Climate Change

Introduce the book and your goals for studying it, and briefly outline the issues the book explores. Tell students that issues-based study raises varied opinions, and that, as a class, you will set some ground rules for maintaining a respectful and safe classroom atmosphere for discussing personal views and beliefs. Ask the class to collaborate to create a list of expectations, such as “We’ll respect one another’s privacy,” “We’ll listen to one another” and “We won’t insult one another.” Post the list and revisit it periodically to allow students to make observations and air problems.

Use Getting Started: Climate Change Quiz (download link below). Have students take the quiz in groups, with a quizmaster for each group. After the quiz, have a class discussion about what students want to learn from this study and what their biggest concerns about climate change are. After your study of the book, they can reflect on these earlier discussions.

Quiz Answers

1. F. There will be more precipitation, but shifting wind patterns may carry clouds long distances before they dump their water vapor.
2. F. It is odorless and occurs naturally in the atmosphere.
3. T. But those that do occur could be more intense.
4. c) wind
5. a) 97%
6. F. It’s a very thin layer.
7. F. Young forests, especially tropical forests.
8. T. And the Himalayan glaciers could be gone.
9. T. But changes to vegetation belts can cause other problems.
10. F. Eight times as much.

Conduct a “human graph” activity to reflect students’ current opinions on climate change. In a large, open area, like the gym, post a series of signs on one wall, about 1.5 meters (5 feet) apart, saying, “I strongly agree,” “I agree somewhat” and “I do not agree” (or whatever measurement indicators you choose). You read a series of statements, and the students line up in front of the sign that indicates their opinion, forming a human bar graph. Here are some sample statements: I can’t do much about climate change. Climate change is the biggest threat we face in the twenty-first century. The worry about climate change is overblown. You could change the indicators to “Always,” “Sometimes” and “Never” to measure students’ environmental practices, such as using waste-free lunches, turning off lights and computers, not idling the car, and so on.

Some people believe that changes in climate are a natural occurrence and some refute claims that it is a crisis. What do you think?

What is a carbon sink?

If climate change caused a wave of migration to your country, what do you think your government’s migration policy should be?

Why are some corporations changing their systems to address climate change? Why are some corporations resisting?

The author of Climate Change writes, “Western culture, rapidly spreading throughout the globe, is based on acquiring stuff, and success is judged by whether one has more or better stuff than others” (p. 82). What do you think of this statement? How does it relate to the topic of climate change?

Do rich nations have a right to tell developing countries not to cut down their forests?

Reread the sidebar about Tuvalu on page 70. What do you think: Should Tuvalu be given compensation? What about developing countries with low greenhouse gas emissions? Should they be compensated in some way?

What developments and actions make you the most hopeful about facing climate change? What worries you the most about climate change?

Most people now know what they can do as individuals to help address climate change. But how can everyone be urged to do it? How do people get their governments to take action? How can the feeling that it’s too big an issue for individual action be addressed?

What do you think about the last paragraph in Climate Change? How did you feel when you read it?

Students arrange for a guest speaker for the class or school, such as an environmental studies or science professor, a teacher from an outdoor education center, a member of a school’s environment club or a member of an environment organization. Students organize, advertise and host the event.

Subjects: Geography, Science, World Studies, Humanities and Social Sciences, English Language Arts

Students choose five or six facts from the book that affected or resonated with them the most and jot them down. They discuss their choices in groups and explain the reasons for their choices.

Subjects: Geography, Science, World Studies, Humanities and Social Sciences, English Language Arts, Health/Career and Life Management

Students survey current advertising for cars and trucks on television, the Internet, billboards, and in print media to see what is emphasized in the ads. They could create a tool, such as an observation checklist to gather their data. They can then share and discuss their observations and opinions in groups. Students might then research the fuel efficiency and amount of carbon dioxide released for different types of vehicles.

Subjects: English Language Arts, Geography, Science, World Studies, Humanities and Social Sciences

Students choose an ecological or geographical process or system they read about in the book and create a detailed graphic to explain it. For example, they could create a flow chart of the carbon cycle or the hydrologic cycle, or a diagram of thermohaline circulation, the greenhouse effect, the effects of carbon dioxide on climate or what happens when glaciers melt. They can decide on their audience; for example, they might want to explain the process to a class of younger students, or a group of parents.

Subjects: Geography, Science, World Studies, English Language Arts

Students work in groups and represent data from the book and other sources in a series of graphs and tables, using graphic software. They decide on the purpose and theme of their data representations and create a way to display/present them. They can present their work to a group or another class.

Subjects: Mathematics, Geography, Science, World Studies, Health/Career and Life Management, English Language Arts, Information and Communications Technology

Students work in groups to select a piece of writing — a short story, article, essay, poem, song, children’s story — that relates to themes of climate change or of human interaction with nature or other themes about the environment. They present the work as Readers’ Theater.

Subjects: Arts (Theater Arts), English Language Arts, Geography, Science, World Studies, Humanities and Social Sciences, Health/Career and Life Management

Students interview people about climate change to find out about people’s general awareness, knowledge and concerns about it. They should plan their interview (or survey) questions in advance. They may also want to create an information sheet or brochure to leave with the interviewees. Be sure to set guidelines for the interview process to ensure student safety, such as interviewing in pairs, interviewing people they know, explaining the purpose of the interview, etc.

Subjects: English Language Arts, Geography, Science, World Studies, Humanities and Social Sciences

Students work in groups to select a country and research the impact that climate change is having on that country currently and the impact it may have in the future. To share the information, organize an “International Summit on Climate Change.” The groups play the roles of representatives from their country, share their information and then try to reach agreement on what to do to combat climate change.

Subjects: World Studies, Geography, Science, Arts (Theater Arts), English Language Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

Students calculate the amount of CO2 they create when they travel. They could calculate it for particular trips, for a typical day or for other specified times. They could also calculate their total daily personal impact on the environment. There are a variety of online carbon emission calculators that can be used.

Subjects: Mathematics, Geography, Science, Health/Career and Life Management

Students work in groups to create, perform and videotape a public service announcement for television about one action that people can take to lower emissions.

Subjects: Arts (Theater Arts), English Language Arts, Geography, Science, World Studies, Humanities and Social Sciences, Health/Career and Life Management

Students investigate their school’s (or Board’s) actions and policies for addressing climate change and for teaching ecological literacy. If there is an existing environmental club in your school, they could be invited to make a presentation to the class. The class could look into how to take part in school initiatives or how to start one themselves.

Subjects: Health/Career and Life Management, English Language Arts, Geography, Science, Humanities and Social Sciences

Groups each research a renewable energy technology or a current initiative that is underway to meet the challenge of climate change. They present their research to the class in an interesting format, for example a slideshow, skit, brochure, interactive map, display or game.

Subjects: Geography, Science, English Language Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Arts (Theater Arts)

Students create a webquest for peers or for younger students on the topic of climate change. They choose a scenario and issue (such as “You are a salmon fisher in British Columbia …”) and develop the questions or tasks that are to be answered about the scenario and issue. They find what they think are the best websites and resources on the topic, and build them into the webquest. They should include an introduction and conclusion for the task.

Subjects: Information and Communications Technology, Geography, Science, English Language Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Health/Career and Life Management