Going Carbon Neutral

PLO's:

• Science 6, 7, 8
• Math 6, 7
• Social Studies 6

Background:

This is a good activity to use in the middle or at the end of the climate change unit. The students need to have a basic knowledge of climate change and its impacts. The activity focuses on one of the many actions individuals and groups can do to minimize abrupt climate change both now and in the future.

Global warming and climate change are happening. Becoming carbon neutral by minimizing our greenhouse gas emissions and then taking responsibility for the remaining emissions we produce is a great way to start reducing our impact. Families, schools, and businesses are all taking important steps to reducing their emissions.

There are several online programs you can use to become carbon neutral. By simply inputting your monthly values for utilities such as gas and electricity, you can compute what your CO₂ output is. Some of the information you need to know to calculate your carbon footprint may not be easy to find, but with some effort and a little bit of guidance, you can track down the information you need.

Once you know what your output is in kilograms, the program will give you a dollar amount that you can pay in carbon offsets in order to become neutral. Carbon offsets are simply credits for emission reductions produced in other projects. The money that you pay into the credit system is put towards removing CO₂ from the atmosphere by investing in clean alternative energies and related technologies. The ultimate goal is to live in a sustainable way that can be maintained.

Materials:

• Oceans News article: Going Carbon Neutral
• Computers with internet access
• Calculators
• Information about the student's homes and the school depending, on your goal

Information you will need to gather

• electricity in kilowatts used (available from monthly bills)
• oil consumed
• natural gas consumed
• gas efficiency of your car (can be found on the internet at www.fueleconomy.gov /feg/findacar.htm)
• miles driven per week/month
• car gasoline consumed

Procedure:

1. With the class read the Ocean News article: Going Carbon Neutral.
2. On the board ask the students to list any of the words that they did not fully understand in the reading. Ask the students for ideas and develop definitions together that the students can write down in their notebooks.
3. In their notebooks have the students Think, Pair, Share about their own sources of emissions that they create on a monthly basis. Remind the students of some of the sources of greenhouse emissions to help start their lists: personal transportation, appliances, food production and storage, computers, shipping of goods etc. Once their emission sources have been identified have them discuss how they can reduce these over the next week, next month etc.
4. At the computers have the students visit the different carbon neutral calculators and investigate what information they will need for their calculations. You can write the websites of the calculators that you wish them to use on the board or have them browse the different types.
5. For homework have the students return home and find the needed values.

Next Class

1. Have the students return to the websites they decided to use last day and begin to enter their values. For students who were unable to obtain values the national or provincial averages can be used for their calculations or they can work with a partner.
2. Once the students have their emission offset total have the students discuss the two actions that they should undertake. How to reduce their emissions and what their options are to buy carbon offsets. As a class visit the David Suzuki Foundation webpage where there is a list of carbon offset vendors that can be used.
3. Have the students make a budget how they could offset their carbon i.e. wind power, solar power, energy developments in other countries. Encourage students to make their own plans on how they would like to spend their offset money, and have them justify their decisions.
4. Have the students brainstorm how they could raise the money to become carbon neutral.

Long-term

1. As a class add up your total offsets needed to become carbon neutral. Together make a strategy to fundraise the money needed to make the classroom neutral. This could include all students paying a small portion, having class garage sale, bake sales, a bike-a-thon etc. For ideas on classroom fundraising visit www.canteach.ca/elementary/classman7.html
2. Carry out the fundraising and together purchase the needed offsets. Display the paperwork in a central location where visitors to the classroom can see them.
3. With the ideas generated to reduce emissions have the students work out a plan for their homes and for the classroom.
4. After 6 months have the students re-estimate what their emissions are currently at and compare with old values. Have the class discuss any improvements that could be made to help reduce emissions.

Discussion:

• Why do different countries have different average emissions?
• How do Canada's energy resources impact climate change?
• What role do you think Canada should take in becoming a world role model in carbon neutral living? How could this be done?
• Why do different provinces have different carbon neutral calculations?
• How does purchasing carbon offsets help the environment?

Extension and Resources:

• Have half the class use one carbon neutral calculator and the other half another. Compare how the results turn out.
• An extension of this would be for you to work out what the school must do to become carbon neutral. Take the values for the school, calculate and divide by the total school population.
• Have students investigate the average hydro and gas emissions in different countries and compare emission rates. Many of the calculators are from different countries and give average emission amounts.
• The David Suzuki Foundation has great resources and information on carbon emissions, being carbon neutral, and carbon offsets.
• The National Energy Foundation web page has a great page on how individuals can become active in reducing their carbon footprint.
• The Pembina Institute is a great source for information of greenhouse gases and living in a sustainable way. They also have great lesson plan on sustainability at their education website greenlearning.ca.

The following offset calculators are easy to use and calculate emissions:

• Carbon Zero: This is a great carbon calculator. It does the home, car and air travel and can bundle it for you with numbers that are easy to access. It is a Canadian site so no conversions are necessary.
• Safe Climate: This is an American site. I like this one as it incorporates both travel and household energy. The fun part of this one is that it rates you against the American average and an animated figure shows up to tell you how well you are doing.
• The Environmental Protection Agency: This is a good overall calculator that shows good estimates. Is American so estimates may not apply and dollars must be converted.
• Climate Care: Good for the home, flights are very easy to compute. This site is from the UK and so calculates in the £ so a conversion will need to be made to figure out what the cost offset is.
• The Carbon Neutral Company: Is good for home calculations, does a general vehicle calculation. Is a UK site so dollars will need to be converted to pounds in order to calculate.
• Climate Mundi: An easy to use calculator. It is a French site and estimates will need to be converted from €.

Downloadable PDF of this lesson plan.