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Climate Change in Canada - Curriculum Tools
Grade 5 - Teacher's Resource Taking the Chill Off: Climate Change in the Yukon & Northwest Territories
Please note: These exercises are not designed to be filled out nor printed from your Web browser. Please download and print the PDF files located at the bottom of the page.
The Causes of Climate Change
What is the Greenhouse Effect?
- Name two of the gases that absorb heat energy in the atmosphere.
CO2 and water vapour
- What can you conclude about CO2 concentrations over the last 200 years from studying the graph?
Large increase
- What happens to the greenhouse effect as concentrations of greenhouse gases increase from burning fossil fuels?
Enhanced
| Connections |
Reflections |
Questions |
| What connections can you make among what you've learned, your lifestyle, your family, school, community, or other regions? |
Reflect on your learning, understandings, and discoveries."Write about one thing you did not know before starting this activity" |
What questions do you still have, or what new questions have been raised? |
The Consequences of Climate Change
Permafrost and Climate Change:
- What might happen to the permafrost if climate warms?
Melt / become thinner / perhaps disappear
- What can you conclude is happening from the Summer Thaw Depth graph?
Thaw getting deeper
- How will people be affected by thawing permafrost?
Unstable ground causes foundations for buildings and infrastructure to become unstable, travel
A Greener North:
- What will happen to the treeline with climate change?
It will shift northward
- What may happen to insect distribution as climate warms?
Migrate northward, having a potentially adverse effect on plants and animals.
- What new types of vegetative cover will be found in the Yukon and Northwest Territories as climate warms?
Temperate and grassland
A Tougher Life for Caribou?
- What insect might increasingly harass caribou with warmer temperatures?
Mosquito
- What would it become difficult for caribou to give birth and raise their young if climate warms?
Decline due to decreased health, less feeding/nutrition.
- How might caribou changes have an impact on the people in the region?
They rely on caribou for food, and also for the maintenance of traditional lifestyles. A breakdown of the traditional food supply will force adoption of other dietary sources.
Fire and Ice:
- How will the risks of forest fires change in the north with expected climate changes?
Increase
- List three effects of excessive thawing of ice.
Deeper and larger landslides, increased sediment load along riverbanks, which could affect fisheries and destroy spawning beds, landslide dams created, affecting transportation routes.
Impacts of Climate Change in the Beaufort Sea Region
- How much erosion could occur in a single year in the Beaufort Sea region?
More than 10 m
- How may climate warming affect this region?
Increased thaw of coastal permafrost and slope failure, hazards to navigation and offshore resource development, affect coastal communities.
- What is a consequence of climate warming?
Decrease in extent of Arctic sea ice and an increase in the length of the melt season
Sea Ice and Marine Mammals:
- What has been happening to the ice concentration in the area over time, comparing the 30-Year Median graph to that of September 1998?
Decreasing
- Why do seals suffer when ice melts quicker than usual?
Mothers depend on stable ice for lairs, so that a successful 6-week nursing period can take place. If the ice melts, the seal pups are weaned prematurely, forcing them to fend for themselves at too young an age.
Rivers and Lakes
- Northern communities rely on ice roads for transportation. How will this change as the climate warms?
Decrease
| Connections |
Reflections |
Questions |
| What connections can you make among what you've learned, your lifestyle, your family, school, community, or other regions? |
Reflect on your learning, understandings, and discoveries."Write about one thing you did not know before starting this activity" |
What questions do you still have, or what new questions have been raised? |
Action on Climate Change
Impacts of Climate Change in the Beaufort Sea Region
- Examine the air photo taken of Tuktoyaktuk from 1947. The green and black lines show the significant loss of shoreline over the last 50+ years. What has been proposed, and somewhat implemented since 1976?
Shoreline protection measures
How Are the N.W.T. and Yukon Responding to Climate Change?
- What are some other energy sources to replace diesel fuel generators?
Solar panels and walls, photovoltaics, waste heat recovery, wind turbines
| What I am already doing... |
What I can begin to do... |
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