How does the individual impact climate change?
Intention
Our intent for this lesson is to help students become more aware of how their actions may impact climate change. By informing students about how their everyday choices could be contributing to environmental phenomena like increasing global temperatures and sea level rise, we aim to illustrate how individual actions could impact the lives of future generations.
Evidence of Learning
The evidence of learning for this lesson will be both during and after the activity. As the students are collaborating on their task as a group, their initial creations will act as evidence of their prior knowledge. In addition, student discussion and adaptation of their creations during the activity will reflect the process of discovering and applying new information. Following the activity, each group will be asked to reflect upon their task and explain to the class their thought process and strategies used to complete the task. To wrap up the lesson, we will ask each student two questions: (1) what is one thing you learned today? and (2) what is one thing you could do to help reduce your contribution to climate change?
Engagement
Our activity will show the impact of climate change on the rising sea levels. At the front of the class will sit a plastic bin with sand, rocks, and water, which represent the ocean and land on Earth. The class will be split up into 6 groups, or as evenly as possible. Each group will get an envelope with their task in it. There will be three different types of tasks that the groups could get, each having their own theme related to common contributors to climate change. The tasks will either be connected to waste production and management, transportation, or forest fires.
Responsible waste management is integral to efforts in mitigating climate change. The students with this task will be given pictures of different articles and will have to “properly recycle” them by putting them under the proper heading.
CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions contribute to the degradation of the ozone layer, resulting in the rising temperatures. The students’ goal for this task is to look at the pictures of different transportation and rank them from lowest CO2 emissions per passenger-kilometer to highest.
In British Columbia we experience a high number of forest fires, which also contributes to climate change. The students with this task will be given the top five ways that humans cause wildfires and will have to order them from most common to least common.
While the students are working on their tasks, the teacher will be pouring water into the bin, slowly filling it to resemble the rising sea levels. The group’s goal is to complete their task before the water rises above the sand. The teacher should time the water overflowing the sand to be about 2 minutes. As the students ask to check their answers, don’t stop the clock as that symbolizes that even if we change our actions now, it will still have consequences in the future. After the groups have either all finished or 2 minutes is up, ask each group to share their thoughts on their task. To end the lesson, ask the students to submit a small piece of paper or share aloud, one thing they learned (either from their own group’s tasks or hearing other groups’ tasks) and one thing they plan to do to reduce their impact on climate change as an individual.
Task
How does the individual impact climate change?
WASTE MANAGEMENT
Sort the articles into the correct bins
| COMPOST | PAPER | PLASTIC | CANS/GLASS | Drop off at depot |
| Banana peel | newspaper | Take out food lid | Can of soup | Plastic Cling Film |
| Paper towel | Tissue paper | Plastic utensils | Empty jar | Chip bag |
| Egg shells | Coffee cup | Clean Plastic cup | Granola Bar Wrap | |
| Coffee grounds | magazine | Batteries | ||
| pizza | ||||
| Used paper plates |
FOREST FIRES
Top 5 ways human-caused wildfires ignite:
- CAMPFIRES
- ARSON
- BURNING DEBRIS
- VEHICLES AND EQUIPMENT
- CIGARETTES
TRANSPORTATION
- Bike
- Ferry (Foot Passenger)
- National Rail
- Electric Car
- Hybrid Car
- City Bus
- Motorcycle
- Car
- Domestic Flight
https://ourworldindata.org/travel-carbon-footprint
References
Bhutada, G. (2022, February 15). Comparing the carbon footprint of Transportation Options. Visual Capitalist. https://www.visualcapitalist.com/comparing-the-carbon-footprint-of-transportation-options/
Burning questions about wildfires, climate change and fossil fuels. David Suzuki Foundation. (2024, August 1). https://davidsuzuki.org/what-you-can-do/burning-questions-about-wildfires-climate-change-and-fossil-fuels/
Hansen, J. E. (2008). A last chance to avert disaster. In Multinational monitor (Vol. 29, Number 3, pp. 52-). Essential Information, Inc. A Last Chance