In this module, we address the question “Why is the earth’s climate changing?” The short answer is: recent climate warming is the result of human activities. When you extend your curiosity deeper and continue to ask why, you find more layers to this answer. The behaviour of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, ice core records, the global energy balance, and the carbon cycle teach us how human activities are leading to warming.  Learning about natural laws teaches us about reciprocity with earth, and how environmental dispossession and colonialism have disrupted this reciprocity.

The module begins with an introductory video to why the climate is changing, as well as several key questions a student might be asking when learning about why the climate is changing. These questions are:

• How do we know that increasing the concentration of carbon dioxide int he atmosphere will cause temperatures to warm?
• How do we know that the increases in carbon dioxide observed isn’t just natural variations in Earth’s climate system?
• How do we know that it is human activities that are causing carbon dioxide to increase?

Students are asked to read one or two of the stories below, and reflect on what they’ve learned from them.

“How the Chipmunk got its Stripes: The Origin of Sickness and Cures.” In Murdoch, I. & Belcourt, C. (2019). The Trail of Nenabooszhoo: and other Creation Stories. Kegedonce Press. pp. 105-112.

“All our Relations”. In Simpson, L. (2013). The Gift is in the Making. Portage & Main Press. pp 19-22.

Lesson 1: Lessons about the past teach us about climate change theory

In this interactive lesson, students will take a closer look at the incredible sources of data that teach us how the climate change we are experiencing today is different from changes in the past. Students will also learn about climate feedbacks, which have been operating throughout earth’s history, and still impact climate today.

Students complete a StoryMap called “Lessons from the Past”. This lesson looks at what we can learn from oral storytelling and ice core records about the past, and also introduces students to climate feedbacks.

Lesson 2: The Greenhouse Effect and the Role of the Earth’s Atmosphere in the Earth’s Energy Balance

The greenhouse effect is now a term nearly everyone knows, but many people have difficulty explaining how it works.  This lesson introduces students to the greenhouse effect (which is natural, and exists on other planets too!) and the enhanced greenhouse effect, which is behind the climate crisis.

In this lesson, students will

• Watch the video on the greenhouse effect and the earth’s atmosphere
• Complete practice questions
• Watch a video on Earth’s natural greenhouse effect.

Lesson 3: The Earth’s Energy Balance

In this lesson we examine how an enhanced greenhouse effect changes the Earth’s energy balance, which leads to a warming planet. This lesson is critical to understanding how increasing greenhouse gases, such as CO₂, causes an increase in Earth’s temperature.

In this lesson, students will complete a StoryMap called “Earth’s Energy Balance and Climate Change”.

Lesson 4: The Carbon cycle and connections to the earth’s climate

In the last lesson students learned how increasing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere can lead to a warming planet. Where do greenhouse gases come from and why are they increasing? In this lesson students will learn about the carbon cycle, which will illustrate where one of the most important greenhouse gases is stored and how it is cycled between the Earth’s spheres.

Why are we talking about the carbon cycle? Presently, the greenhouse gas of most concern is carbon dioxide (CO₂). The importance of a given greenhouse gas is dependent on three things that we will explore more in the next lesson. These are the concentration of the gas in the atmosphere, how effective the gas molecules are at absorbing infrared radiation and the length of time the molecules can remain in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is of most concern because it has the highest atmospheric concentration of the greenhouse gases and it persists in the atmosphere for a long time (years to millennia). Students will explore this more in the next module, but in this lesson we will learn about how CO₂ ends up in the atmosphere naturally and how humans have altered the carbon cycle to rapidly increase the atmospheric  concentration of CO₂.

After this lesson students will know how and why the Earth is warming. But knowing about something doesn’t always make it tangible. To help you connect with our changing world, students participate in a graded activity to interview someone from a different generation about their experiences of the world and the changes that they have observed.

In this lesson, students will:

• Watch a video “Introducing the Earth’s Carbon Cycle”
• Watch a video “Ocean and Geologic Exchange of Carbon”
• Answer practice questions about the videos.

Graded Activity: Intergenerational Interview

In this graded activity, students are asked to interview someone from a different generation than you who has observed first-hand the significant changes that have occurred over 50+ years.  The lesson provides example questions and an example intergenerational interview to inspire students. Students are asked to follow up with the answers given with their own reflection.

Lesson 5: Colonialism Caused Climate Change

The terms colonialism, settler colonialism, and capitalism have been mentioned numerous times throughout the modules, but in Lesson 5, students take a deeper look into the consequences and impacts of these systems, their oppressive nature towards Indigenous Peoples and ways of life, but also the harm they cause to all peoples and life via their direct impacts on the climate. Students will begin to understand the root socio-economic causes of climate change, and the importance of Indigenous governance and land stewardship. Indigenous peoples are intimately connected to the land, so what happens when oppressive systems try to sever their connection to their human and non-human kin? The climate crisis.

In this lesson students will:

• Watch the video “Colonialism caused Climate change”
• Complete a reflection on Environmental Dispossession and Climate Change

The video “Colonialism caused Climate Change” features Māori scholar Dr. Lewis Williams, who shares expertise on Intergenerational Resilience, Climate change, and decolonization.