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Our climate is changing. As greenhouse gases (GHGs) increase in our atmosphere,
average temperatures are on the rise. We produce these greenhouse gases by burning
fossil fuels such as natural gas, coal and gasoline. So every time you drive to the store,
start up a lawnmower, or heat your home, you create GHGs that contribute to climate
change.
This lesson helps students in your class choose actions they can take to help reduce GHG
emissions by one ton. Students can make a difference in two ways: by actions they take
individually, and by influencing others to make changes. (In this action plan, students
earn "GHG reduction points" for both.)
Making a commitment is a great first step, but we all know that's not the whole journey.
The second part of this lesson helps students to develop a plan to encourage members of
the class, as well as their families and community, to implement their action plans in the
coming year.
For more information on why climate change is occurring, impacts to the north and the
rest of the world, and solutions we can all take, check out the backgrounders (written for
northern students) on this website.
Activity:
1. Introduce the Topic: You may be using this
lesson as a stand-alone, or it may be part of a
unit on climate change. For ideas on how to
introduce students to the basics and impacts of
climate change, check out the Lesson Plans on
this website.
Climate change can be a depressing subject, and
it's important to stress the positive in this lesson.
This activity offers many different options on
how students can make a difference. If your
students haven't previously learned about
climate change, you may need to do short introduction on the basic concepts of
climate change, and how we can reduce our impact. Use Student Handout #1:
The One-Ton Challenge – Why Take It? To cover these points. Explain that this
handout is also a useful introduction for students' families and friends, if they
decide to encourage others to reduce GHG emissions as well.
2. Complete the Action Plan: Distribute Student Handout #2: My One-Ton
Challenge Action Plan. In this handout students will find a list of actions they
and their families can do to reduce greenhouse gases. Students will select a
number of actions they can do, or encourage others to do, that will add up to
1000 kg or one ton. Depending on your class, you may decide to go through this
step as a class, or split up into small groups to discuss and complete the form.
Encourage students to go through their Action Plans, entering realistic
commitments (in pencil) for actions they can take themselves, and actions they
can encourage others to take.
3. Take it Home: Use your judgment here. The great advantage of having students
take the Action Plan home and work through it with their families is that they
spread the word to family members and encourage others to take action.
However, depending on your students, you may decide to omit this stage.
If your students do take their Action Plans home, ask them to work through the
plans with their families to see what actions they can convince their families to
take. Students may decide to change their Action Plans after talking to their
families and seeing what their families will commit to.
4. Create a Poster: Now students can complete a One-Ton Plan, based on Student
Handout #3: Cutting Down My GHGs. Once the list of actions is complete, make
this stage interesting and fun by encouraging a variety of art media: collages of
earth images, paintings, or drawings. Continuously stress to students that every
bit helps. Even if students can't make one ton, the point is that they are reducing
and encouraging their families to reduce.
Make sure these posters are prominently displayed in the school, then taken
home to display at home. Having a commitment in print is a good way to
motivate students to keep trying.
5. Strategize: Invite students to think about how they can encourage each other to
keep up their actions, and also how they can encourage families or friends to
keep reducing GHGs. Pose the questions: How can we help everyone in our class
to keep cutting back GHGs? How can we encourage other people?
(For some ideas on this topic, read Teacher Handout #1: Motivating Ourselves
and Others to Change.)
6. Monitor Progress: Follow up with intermittent check-ins to see how students are
doing in following their commitments. What actions have they found easy to do?
Difficult? What further supports would help? What were the best ways to
convince other people – most useful key points?
Encourage students to add up how much they have reduced so far, and how far
they still need to go to achieve their goals.
Student Handout #1
The One-Ton Challenge – Why Take It?
The One-Ton Challenge is a way that you and your family can help the world by slowing
down climate change. You may have heard your parents or elders say that it's warmer
now that it was in the past. Climate change is heating up the earth.
Climate change could mean big changes in the north. Permafrost is melting, and some
animals – like the Polar Bear – are having trouble because of the melting ice. It's time to
put on the brakes, and you can help!
Why is Climate Change Happening?
Around the earth is a blanket of gases called the atmosphere. The atmosphere keeps the
earth's heat from jumping back into outer space. But in the last 100 years, human beings
have been adding more greenhouse gases (GHGs for short) to the blanket, causing the
earth to get hotter.
We create GHGs by burning fossil fuels like oil, gas, diesel, and propane. When we use
fossil fuels to run our cars, trucks, boats, airplanes and snowmobiles, we release
greenhouse gases. We may also release GHGs when we heat our homes, run our
industries, or generate electricity.
Why Take the One-Ton Challenge
Canadians create a lot of GHGs. The average Canadian produces 5 tons of GHGs every
year! To get an idea of what 5 tons looks like, picture a 2-storey, 3-bedroom house. If you
filled it up to the top with greenhouse gases, this would be 5 tons of GHGs.
The Government of Canada is asking all Canadians to cut down their GHG emissions by
one ton, or 20%. This isn't really very hard. As a young person, you can take some
actions by yourself, and you can also work with your family and friends to help them take
action. The One-Ton Challenge Action Plan below will help you plan ways to reduce
your GHGs by taking actions yourself, and by getting other people to take actions, too.
Together, we can make a difference.
Student Handout #2
My One-Ton Challenge Action Plan
How could you make changes in your home that would reduce your greenhouse gases
(GHGs) by one ton? You can take actions yourself, and you can also talk to your family
and friends to try to get them to take some actions. This table tells you how you can
reduce GHGs. You can reduce your GHG emissions by individual actions that you can do
yourself, and you also get credit for encouraging other people to take action. Go through
the table and see what actions you and your family can take to reduce GHGs.
Columns 1 & 2 – Tell what you can do, why it helps, and how many kg of GHGs
each person will reduce in one year by taking that action.
Column 3 – Put a next to the actions you want to take.
Column 4 – Put a next to the actions you will influence someone else to take.
(Put more than one if you can convince more than one person.)
Column 5 – Record the number of kg you could reduce, adding up Column 3 and
Column 4.
When you've reached the bottom of the list, add up your total kg reduced and see
if you've made it to 1,000 kg — one ton. If not, go through again, and see if
there's somewhere else you could make a change. Remember, even if you can't
get up to one ton, every bit helps.
Consumption & Waste
In 2000, Canadians generated over 31 million tons of waste – over 1 ton each! 23 million
tons were sent for disposal – imagine 21 football fields piled 1 km high with garbage!
It takes a lot of fossil fuel to make things in factories and to get them to the store – and
burning that fossil fuel puts GHGs into the air. The more stuff you buy, and the more you
throw away, the more GHGs you create. Try using less. When you recycle, you also help
to reduce your GHGs. It takes a lot more energy to make products out of raw materials
than it does to re-make them out of recycled material.
This table shows the kilograms of GHGs reduced per year by one person. If you can
get other people to do actions, you get credit for that, too. Check out the example, to
see how this works.
Kg of
GHGs
Kg of GHG YES, I'll get Reduced
Actions You Emissions Reduced YES, someone (Per
(and others) Can Take (Per Year) I'll do it! else to do it! Year)
Cut down on "stuff" If you decide to buy e.g.:
only things you really
Every time you buy something, fossil need, you could 50 kg – 50 kg – 100 kg
fuels are used to make it, package it, and reduce your GHGs by because I'm because I'm
drive it to the store. After you use it, it 50 kg per person, per going to cut going to
often goes to the dump and produces year. back on new persuade my
more GHGs when it rots. clothes and sister to do
toys. the same
thing
Re-use and recycle. If you can reduce your
garbage by one-
When you recycle, you save energy. It quarter (put out 1½
takes less energy to make things from garbage bags instead
recycled materials (like recycled paper) of 2), you reduce your
than to make things from raw materials GHGs by 125 kg per
(like wood). person.
Studies show that over half of our
garbage could be either recycled or
composted.
Compost your veggie scraps. If you compost, you
can reduce your GHGs
When we don't compost our fruit and by 40 kg per person.
vegetable waste, it goes into landfills.
When it rots, it creates methane – one of
the main GHGs.
Learn more about composting at
http://www.compost.org/
Recycle your grass clippings. If you keep grass out
of your garbage, you
If you put your grass clippings in the can reduce your GHGs
garbage, they also rot in the landfill and by 30 kg per person.
create methane. A better idea: keep grass
clippings on your lawn where they break
down and feed the lawn.
Buy local food. If you buy foods
grown close to your
A lot of the food you eat comes from far home, you can reduce
away. In fact, the average food item your GHGs by 50 kg
travels 2000 km to arrive at your table. per person.
All that driving uses a lot of energy!
Transportation
Driving around in cars creates a lot of GHGs. If we can drive less (by walking, biking,
car pooling, or bussing), we can reduce our GHG emissions.
Kg of
GHGs
Kg of GHG Emissions YES, I'll get Reduced
Actions You Reduced YES, someone (Per
(and others) Can Take (Per Year) I'll do it! else to do it! Year)
Drive less. If you drive less (by e.g.:
walking, biking, bussing,
Driving is responsible for almost and carpooling with your 125 kg – 250 kg – 375 kg
half of the average Canadian's friends), you can reduce because I'm because I'm
personal GHGs. For every 4 km GHGs by 125 kg per going to bike to going to try to
you don't drive, your family person. school get my Mom
reduces 1 kg of GHGs. whenever the and Dad to
weather is drive less, too.
good.
Don't idle. If you reduce your idling
by 10 minutes per day,
Idling is a big problem in the you reduce 60 kg per
North – spewing out piles of person.
GHGs. Although many people
think idling is good for their
engines, it isn't.
According to car makers, it is best
for your engine to idle for no
more than 30 seconds on winter
days before driving away. Try
keeping warm with a blanket
instead of warming your car
before you start.
Slow down. If you can get your family
to slow down on the
When you slow down, you save highway, you can reduce
gas. If you slow down on the GHGs by 40 kg per
highway by 1 km per hour, you person.
save 1% in gas costs. (If you slow
down by 5 km per hour, you save
5% in gas costs.) You also reduce
your GHG emissions.
Switch to ethanol-blend If your family switches to
gasoline. ethanol-blend gas, you can
reduce GHGs by 50 kg
Some gas stations sell ethanol- per person.
blend gas. This gas replaces some
of the gasoline with ethanol – a
type of alcohol made from grain.
Using ethanol-blend gas helps to
reduce GHGs.
If all gasoline in Canada was
blended with ethanol, we could
reduce our GHGs by 5 million
tons per year.
Check your car; check your If you can get your family
tires. to check the tires every
month and tune up the car,
If your car isn't running properly, you can reduce GHGs by
and if your tires are squishy, it 100 kg per person.
will use a lot more gas.
Cut back on air travel. If you cut back by one
long airplane ride (e.g.,
Just ten hours of air travel can Whitehorse to Vancouver,
produce one ton of greenhouse which is 5 hours return),
gas emissions per person! you can reduce your
GHGs by 500 kg per
person!
Home Heating
When you heat your home, you create GHGs. And the problem is – we waste a lot of
heat!
Actions You Kg of GHG Emissions YES, YES, I'll Kg of
(and others) Can Take Reduced I'll do it! get GHGs
(Per Year) someone Reduced
else to do (Per
it! Year)
Check your weather-stripping If your family uses e.g.:
around doors/windows and caulk caulking and weather-
up any cracks. stripping, you can reduce I try to 130 kg – 130 kg
your GHGs by 65 kg/yr. persuade my They agree
Air leakage can waste almost half of per person. family to to do half
the heat in your house! Weather- weather-strip the house
stripping and caulking will stop all the whole only
that warm air from escaping – and house.
save money, too.
Lower the temperature at night If you lower the thermostat
and when nobody is home. when you aren't at home,
or overnight, you reduce
At night, it's usually more your GHGs by 200 kg/yr
comfortable to have the temperature per person.
cooler, and doesn't make sense to
heat the house when no one is home. (Note: This is based on an
average of different types
of heating.)
Upgrade your insulation. Putting more efficient
insulation into basement
The more insulation in your attic, and above-ground walls,
walls and basement, the less energy and in the attic can reduce
is needed for heating. heat loss by about 250 kg
per person.
Hot Water
Water heating accounts for a lot of the greenhouse gas emissions produced by an average
Canadian home. Time to cut down!
Kg of
GHGs
Kg of GHG Emissions YES, I'll get Reduced
Actions You Reduced YES, someone (Per
(and others) Can Take (Per Year) I'll do it! else to do it! Year)
Install low-flow showerheads. (And Option 1: If you install e.g.:
shorten those showers!) low-flow showerheads,
you can reduce 75 kg of 35kg – 300 kg – 335 kg
One-third of your family's water heating I decide My parents
bill probably goes to pay for showers. If GHGs per person. to take agree to install
you install low-flow showerheads, you short low-flow
can have a great shower with only half Option 2: If you take showers showerheads
the amount of water. The good news is short showers instead of
that low-flow showerheads are cheap baths, you can reduce 35
and easy to install! kg of GHGs per person.
Even without low-flow showerheads,
you can reduce GHG emissions by
taking short showers (5 minutes is
plenty to get you clean, and takes much
less water than a bath).
Use cold water to wash your clothes. If you wash your clothes
with cold water instead
About 1/4 of all the hot water you use in of hot water, you can
your household is used to wash clothes. reduce your GHGs by
And clothes can get just as clean in cold 150 kg per person.
water, especially using a cold-water
detergent.
Fill up the dishwasher before you run If you load your
it. dishwasher before you
use it, and use the air-
Use the energy-saving setting to dry the dry cycle, you can
dishes. Tip: Scraping off the dishes reduce your GHGs by
instead of rinsing saves hot water, too. 90 kg/yr per person.
Home Lighting & Appliances
The lights and the appliances in your home use a lot of energy, and create a lot of GHGs.
This is especially true if you live in an area where electricity is produced by burning
diesel, like NWT or Nunavut. You can reduce a lot of GHGs if you reduce electricity use
at your house.
YES, I'll Kg of
get GHGs
YES, someone Reduced
Actions You Kg of GHG Emissions Reduced I'll do else to do (Per
(and others) Can Take (Per Year) it! it! Year)
Turn off the lights when you're not By turning off the lights when not
using them. needed, you can reduce your GHGs
by 20 kg per person.
Replace your light bulbs with If you replace 5 of your 60 W bulbs
with 13 W compact fluorescent
fluorescent or halogen bulbs. bulbs, you reduce your GHGs by
30 kg per person.
Compact fluorescent and halogen
bulbs use much less electricity than
standard light bulbs, and last a lot
longer.
Turn off TV, computer and If you shut off lights and
equipment when not in use. equipment when not being used,
you reduce your GHG emissions
A computer that runs 24 hours a day by 20 kg per person.
uses up to $120 worth of electricity
each year.
Get rid of the second fridge. If you get rid of your older, second
fridge, you can reduce your GHG
Do you really need that second emissions by 75 kg per person.
refrigerator? It could be responsible
for one-tenth or more of your home's
electricity bill.
Limit use of gas lawn mowers and If you use push-power instead of
snow blowers. gas-power to mow the lawn, you
can reduce your GHG emissions by
Gas-powered mowers cause a lot of 10 kg per person.
pollution.
Bonus Points – write a letter. Writing letters is one way to
influence lots of people. Give
Write a letter to a political yourself a credit of 100 kg.
representative or to the editor of your
paper, suggesting actions to reduce
GHG emissions.
TOTAL GHG EMISSION SAVINGS
Student Handout #3: Cutting Down My GHGs
Here is a list of actions I will take to help reduce climate change:
Kg of GHG
Actions I can Do Myself
reductions
I will
I will
I will
I will
I will
I will
I will
I will
TOTAL GHG EMISSION SAVINGS
Kg of GHG
Encouraging Others to Take Action
reductions
I will get __________________ to _______________________
I will get __________________ to _______________________
I will get __________________ to _______________________
I will get __________________ to _______________________
I will get __________________ to _______________________
I will get __________________ to _______________________
I will get __________________ to _______________________
TOTAL GHG EMISSION SAVINGS
Signed: ___________________________ Date: ____________________
