UPD8

Carbon Control

Learning objectives

Students will
• Consider some impacts of global warming
• Learn what a carbon footprint is
• Calculate their own carbon footprint and consider how to reduce it

Try the activity

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Curriculum link

11-14 QCA unit 9G environmental chemistry
• Environmental problems – global warming

Running the activity

If you wish – and have time - ask students to complete the attitudinal survey (please download the separate word document). This is an excellent opportunity for your students – and you – to learn about their prior knowledge and attitudes to climate change. By taking part in this survey students will also be helping to generate better understanding on what can be done to tackle climate change. The address for completed forms is at the end of the form.

Display page 1, which shows some likely impacts of climate change. Have a brief class discussion on the impacts of climate change – which groups of people will be affected most, and why?

Display page 2. This defines the term 'carbon footprint' and gives values of typical annual carbon footprints for different lifestyles. It also shows the amount of carbon dioxide generated from different behaviours such as travel, energy use in the home, and food choices.

Give each student a copy of page 3. Ask students to use the program at www.carboncontrol.org.uk
to calculate their own annual carbon footprint. Then get them to use the value for their own carbon footprint – and those of others in the class – to fill in the white boxes. You will need to get students to rank order the size of their carbon footprints to fill in the box 'My carbon footprint is the first/second/third/fourth etc biggest in the class'. They need a piece of data from page 2 to fill in the final box. Then ask small groups to decide what they will do as individuals to reduce their own carbon footprints.

Finally, direct students to the RSA competition (see web link below).

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