Lesson Plan: Signs of Climate Change Session 1 What exactly is - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Signs of Climate Change Lesson Plan:

Session 1

What exactly is climate change?

Climate change is…

• “Long term change in the Earth’s overall

temperature with massive and permanent consequences”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4H1N_yXBiA

Local climate change: what is it to me?

MORE FLOODS & DROUGHTS

Warmer weather and changing precipitation (e.g. rain and snow) patterns will cause more severe

RISING SEA LEVEL

Estimated increase of sea level in coastal B.C. by 2100 is 80 cm or more. We will lose homes, communities and ecosystems (an estimated total damage $2.1-7.7 billion by 2050).

Causes Impacts

• 1. What are the main causes of climate change?

Signs of Climate Change

1.2 Discussion The main CAUSE of climate change is carbon emissions produced from human activities (e.g. driving cars, building houses), which adds to the greenhouse effect, trapping heat and further warming the Earth's surface.

1.2 Discussion

• 2. What are some of the risks associated with climate

change in the local, Vancouver context?

• sea-level rise
• warmer, wetter winters
• less snowcap on local

mountains

• hotter summers
• drought
• flooding
• more heat waves
• loss of biodiversity

Signs of Climate Change

Average April 1st Snowline Canadian Global Climate Model 2: A2 scenario

Examples of climate change effects in Vancouver

Data: Environment Canada; Visualization: D. Flanders, CALP

Vancouver consequences:

Reduced snowpack (primary impact) Brown lawns Salmon fry survival reduced Reduced water supply

• 3. What does vulnerability mean in a climate change context?

1.2 Discussion Vulnerability is the susceptibility of an area to damage by either environmental or human-caused threats, such as climate change. For example, many neighbourhoods in Vancouver are vulnerable to sea- level rise, as they are close to the shore.

Signs of Climate Change

• 4. What habits do we have that emit lots of carbon, and

therefore contribute to climate change and our vulnerability to it?

1.2 Discussion

• Transportation by cars, trucks

and planes

• Industrial Farming
• Space heating and cooling
• Water heating and cooling
• Waste disposal

Signs of Climate Change

1.2 Discussion

• 5. What low carbon features and activities help

reduce vulnerability to climate change?

• Urban forests
• Permeable ground surfaces
• Gardens
• Renewable energy, such as wind and solar
• Carpooling and public transit
• Walking and cycling
• Light-coloured roofs to not absorb heat

Signs of Climate Change

• 1. Is there a team that would like to share some of their findings, e.g. how many cars

they found, how many gardens they found?

• 2. Categorize the features below as either a cause of /contributor to climate change (ie.

features that emit carbon), or as something that will help reduce vulnerability to climate change and explain your classification:

• 1. Cars (regular cars, EVs, hybrids, car shares)
• 2. Gardens
• 3. Solar panels
• 4. Light-coloured roofs
• 3. Did you find anything that surprised you?
• 4. Did you find more features that contribute to vulnerability to climate change, or more

that reduce it?

• 5. Which areas around the school do you think are the most vulnerable to climate

change? The least vulnerable? Why?

1.4 Post Detective Quest Discussion

Signs of Climate Change

CC Detective Quest

Investigate how climate-proof your street is! Page 15 in the Coolkit

Session 2

MAPPING AND VISIONING

COOL SPOTS HIGH CARBON

What do you want to see improved? Why it is hard to see real life changes

PART II: MAPPING CLIMATE CHANGE ON YOUR BLOCK

• Purpose: quick mapping of local areas

vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, to share insights & identify things we could do (adaptation/co-benefits)

• How can we do it? (templates/examples)
• Block mapping exercise

Vulnerability

The extent to which climate change may damage

• r harm a system, eg. risk of flooding, forest

fires…

19

MOST POSSIBLE FLOODED AREAS SECONDARY FLOODED AREAS

Vulnerability—easily flooded areas

Nanjing Forestry University students Group 6, November 2013

Mayara Benedetti, CALP

TOOLKIT EXAMPLE

BLOCK MAPPING TOOLKIT

BLOCK MAPPING TOOLKIT

BLOCK MAPPING TOOLKIT

Exercise: Block Mapping

Surveying climate change in the backyard

• Groups of 2-3 people
• 2 colour maps of a nearby block (per table)
• Instructions on vulnerability indicators (page

18-19 of Coolkit)

• Colour pens + brains!

Exercise: Block Mapping

• Each table has10 minutes to identify:

– High vulnerability features – Low vulnerability features

• Map & label 3+ areas or features that may

indicate climate change vulnerability

• Any features you can count/estimate?

BSC Kelowna workshop: block-mapping example using markers

Vulnerability Mapping Examples

Urban heat island effect (UHI) Drought Resilient features Floods

2.3 Visioning Activity

Example

Signs of Climate Change

2.3 Visioning Activity Some possibilities to consider:

LOW CARBON FUTURE

• More hard surface is converted to green space
• A community garden/orchard is developed
• Solar panels are installed
• More bike lanes are in place

HIGH CARBON FUTURE

• Mature trees are gone (because of climate

change

• Streets are wider to allow for more cars
• More street parking at or near your place
• Potential flooding if close to sea-level

OR

Signs of Climate Change

+ vegetation

Food gardens Bee farms

walk + bike

–fossil fuel cars

2.4 Visioning Activity

Find a partner and take turns interpreting each

• ther’s visioning exercise.
• What did they add or take away?
• Is their imagined future more or less resilient than

the present image? Why?

Visioning Examples

Before After

Visioning Examples

Before After

GREY to GREEN – trees

http://calp.forestry.ubc.ca/

2.5 Wrap Up Group Discussion 1. Show of hands: How many students decided to imagine a future where their block is less vulnerable to climate change? How many students chose to imagine a future where their block is more vulnerable? 2. Is there a volunteer to show the class how you envisioned your block’s future? 3. What features did you add or take away to make the desired changes? How would these actions affect the neighbourhood/schools and residents/students? 4. How do you think you would go about making these changes in reality? 5. What might be some further barriers to implementing changes? 6. What have your main takeaways from these lessons been?