up

Since this is a flex class, we will not have any live video meetings. Students will work on their own time, but within the schedule planned for the class. I will use YouTube videos curated by TedEd, online quizzes, activities, and discussions through the Outschool Classroom discussion thread. The TedEd videos are the only videos students will view; there are no educator-created videos that will be presented (videos produced by me). Students will interact with me and their classmates through the discussions we will have by posting their thoughts on questions asked and responding to other learners in a conversation-style format. 

My teaching style is structured and stress-free. I strive to make the learning process interesting and fun! I am qualified to teach this class as I spent time during my undergraduate studies minoring in Environmental Science. I have a passion for understanding how our Earth functions and ways in which we can conserve and protect it. 

Though learners do not need any prerequisite knowledge to take this class, they will need the critical thinking abilities to answer philosophical questions in our discussions, such as: 
If electric cars were to entirely replace gas-powered vehicles, what changes might we see on a domestic and global scale?

Thank you, again, for your interest and I hope to meet your child in my online flex classroom! Please message me if you have any questions. 

Kristi