Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. The United States is no stranger to extreme weather. What historic weather events can you recall, either from hearing about them or from personal experience? What statistics can you remember about the individual events—the duration, the financial damage incurred, or the casualties? What was the national response to each event?

Teaching Suggestion: If students are struggling to recall extreme weather events, it might be helpful to have a pre-generated list from the last 15-20 years to jumpstart their exploration of this topic.

• This resource from the National Centers for Environmental Information allows users to search their database for billion-dollar disaster events in the United States based on the type of event and within a specified time frame (starting in 1980).
• This resource from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration provides information on the worst hurricane, tornado, thunderstorm, firestorm, and blizzard in the United States to date.

2. The Greek term hubris is defined as excessive pride or overconfidence in an individual that usually results in their downfall.