Despite the pressures on education and educators today -- seemingly from all sides -- science teachers provide critically important opportunities for students to develop the scientific knowledge and skills they will need as adults. This preparation empowers them to make well-informed decisions as citizens, as well as to use this knowledge as a component of their careers if they choose. Indeed, careers in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines are consistently recognized as those that are likely to provide the most promising opportunities for today's youth in the jobs of tomorrow. Yet, in some areas of science, teachers face more than they bargained for when it comes to teaching controversial topics such as climate change. Earth and space science teachers consistently report that they experience much more resistance from students, parents, community members, and sometimes even other faculty when they teach climate change or other hot topics like evolution or the age of the Earth. As we all see on a daily basis, climate change is particularly prominent in the media these days, with reports of dramatic weather events and apparently climate-related disasters appearing in the headlines regularly. Despite this continuing drumbeat, a significant fraction of the American public (from 30-50%, varying somewhat based on recent weather phenomena) appears to continue to be ill-informed about what is happening to Earth's climate and what is causing these changes. In this article Roberta Johnson provides a discussion of the obstacles science teachers face when approaching the topic of climate change, the data that confirm the effect of global warming on the Earth's system, and three strategies teachers can use in preparing to teach about climate change in their classrooms.