The Air That I Breathe by Streets Education through the Livable Streets Initiative. Grades 6-8. http://streetseducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/lse_elem_the-air-that-i-breath_sample_lesson3.pdf. This unit makes the connection between our transportation choices and air quality, using the area around your school to do hands-on science lessons. Sample lesson focuses on measuring “Average Vehicle Occupancy” to find out if people are carpooling in the area around your school.

Travel Solutions to Global Warming by the Northeastern Sustainable Energy Association. Grades 5-7. http://www.nesea.org/uploads/textWidget/890.00010/documents/Travel_Solutions.pdf. Teacher demonstrates a burning candle experiment with students posing hypotheses, to review the relationship of the carbon cycle, fossil fuels, and the atmospheric CO2 level. Students then graph the relative populations and production of CO2 by different countries and discuss the results. Students follow up by using a personal trip log to discover simple but powerful solutions.

Car Economics Activity. Cool School Challenge. Grades 7-12. http://www.coolschoolchallenge.org/Downloads/Activities/CarEconomicsActivity.pdf. By simulating the process of purchasing a vehicle, students will learn how to compare and contrast variables, such as car prices, fuel economy, gas prices, and CO2 emissions. Students will see how different vehicles affect the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. Assuming, for this exercise, that a car lasts ten years, students will calculate the long-term costs and efficiency of their vehicle choice.

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Wedge Analysis of the U.S. Transportation Sector. http://www.epa.gov/oms/climate/420f07049.htm. The U.S. transportation sector represents about 10% of all energy-related greenhouse-gas emissions worldwide. Over the next 50 years, rising numbers and use of vehicles could increase greenhouse-gas emissions from U.S. transportation sources 80% above current levels. However, many current and anticipated vehicle and fuel technologies, as well as approaches for reducing vehicle use, could be deployed to slow or halt the increase in accumulated greenhouse gases in the atmosphere from transportation.

Idle Reduction and Clean School Bus Curriculum. http://www.eesi.org/bus_curriculum. The Utah Clean Cities Program, National Energy Foundation, and Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) have developed a curriculum to help school officials and bus drivers reduce unnecessary school bus idling. Idle reduction programs using this curriculum have achieved lasting results.