If you ask teachers at the beginning of the semester what their lesson plans are on week 12, many will tell you their assignments, the lectures, and the activities they planned for their classes.  This level of planning is important as it lays out the track for the semester.  However, it can squander student capacity.  

Instead of making the class about the tracks you laid in the syllabus, perhaps the class can be designed to be derailed by the problems and opportunities relevant to the students and their communities. You might consider beginning the class by asking students to explore how climate change is impacting their lives.  You could then fill your syllabus with the impacts they discover and devote the semester to acting on those impacts.       

The climate crisis requires us to be agile.  New reports and studies on climate change are published every day.  This information can and should change what and how we teach.  Derailing from the tracks we’ve laid on our syllabi nurtures and unleashes student capacity and it enables students to develop their own agency as they take action on the climate crisis. It also enables students to perceive the interconnectedness of many different problems.