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GEOGRAPHY CLASSROOM presentation on

CLIMATE CHANGE

@earlhaigecocouncil

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Global Warming

If nothing is done about climate change, we can currently expect the Earth to warm by around 4 degrees Celsius by 2100

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What do you think the environment will look like when you are 90 years old?

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Weather

Farming

Wildlife

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  • Flooding
  • Wildfires
  • Droughts
  • Storms

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  • Food insecurity
  • Crops affected by pests, weather
  • Famines
  • Shift in diet

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  • Habitat loss
  • Animals going extinct
  • Leads to food scarcity (e.g. loss of fish)

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What Causes Climate Change?

  • The warming of the Earth because of greenhouse gas emissions

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  • What emits greenhouse gases?
    • Transportation (cars, airplanes)
    • Power (creating electricity through burning natural gas, coal)
    • Agriculture (cows, animals)
    • Waste (landfills)

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  • How do we measure climate change?
    • GHG emissions measured in terms of CO2

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What is Canada’s Role?

Total GHG Emissions by country:

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Countries:

  • Canada
  • USA
  • China
  • European Union
  • Russia
  • India
  • Brazil
  • Japan
  • Mexico
  • Indonesia

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Canada’s Impact

Canada is warming faster than the world as a whole — at more than twice the global rate (According to Natural resources Canada)

2022 emissions:

793,000,000,000.76 ghg

  • 2.1 percent increase from the 2021 (14.2 megatonnes more)
  • Canada’s official emissions target for 2030 is 40–45 per cent below this level

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Where do you think our emissions come from?

Choose the top three emitting industries from this list:

  • Agriculture
  • Waste
  • Electricity
  • Buildings
  • Oil and gas
  • Manufacturing
  • Transportation

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Emissions come from:

  1. Transportation
  2. Oil and Gas Production
  3. Electricity

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Transportation

Gas and diesel fueled vehicles are the most common form of transportation

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Commercial transport:

- the transport of goods (e.g. food)

Personal transport:

- cars for people to commute to work/school in

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Oil and Gas

The GHG emissions of oil and gas come from the EXTRACTION and PRODUCTION of these fossil fuels, not their use

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What is oil and gas used for?

  • Diesel and gasoline: Transportation
  • Natural gas: heating houses, cooking
  • To produce plastics

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Most of Canada’s oil and gas comes from Alberta

Around 75% is exported, mostly to the USA

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Electricity

Used in most building including homes, factories

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Uses:

  • Internet
  • Machinery
  • Other electronic devices
  • Lights
  • Pumping/heating water

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The Internet

Did you know that using the internet emits a lot of CO2?

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  • Globally, internet use emits roughly the same amount as all air traffic combined
  • On average, using the internet for web searches only for a year emits the same amount as driving your car for 1,400km!

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Ontario’s power supply

  • Most of Ontario’s electricity comes from nuclear energy and waterpower
  • Most of the nuclear power comes from the Pickering power plant

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Discuss: what are the benefits and drawbacks of nuclear power?

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How do we emit?

Going to and from school

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Heating our homes

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Using electricity

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Eating foods like meat

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What can you do about it?

EAT LESS MEAT

TAKE PUBLIC TRANSIT

REDUCE ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION

WEATHERIZE HOME

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But… will it make a difference?

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiw6_JakZFc

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To make more of a difference

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Petition Governments!

    • Email your MP, MPP, and city councillor, and they may respond!
    • Use pre-written emails and/or sign petitions
    • Signing up for newsletters or follow accounts on social media
    • Join climate strikes!

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Topics:

    • Stop subsidizing fossil fuels
    • Build more renewable energy plants
    • Protect natural areas

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Encourage biodiversity

One of the best ways to fight climate change is by restoring biodiversity:

- trees and plants capture carbon

- provide shade and cooling during the summer, shelter during the winter (less heat + AC required)

- animals keep eco systems healthy

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Plant native plants in your backyard or balcony to attract bees, butterflies, etc.

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Be a conscious consumer

  • The things you buy often take a lot of emissions to manufacture
    • Production of raw material
    • Manufacturing product
    • Transport at various stages of life cycle

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  • By buying things, you encourage the company to produce more of it
  • If you don’t use it very much before throwing it away, it is a waste of materials and of the power it took to make it
  • Materials often take hundreds if not thousands of years to biodegrade

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Industry- specific solutions

Power/electricity: renewable sources (hydropower, solar power, wind power, tidal power)

Transportation: electric vehicles, expanding public transit

Agriculture: More sustainable methods like vertical farming, aquaponics or hydroponics

Textiles: use less pesticides, use materials like hemp and bamboo instead of cotton and polyester

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UN Sustainable Development Goals

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Any questions?

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Discuss:

  • Is the lifecycle of a t-shirt what you expected it to be?
  • If t-shirts have such long and complex lifecycles, what do you think the lifecycles of other household objects will be like?
  • What is the problem with how t-shirts are made? What can you do to help fix the problem?

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Solutions

Don’t buy clothing or object that you think you won’t wear.

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Buy secondhand clothing. Stores like Goodwill, ValueVillage, and Salvation Army are a good place to start.

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Reuse clothing as rags, or cut up the fabric and sew it into masks, dishcloths, or even blankets

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Give your used clothing to friends or family, or donate it to secondhand stores.

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