ABOUT COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS: Community Connections is a lesson collection designed for adult learners and community colleges, with the goal of inspiring student civic action. This might be respectful debate or conversation about a local issue, planning a community event, or a creative project that helps connect local, national and global issues.
To use this lesson: First, watch the video and answer the questions below as a warm up. Next, choose one or more of the activities under "Take Action" that best fits your classroom. Or, use the segment above to inspire your own original classroom activities — the spirit of these lessons is to connect current events to actions that make your community a better place for everyone!
SUMMARY
The war in Iran has cast a spotlight again on the dependence on fossil fuels. The electric grid is under growing demand, but the Trump administration has worked to roll back subsidies and incentives for some renewable energies. A new industry report finds that solar panel installations dropped by 14% this past year. Science Correspondent Miles O'Brien reports for our series, Tipping Point.
View the transcript of the story.
News alternative: Check out recent segments from the News Hour, and choose the story you’re most interested in watching. You can make a Google doc copy of discussion questions that work for any of the stories here.
WARM-UP QUESTIONS
- How does the war in Iran impact energy prices?
- Why have solar cell installations fallen 14% over the past year?
- Who is Craig Courter, and what is his background?
- What impact do data centers have on energy prices?
- When will we need 50% more power generation to meet the needs of data centers and other energy needs, according to Pablo Koziner?
FOCUS QUESTIONS
- After watching this segment, what is your prediction about how the U.S. will meet its growing energy needs in the next 10 years?
- What policies do you think the U.S. government should adopt to both increase energy production and protect the environment? Which do you think is more important?
Media literacy: AI data centers are getting built in communities around the U.S. and impacting energy costs for everyone. Do you know where the nearest data center is to your own community? How could you find out? How could you find out what impact the center is having on energy costs?
TAKE ACTION
Would you welcome data centers in your community? What do you think would be some of the drawbacks? What about any benefits?
Use this activity to discuss how your own community is powered, and how that might change with additional data centers.
You can host a debate on whether or not you should welcome data centers in your community
If you have had data centers pop up in your community, plan your own community event to discuss their impact.
Watch the following segment on AI data centers and its impact on energy costs and the environment. Then, discuss —
- Do you think the demand for energy from AI data centers will continue to increase dramatically, level off or even drop? Why do you think so?
- Do you think average user demand for AI tools will continue to grow, level off or decrease? Why do you think so?
- After watching the two segments, what are the best strategies available to the U.S. government to keep energy costs down and protect the environment?
This project was funded under the 2024 Leonore Annenberg Civic Mission of the Nation Initiative, sponsored by the Leonore Annenberg Institute for Civics. LAIC is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.
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