SECTION 4 - Scenarios 12+, Geography, Science, & Social Studies Taking the Green Road AGE RANGE: 12+ SUBJECTS: Geography, Science, & Social Studies OBJECTIVES: Learn and implement ways a person or group can lower their carbon footprint. DURATION ENDURING UNDERSTANDING • 60 minute session • How human behavior can be altered to stop global • 30 minutes for Option A Assessment warming. • 2, 60 minute session for Additional Activities INTRODUCTION - WHO SAYS? There is a global organization called the United Nations (UN). Their mission is to address problems that a昀昀ect every person and living thing on Earth. The UN knows that the humans living on Earth have been changing the climate of our world. To slow, stop, or reverse that detrimental process of global warming, which leads to climate change, the UN put together a special group of scientists. This group of scientists is called the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). As the Earth warms, our weather patterns change—and not for the better. According to the IPCC, humans have already warmed the planet by at least 1 degree Celsius (or 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) by burning fossil fuels like oil and gasoline that emit heat-trapping gasses. How much more Earth warms up in the next hundred years hinges on what we who live here choose to do. The scientists of the IPCC created 5 di昀昀erent stories or scenarios. The scientists imagined 5 di昀昀erent ways these stories could end. The di昀昀erence among the stories depends on how much we change. The more we change, the better or happier the ending of the story. In this unit, we will look at the 昀椀rst scenario. You may be saying to yourself, “I am just a young person; I can’t do anything about this.” Not so. When Greta Thunberg began her career as an environmental activist, she was only 11 years old. You are all as powerful as Greta. This world belongs to you. Help us change. ACTIVITIES - ALTERING BEHAVIOR: • Read The Carbon Almanac - Climate Change for Rookies: Climate Change Actions from Large to Small, p.36-37 • Discuss and then create a list of the ways learners can change their personal—as well as classroom—carbon footprint. • Each learner chooses one change they could make for the next 7 days, and the group votes on 3 changes they could make collectively in the classroom. ASSESSMENT: • Option A Classroom: the learners brainstorm what they think would be the e昀昀ects of the changes they are proposing. • Option B Homework: the learners log the activity, the change they hope it produces, their family’s reaction to the change. ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES (FOR AGES 16+) • Calculate how much you can individually and/or collectively (as a classroom) reduce your carbon footprint if you change your behavior. • Write up a school-wide carbon footprint reduction plan and present it to the principal and council. • Predict the outcome(s) of your proposed plan in reducing your school’s carbon footprint. Discuss what would happen if all the other schools in your town or region also worked to reduce their carbon footprint. RESOURCES: T • The Carbon Almanac - Climate Change for Rookies: Climate Change Actions from Large to Small, p.36-37/ 757 • The Carbon Almanac - Scenarios: Understanding the Five Scenarios, p. 96/ 039 • Whiteboard and markers, blackboard and chalk, or paper and pen/pencil to record ideas. • The Internet’s Carbon Footprint Infographic, (or other relevant, up to date websites that provide energy usage of devices and websites) • Carbon Emissions Calculator 25