In 2012, water managers in Fredericktown, Missouri, saw their city's main source of water dwindle. They used the EPA’s Climate Ready Water Utilities program to consider options and develop plans to protect their water source.

Students will conduct research to learn about the vulnerability of coastal communities to the potential effects of earthquakes and their associated hazards and what can be done to reduce the risk.

This PPT is designed to help students differentiate hotspot island chains from volcanic island arc systems. The focus sights for this activity are the Society Island hotspot chain and the Caribbean island arc system. Using map images, students are asked to describe and differentiate the topography and geologic features of the two tectonic settings. Vertical exaggeration and topographic profiles are introduced for each site. Students compare the difference in volcanism and seismicity of the two locations. This activity can be used as a lecture enhancement or as a homework or lab exercise.

In this lesson, students discover the impact that flooding has on people's lives, and how science and technology can mitigate its effects and help find potential solutions. Working in teams, students design and build a model of a flood-proof home for their family on the fictitious isalnd of Watu. They will consider how flooding affects the whole community and work out where the best place for a home would be.

Students use on-line earthquake hazard maps and other relevant geological information to assess hazards to life and property associated with hypothetical earthquakes of various magnitudes. Then, working collaboratively, they will use this information to develop strategies that might be used to reduce damage and loss of life in their local area.

Building on lessons learned over several summers, Kristin Raab—Health Impact Assessment and Climate Change Program Director in the Environmental Health Division of Minnesota’s Department of Health—packaged information from diverse communities into a cohesive toolkit that communities of all sizes can use to prepare for heat waves. The Minnesota Extreme Heat Toolkit describes changing weather conditions in Minnesota, the magnitude of potential health consequences from extreme heat, and key steps communities can take to prevent heat-related illnesses and deaths. The toolkit acknowledges that extreme heat response plans will vary with the size of the community and the habits of its residents: examples from the mostly rural Olmsted County and the urban centers of Saint Paul and Minneapolis illustrate a range of community plans that could be useful in Minnesota and beyond.

This animation illustrates the effects on buildings built on differing types of land after the arrival of P, S, and surface waves.

There are a number of hands-on and interactive scientific lesson plans, each inviting students to learn what is known about earthquakes, earthquake hazards, and hazards preparedness. Prior to the start of lessons, it is important to assess student's knowledge of earthquakes and hazards. The pre-assessment activity creates a means to do this. Lessons 1-6 target physical processes related to earthquakes. Lessons 7-11 focus on hazards associated with earthquakes and mitigation strategies. Lesson 12 provides a unique means for reinforcing concepts covered during previous lessons.

Students conduct research about a type of natural event, learn why it occurs, where the probable locations of occurrence are, what causes damage, what conditions create especially destructive events, and what the probability of a destructive event is. It is important that students spend some time thinking about possible ways to reduce the negative impact of damaging natural events to reduce fear and increase empowerment.

Students understand the impact of higher tides based on sea level rise on coastal areas, develop a plan to mitigate the impact of higher tides, and discuss how students can apply their plans to coastal communities.

In this lesson, students examine three cross-sectional profiles from a northern, central, and southern location of the Red Sea. Students answer a series of questions reading data from the profiles, then examine images and volcanic data in Google Earth to determine the type of plate boundary located in the Red Sea and to make prediction of tectonic activity in the future.

The purpose of this activity is to simulate a method soil scientist use to predict what kinds of rocks, minerals, and sediments are located underground without disturbing a large amount of habitat.Problem:How do scientists study what is underground without messing up a lot of the natural surroundings?

In this lesson, students investigate artificially elevated regions or cities around the world to compare histories, cultures, and strategies related to potential flooding disaster.

In this lesson, students collect data and create maps to observe the relationship among volcanoes, earthquakes, and lithospheric plates.

Students work collaboratively using data maps to discover plate tectonic boundary processes. Data sets used are earthquakes, volcanoes, seafloor age, and topography.

Sudents define, compare and contrast the terms "risk" and "vulnerability," and determine the relative risk from natural hazard events in a given community.

Students will explore seismic hazards for various regions, which can be described by the likelihood of a certain level of ground shaking for a particular region. Once the seismic hazard is quantified, the seismic risk can be estimated by determining the potential effects of the shaking on buildings and other structures. Students begin by finding the probability of an earthquake of a particular magnitude occurring during different periods in different regions, and comparing these results. Next, students investigate the probability that the ground in each region will shake by a certain amount, during a given length of time and compare those results. Finally, students consider the societal implications of these hazards and how this seismic hazard information might be used to improve community resilience.

In Massachusetts, Manchester-by-the-Sea's wastewater treatment plant is located right on the coast. The town's water utility is working with the EPA's Climate Ready Water Utilities program to consider its adaptation options.

Students wil use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to investigate earthquakes, volcanoes, and population from a local to global scale. The lessons can be used with other data in the Global GIS project to investigate earthquakes in other continents.

Students review their prior knowledge about various types of plate boundaries. Next students use the IRIS Earthquake Browser to investigate well-known examples of some of these boundaries. Students are asked to pay particular attention to the spatial distribution, rate of seismicity, and depth of quakes in each area. Students then point IEB to a new region and are asked to use the “templates” of seismic evidence they have previously constructed for the primary plate boundaries to argue for what is occurring within the mystery region.