An Inconvenient Truth
Goal 13: Climate Action
Overview
Humanities
Sciences
4+ hours
13 – 21 years old
1 – 4 participants
Objectives
- – knowledge of Goal 13 – Climate Action
- – knowledge about climate changes
- – knowledge about CO2
- – knowledge about ice, snow and glaciers
- – knowledge about animals and plants impact of climate change
- – to make a research upon a theme
Behavioural competences
- Reduce their carbon footprint
Reflections
- What is climate change?
- How can you influence climate change?
- What are the effects of climate change?
- How day-by-by change can be better
Lifelong learning key competences
Social and civic competencies
Mathematical competence and basic competences in science and technology Mathematical competence and basic competences in science and technology Sense of initiative and entrepreneurship
Preparation
Get access to the film.
Print the questions for the ping-pong-pair
Print questions for the groups
Useful videos to introduce the goal/theme:
Climate Action: One World, One Agreement (1 min)
DiCaprio: UN is ‘last best hope of Earth’ to stop ‘impending disaster for all living things’
Our Changing Climate (13 min.)
Why People Don’t Believe In Climate Science
Instructions
Watch Al Gore’s very beautiful and thought-provoking film, “An Inconvenient truth” (instruction of Davis Guggenheim).
Afterwards, the students will discuss the film – first in ping-pong-pair and next in plenary. After that, the students are divided in groups covering the four main areas of the film: “Ice, snow and glaciers,” “Climate Change”, “CO2-circuit”, “Animals and plants impact of climate change” – and work towards a presentation by using the questions under “instruction”.
- 1.
1) Exercise – ping-pong pairs
(The participants form groups of twos. The teacher announces the subject/question and the pairs take turns giving short answers. Introducing the exercise before the participants watch the movie might be a good idea, and/or you can have the questions be visible to them during the movie.)
- Mention as many facts that you remember from the movie as possible
- Mention examples of of some of the negative things stated in the movie
- Mention examples of some of the more optimistic things stated in the movie
- Mention something from the movie that surprised you
- 2) Exercise – plenum
- What do you think is Al Gore’s agenda with this film?
- Where does Al Gore stand in the climate debate?
- Who has different points of view from Al Gore?
- Where do you stand?
- Exercise
The movie deals with four different themes:
- Ice, snow and glaciers
- Climate changes
- The carbon cycle/CO2 cycle
- Climate change’s effect on plants and animals
Divide the participants into 4 groups (one for each theme) and have them each prepare a visual presentation of their theme (e.g. PowerPoint)
Questions for the 4 themes (for exercise 3)
Ice, snow and glaciers
- What is a glacier?
- Where can you find glaciers?
- Describe the cycle of a glacier.
- How much of the water resources of the world is tied to glaciers?
- What will happen to coastal areas when land-based ice melts?
- Hvad sker der med landområderne, hvis landbaseret is smelter?
- Where do the people who are dependent on glaciers live?
- What are the potential consequences of North Pole ice melting significantly?
Climate Change
- How do greenhouse gases affect ocean levels?
- How do greenhouse gases affect the permafrost?
- How do greenhouse gases affect the frequency and strength of hurricanes?
- How do greenhouse gases affect the rise in temperatures around the world? Is the rise uniform, or will different parts of the world be affected differently?
- How does the Gulf Stream influence the climate? If you want, you can draw a figure of the thermohaline circulation.
CO2 Cycle
- What are fossil fuels? What are they used for?
- When do you and the people in your group use fossil fuels – directly or indirectly – in your everyday lives?
- What can the individual person do to reduce CO2 emissions?
- Create a figure that illustrates what happens when fossil fuels result in the greenhouse effect.
- What are the objectives of the Kyoto Protocol?
- What international conventions have focused on reducing CO2 emissions?
- What is a CO2 quota? What challenges could it potentially solve?
- What initiatives/ideas can you think of to reduce CO2 emissions?
Climate Changes’ Effect on Plants and Animals
- What animals and plants will especially be affected by climate changes? (Al Gore mentions some)
- Explain how some of the animals fit into the ecosystem.
- What consequences could it have if some plant or animal species disappeared from the ecosystem?
- What plants and animals could be thought to invade our land if the temperatures change? What consequences would this have?
Present your findings for the rest of the class.
Let one person from each group be responsible for taking notes – and afterwards share them.
Evaluation
Complete the reflection work sheet connected to goal no. 13
The first part of the work sheet is to be completed before class, but the remaining parts are to be used for summing up and evaluating the theme in class.
Followup suggestions
Look at the other exercises connected to goal no. 13 – Climate Action
Ideas for actions
”Take re-useable bags to the store”, “Air dry. Let your hair and clothes dry naturally”, “Drive less. Walk, cycle, take public transport or car pool”. Find more ideas for actions in the: “170 good ideas for daily actions to transform our world” here: http://www.youneedtoknow.ch/
Further information
Appendix 1- An inconvenient truth – Questions