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Lesson · Grade 7 · Science

Sustainable practices: what works

  • Grade 7
  • Science
  • 1 min 34 s
  • British Columbia
  • BC7-SC-43

The scene draws the air as a band across the top with carbon dioxide molecules, and four places on the ground beneath it: a power station, a car, a house and a forest, with thick purple arrows carrying carbon dioxide up into the air and a thin green arrow coming back out through the trees. One sustainable practice is then applied to each place in turn (clean electricity from wind, water and sun; walking, cycling and shared transport; using less energy at home; protecting forests and planting trees), and each change shrinks an arrow going in or grows the arrow coming out, ending on the recap that what works is adding less carbon dioxide and taking more out.

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In one sentence

The question this lesson answers

People are warming Earth by adding carbon dioxide to the air. Which sustainable practices really work?

Most of it comes from burning coal, oil and gas, for example to make electricity, to travel, and to heat homes.

Transcript

What the lesson says

People are warming Earth by adding carbon dioxide to the air. Which sustainable practices really work?

Most of it comes from burning coal, oil and gas, for example to make electricity, to travel, and to heat homes.

Trees take some carbon dioxide back out of the air, but many forests have been cut down.

A sustainable practice works if it shrinks the carbon dioxide going in, or grows the amount coming out.

First, make electricity from wind, water and sunlight instead of coal and gas.

Clean electricity adds almost no carbon dioxide, so this arrow shrinks a lot.

Next, walk, cycle, or share a bus or train instead of driving alone.

Less fuel is burned, so less carbon dioxide goes in.

At home, insulate well, switch things off, and choose efficient lights and appliances.

Using less energy means less fuel is burned, so this arrow shrinks too.

Finally, protect the forests we have, and plant new trees.

More trees take more carbon dioxide out of the air, so this arrow grows.

Put together, less carbon dioxide goes in and more comes out, so the rise in the air slows down.

What works is simple: add less carbon dioxide to the air, and take more of it out.

Curriculum

Where this fits

British Columbia, Grade 7

Science, Earth science: evidence of climate change over geological time and the recent impacts of humansBC7-SC-43

Previous: Climate Change and Living Things: Move, Change, or Die Out

The outcomes and strands follow the British Columbia curriculum.

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